Office of Site Remediation Enforcement (2271 A) Washington, DC 20460 Fall 2004 EPA300-N-04-007 Issue #18 Environmental Protection Agency inside ^^^^•H Rocky Flats I cleanupne ^^^_ New N PL Sites Green Building SEPs Oregon Metallurgical ' Ultra Scientific 2002 TRI Data NewATF Building In the Courts United Airlines Violations USv. JG-24 Tidbits New Bedford Facility Opens Correction Calendar Glossary CleanupNews is a quarterly newsletter highlighting hazardous waste cleanup cases, policies, settlements and technologies. EPA Region 10 Administrator lani Resigns On July 21, EPA Region 10 Administrator John lani announcedhe was resign- ing and returning to practicing law. The resignation became effective August 7. Ron Kreizenbeck, the Deputy Administrator for Region 10, is serving as Acting Adminis- trator pending appointment of a re- placement. lani was appointed by President Bush in September 2001 and spent his three years as Administrator tackling oil and gas exploration is- sues, sewage issues in Portland, and metals contamination in Lake Roosevelt. One of his most signifi- cant accomplishments was the sign- ing of a Record of Decision (ROD) outlining a cleanup plan for part of the Bunker Hill Superfund site in the Coeur D'Alene River Basin of Idaho. lani worked toward consen- sus on the ROD by bringing together local governments, environmental groups, the governors of Washing- ton and Idaho, and state congres- sional delegations. Prior to serving as Administrator, lani was the Vice President for Cor- porate Affairs and General Coun- sel at UniSea Corporation, a large seafood company, and served as President of the Pacific Seafood Pro- cessors Association. For additional information, contact Bill Dunbar, EPA Region 10, (206) 553-1203. Portfields Project Gets $5 Million Boost | assachusetts Lieutenant Governor Kerry Healey announced a $5 million state grant for improving New Bedford Harbor on August 5. The City of New Bedford and Town of Fairhaven will use the money for navigational dredging, one of the Portfields objectives for the harbor. Removing the silt that has gradu- ally filled in the area over the years will allow larger vessels to navigate more easily. The state recognized the incredible value of dredging to improving use of the harbor and en- couraging future business growth. New Bedford is one of the busiest ports on the Eastern seaboard and a thriving area for the seafood pro- cessing industry. New Bedford is one of three pilot sites selectedthrough the Portfields Initiative, an interagency agree- ment between the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (which is the lead agency), EPA, the US Army Corps of Engineers, and other federal agencies to redevelop brownfields located in and around ports. Portfields developed out of the 2002 Brownfields Federal Partnership Action Agenda, a continued on page 7 Printed on recycled paper ------- Rocky Flats Building Demolished Crews work to demolish a building at Rocky Flats. On July 15, Building 771 on the Rocky Flats site was dis- mantled after a 10-year decontami- nation and removal process. The building had once been so contami- nated with hazardous and radioactive waste that the media referred to it as "the most dangerous building in America." DOE Secretary Spencer Abraham referred to the demolition as "a historic milestone in closing Rocky Flats and the most significant cleanup accomplishment to date in the DOE complex." The 175,000-square-foot building was one of the original four manufacturing buildings constructed on the site. Starting in May 1953, Building 771 produced com- ponents for plutonium weapons and re cove red plu- tonium from recycled mate- rials. Once other buildings were constructed, Building 771 was used solely for plu- tonium recovery. On Sep- tember 11, 1957, a fire ig- nited in a plutonium resi- due can. The fire spread to the building's second floor where vapors collecting in the main exhaust duct exploded, spreading plutonium contamination throughout the building. In 1989,pro- duction activi- ties ceased due to safety and environ- mental con- cerns, andthe site was added to EPA's Na- tional Priorities List. Building 771 is the sec- ond of five facilities that contained plu- tonium contamination to be demol- ished at the site and the first major building of its type and magnitude to ever be decommissioned. Over the next 18 months, DOE plans to decommis- sion, demolish, and complete environ- mental remediation at approximately 450 structures and facilities within the Rocky Flats Site. The 6,000-acre Rocky Flats site is located just 16 miles from Denver, Colorado. Original estimates for the "More than half of the 805 buildings/ structures onsite have been demolished." cleanup were that it would take 65 years to complete and cost tax- payers over $36 billion. Through streamlining efforts by the contrac- tor, Kaiser-Hill Company, the site is on an accelerated cleanup schedule. Current estimates are that the site will close in 2006 at a cost of $7 bil- lion. An article about the accelerated cleanup plan for Rocky Flats ap- peared in the Spring 2003 issue of CleanupNews, available online at: http://www.epa.gov/Compliance/ resources/newsletters/cleanup/ cleanupl2.pdf. The accelerated cleanup plan and details about the cleanup to date are available on the Rocky Flats Closure Project website at: http ://ww w. rfets. gov/doe. For additional information, contact Bill Badger, Kaiser-Hill, (303) 966-5754. Plutonium contamination requires the wearing of safety equipment as buildings are demolished. deanupnews ------- Sites Added to National Priorities List *- EPA added nine new sites to the Superfund National Priorities List (NPL) on July 22. The new sites are: Jacobsville Neighborhood Soil Contamination, Evansville, IN; An- napolis Lead Mine, Annapolis, MO; Picayune Wood Treating, Picayune. MS; Grants Chlorinated Solvents Plume, Grants, NM; Diaz Chemical Corporation, Holley, NY; Peninsula Boulevard Groundwater Plume. Hewlett, NY; Ryeland Road Arsenic. Heidelberg Township, PA; Cidra Ground Water Contamination, Cidra. PR; and Pike Hill Copper Mine, Corinth, VT. Some of the highlights include the Annapolis Lead Mine, an inactive mine in Annapolis, Missouri where lead-containing ore was mined be- tween 1920 and 1940. Over one mil- lion tons of waste were generated dur- ing