vvEPA
United States
Environmental Protection
Agency
Enforcement and
Compliance Assurance
(2201 A)
EPA 520-F-97-003
Summer 1997
Superfund At Work
Hazardous Waste Cleanup Efforts
Bridgeport Rental
& Oil Services
Site Profile
r Wsttsti;; WpjheriylslPCSs), ' volatile
orflstftfcg, helvy metals
Potential Range of Health
entmi rjovous system
g«j Increased risk of
Ecological Concerns: Cedar
' wetland
Year Listed on the NPL: 1983
State: New Jersey -
Congressional District: 1
Thermal destruction of PCBs took about four years
Success in Brief
New Jersey Cleanup Settlement
One of Largest
One of the largest and technically complex cleanups in New Jersey
involved the remediation of the Bridgeport Rental and Oil Services
(BROS) waste lagoon. Located in Logan Township, the Bridgeport site
was once used to collect and store waste oil and spent commercial chemi-
cals. The site's prominent feature was a 13-acre waste oil lagoon. Spills,
leaks, and overflows from the lagoon threatened a major drinking water
aquifer and polluted a fragile wetland nearby.
The cleanup involved the on-site incineration of more than 172,000
tons of hazardous wastes and treatment of almost 200 million gallons of
wastewater. Other cleanup actions at the site included EPA's dismantling
of a former tank farm and the construction of an alternate water supply
for 15 homes by the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection
(NJDEP).
Following the site work, a major settlement was reached for the site.
More than 90 companies and federal and state agencies agreed to contrib-
ute approximately $222 million toward past and future cleanup work at
the site. Also as part of the settlement, a group of private parties agreed
to perform the investigation and
feasibility study for the ground
water remedy. This represents
one of the largest Superfund
settlements to date.
The Site Today
The lagoon has been com-
pletely filled in, covered with
topsoil, and seeded. Remaining
work includes a comprehensive
wetlands assessment and
ground water study. EPA and
NJDEP are expected to select
appropriate remedies after
public review and comment in
1999.
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Superfund At Work • Bridgeport Rental & Oil Services Site, Lagoon Township, NJ • Summer 1997
A Site Snapshot
The 30-acre Bridgeport Rental
and Oil Services site was a
former waste oil storage and
recovery facility. The property
was originally a tank farm with
about 100 tanks, process vessels,
drums, and tank trucks. A 13-
acre waste oil and wastewater
lagoon contained 2.5 million
gallons of oil contaminated with
polychlorinated biphenyls
(PCBs), as well as 80,000 cubic
yards of sediments and sludge.
Some 70 million gallons of
wastewater in the lagoon and the
on-site ground water were laden
with volatile organic compounds
(VOCs).
The surrounding area is prima-
rily rural and agricultural, with a
peach orchard on the site's western
border. Cedar Swamp, a tidal
wetland, empties into Little Timber
Creek, a tributary of the Delaware
River two miles north. The
lagoon's dikes could have over-
flowed from even modest precipi-
tation or a large
snow melt. On
one occasion in
the early 1970s,
they did over-
flow, spreading
contaminants
onto three acres of
nearby land and causing
extensive damage to
plant life.
The site is perched
atop the uppermost
portion of the Potomac-Raritan-
Magothy aquifer system, one of
New Jersey's major sources of
potable water. The aquifer sup-
plies drinking water for about 800
people in Bridgeport; 10 domestic
water supply wells are within
1,000 feet of the site. A truck
repair garage and three homes
are within 300 to 800 feet.
Bridgeport Rental &
Oil Services
Bridgeport, NJ
Bridgeport Oil & Rental
Services Timeline
Contract awarded for tank farm demoliSon
* Remedial design begins*
Long-term cleanup plan selected
EPA lowers lagoon level again
Drinking water wells sampled
Three homes receive carbon units
* EPA lowers fagoon level
« Court order prohibits waste handling
* Congress enacts Superfund
Lagoon overflow
<\
Sand and
gravel mining
CK-:
mid-
19408
1
Waste oil storage and reprocessing
1
early
1970s
1980
1981
1982
1983
1984
1985
1986
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Superfund At Work • Bridgeport Rental & Oil Services Site, Lagoon Township, NJ • Summer 1997
Waste Oil and Spent Chemicals Threaten New Jersey Drin
In the mid-1940s, following
World War II, a sand and gravel
mining company started excava-
tions to construct new buildings.
Large open pits were left behind
where the earth lay raw and
exposed to the elements. Ground
water and precipitation filled the
pits over time, forming a network
of lagoons on the abandoned
property.
In 1969, Bridgeport Rental and
Oil Services, Inc. began waste oil
storage and reprocessing opera-
tions. The owners built large
storage tanks and buildings and
began leasing space for spent
commercial solvents and industrial
wastes. The lagoon brimmed with
chemical wastes and eventually
expanded to 13 acres. A court
& NJDEP cornpleie piiblip water supply extension;
order finally stopped all waste
handling activities in 1981.
Congress had just passed a new
law to deal with abandoned or
uncontrolled hazardous waste sites.
The Comprehensive Environmen-
tal Response, Compensation, and
Liability Act of 1980, commonly
known as "Superfund," enabled
EPA to start identifying and clean-
ing up thousands of these sites
nationwide. Superfund imposed a
new excise tax on crude oil and
chemical feedstocks to pay for the
program.
Site conditions demand emer-
gency action
When state officials first con-
tacted EPA, several tank spills had
already been recorded, including a
r
\ * Meetings held;ojri:triai burn •'•-'•';• ;;
r
significant overflow in the early
1970s. VOCs, including benzene,
vinyl chloride, toluene, and xylene
were found in the ground water.
Ether, naphthalene, and the heavy
metals lead and zinc also were
present in significant quantities.
In 1982 and again in 1983, EPA
pumped out and treated water from
the lagoon to prevent another
overflow. After discovering that
local drinking water wells had been
contaminated, EPA sampled 33
private wells and installed activated
carbon units on the faucets in three
of the homes. Following public
comment periods and community
meetings, EPA selected a long-term
remedy in December, 1984.
The plan included construction
of a new water supply system for
Continued on page 4
ijrns ::
Additional drums ahd,de'tels found in lagoon
Drum removal and
incineration
Final stag&t of site restoration
and demoMization
'"• Ground water,
"
,
continues
1988
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Superfund At Work • Bridgeport Rental & Oil Services Site, Lagoon Township, NJ • Summer 1997
king Water
Continued from page 3
potentially affected homes and
off-site removal of tanks and
drummed wastes. The oily waste
and lagoon sludge, as well as
buried drums needing excavation,
would be incinerated. An on-site
treatment plant would purify
contaminated lagoon water and
thus prevent further spread of a
known contaminated ground water
plume. In 1988, EPA initiated a
second phase study to determine
the best comprehensive ground
water cleanup and final lagoon
closure strategy.
In 1985, EPA joined forces with
the New Jersey Department of
Environmental Protection
(NJDEP) to provide an alternate
water supply to 15 affected homes
using the existing Bridgeport
system. The U.S. Army Corps of
Engineers (COE) also agreed to
help EPA and awarded a contract
in September, 1986 to demolish
the tank farm. That work included
removal of 100 tanks and process
vessels containing more than
350,000 gallons of oils, sludges,
and other hazardous liquids. The
buildings were torn down and
disposed of off site along with
drums and tons of other site
debris. As part of the work, COE
also constructed an aqueous
wastewater treatment system that
handled millions of gallons of
lagoon water. COE completed its
action in April, 1988.
Lagoon wastes incinerated
Efforts to address the massive
lagoon wastes began in earnest in
March, 1989 with transport of a
mobile incinerator to the site.
Developing a plan for
the trial burn of PCB
materials and other
organics involved
more than a year's
worth of investigation
and evaluation,
including a health risk
assessment, air quality
analyses, a field
sampling plan, and
other information
addressing the
incinerator's effi-
ciency. Reviews by
federal and state
officials were finally
completed and ap-
provals issued in
November, 1991.
Over a four-year
period, the thermal
destruction facility
incinerated more than
172,000 tons of
contaminants, includ-
ing lagoon sediments
and sludges, oil, levee
material, area soil,
and various debris.
Lagoon excavation
uncovers unexpected
drums
Early in 1992,
crews discovered a
large quantity of
municipal garbage
submerged in the
lagoon. As the year
went by and the
lagoon level dropped,
hydraulic dredging
was impeded by large numbers of
metal drums and other debris. In
July, workers spotted a drum that
The contamination of Cedar Swamp, a tidal
wetland near the BROS site, probably occurred
over many years, causing subtle but insidious
changes. One of the most recognized birds in
the wetland, the great blue heron stands
around four feet tall and is a master of ambush.
Small fish, amphibians, and reptiles mistake
those long legs for sticks, swim too close, and
get stabbed with the heron's dagger-like beak.
But contaminants in the food chain biomagnify
in concentration from algae to shellfish, to fish,
to fish-eating birds and mammals. Population
losses of this exceptional bird can be linked to
chemicals stored in the fatty tissue that are
passed between species. The comprehensive
wetlands assessment should begin in the
spring of 1998.
spontaneously began venting a
white vapor cloud. Tests showed
that the drum contained pure sulfu-
Continued on page 5
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Superfund At Work • Bridgeport Rental & Oil Services Site, Lagoon Township, NJ • Summer 1997
- j * ».
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Superfund At Work • Bridgeport Rental & Oil Services Site, Lagoon Township, NJ • Summer 1997
Continued from page 5
An additional 190 million gallons
of lagoon water were conveyed
through the treatment system to
remove volatile organic and inor-
ganic contaminants. Treated water
was discharged to Little Timber
Creek with continuous monitoring
and periodic sampling to ensure
safe effluent limitations. Because
of the enormous volume, the
treatment plant operated to main-
tain the lagoon water level at or
below the natural ground water
level. The treatment plant remains
on site for possible use in the
ground water phase of the site
remedy.
Following verification testing,
crews backfilled the bottom portion
of the lagoon, including areas below
ground water level. The uppermost
portion of the lagoon was backfilled
with a blend of ash, clean levee
material, and clean fill totalling
almost 475,000 tons. The surface
was then graded, covered with
topsoil, and seeded with grass.
Current and future activities
EPA initiated a second phase
study for ground water in 1988.
Since then, scientists have con-
ducted extensive investigative
field work and collected numer-
ous ground water and wetland
samples. To date, results show
that contaminated ground water
has migrated at least 1,500 feet
from the site in a southeasterly
direction. More sampling and
field work are needed to perform
an extensive engineering evalua-
tion for some of the remedial
alternatives under consideration.
Success at
Bridgeport Rental & Oil Services
State and federal efforts combined to stabilize, drain, and backfill an enormous lagoon once brimming
with oily contaminants and spent chemicals. More than 20 years of waste disposal had made this site
extremely dangerous. Incineration of sediments and sludges proved to be both technologically and
economically sensible. Remedial investigation and engineering assessment work continues on site to
determine how best to protect fragile wetlands nearby from further destruction.
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