that time. The site was added to the NPL due to heavy metal contami- nation on the property and in a nearby wetland. At the Cidra Ground Water Contamination site in Cidra, Puerto Rico, volatile organic compounds from an unknown source have contaminated groundwater. Between March 1996 and August 2000, four public supply wells had to be closed by the Puerto Rico Department of Health due to con- tamination. EPA Region 2 conducted Expanded Site Inspections in 2002 and 2003 and determined that five indus- trial sites were potential sources of the contamination. The Diaz Chemical Corporation in Holley, New York is a former chemical manufacturing facility known to be re- sponsible for multiple hazardous waste releases into a nearby commu- nity. In January 2002, an overheated reactor vessel ruptured at the Diaz fa- cility causing the unintended release of chemicals. As a result, drops of 2-chloro-6-fLuorophenol fell in a resi- dential area over a quarter mile from the facility, and some local residents had to be relocated. Among several response activities associated with this release, EPA continues to pro- vide relocation assistance to the dis- placed residents. As of July 2004. EPA had removed 2,400 drums and 40,000 gallons of bulk chemicals abandoned when the company de- clared bankruptcy in June 2003. First published in September 1983. the NPL identifies hazardous waste sites that EPA has determined pose the greatest risk to human health and the environment. There are currently 1,245 sites on the NPL, and 56 sites are waiting to be finalized. Additional information about the new NPL sites is available through the Superfund website at: http:// www. epa.gov/superfund/sites/npl/ newfin.htm. Green Building Supplemental Environmental Projects byK.C. Schefski, Office of Site Remediation Enforcement On July 27, 2004, the Office of Site Remediation Enforce- ment and the Office of Regulatory En- forcement jointly issued a fact sheet entitled, "Supplemental Environmen- tal Projects: Green Building on Con- taminated Properties." This fact sheet provides infor- mation on supplemen- tal environmental projects (SEPs) that can serve to prevent and minimize the en- vironmental impacts associated with redeveloping former contaminated properties. The fact sheet explains the environmental im- pacts associated with buildings, sum- marizes the "green building SEP on contaminated properties" concept, and provides resources and suggestions for pursuing a green building SEP. The fact sheet is part of Office of Enforce- ment and Compliance Assurance's comprehensive effort to identify and develop incentives for environmentally responsible rede- velopment and reuse of contami- nated properties (ER3). A SEP is an environmentally beneficial project a defendant/respon- dent agrees to undertake in settlement of a civil penalty action, but that the party is not otherwise legally required to perform. In return, a percentage of "Green building SEPs address pollution sources from building or construction." the SEP's value is considered when the amount of a final cash penalty is being determined. SEPs enhance the environmental quality of communi- ties that have been put at risk by vio- lations. While penalties play an im- portant role in deterring environmen- tal and public health violations. SEPs can play an additional role in securing significant environmental and public health protection and improvement. A green building SEP would ad- dress one or more sources of pollution typically generated by a building or construction project. A green build- ing SEP would involve an environmen- tal violator agreeing to support and continued on page 7 cleanup 3 ------- 0) 0) o . Oregon Metallurgical to Complete SEPs Valued at $500,000 ^^^F n June 30, Oregon Metallurgi- cal Corporation of Albany, Oregon agreed to pay EPA $250,000 and com- plete two Supplemental Environmen- tal Projects (SEPs) worth nearly $500,000 to resolve several Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) violations. Oregon Metallur- gical is completing the SEPs—envi- ronmentally-beneficial projects—in exchange for a reduction in penalty. The SEPs Oregon Metallurgical has agreed to complete will both reduce the amount of hazardous waste pro- duced by the facility and conserve wet- lands. The first SEP calls for the ter- mination of a titanium chip washing process that creates a hazardous acid. Instead, the corporation will use a sup- plier that sells chips cleaned using a non-hazardous process. The second SEP requires that an Oregon Metal- lurgical affiliate, TDY Industries Inc.. deed twelve acres of land at its Millersburg, Oregon facility to the City of Albany. The land, which runs along the Willamette River. has been used for wastewater treatment and other industrial activities. According to the agree- ment, part of the land will be pro- tected as wetlands and the rest will be used to extend the existing area "SEPs are environmentally- beneficial projects that EPA considers when calculating a penalty." parkland and hiking trail. The con- servation agreement specifically prevents the land from being al- tered through processes such as removal of soil, trees, or vegetation. except as necessary or appropriate for maintenance and research. Oregon Metallurgical will reimburse its affili- ate for the donation of this land. The RCRA violations Oregon Metal- lurgical is resolving through the com- pliance agreement were identified dur- ing an April 2000 EPAinspection, which was conducted at the request of the Or- egon Department of Environmental Quality. Inspectors found that the fa- cility had been operating a hazardous waste surface impoundment, or acid sump, without a permit for at least five years; operating an acid spray pad with- out a permit for at least five years; stor- ing an open and unmarked container of sulfuric acid; and storing hazardous waste containers without sufficient aisle space. For additional information, contact Kevin Schanilec, EPARegion 10, (206) 553-1061. Rhode Island Company to Pay $500,000 Scientific, Inc., a chemical standards laboratory in North Kingstown, Rhode Island, will pay a $500,000 penalty for hazardous waste handling violations at its Quonset Point Industrial Park facil- ity, EPA announced on July 7. An August 2002 inspection of the facil- ity by EPA and the Rhode Island Department of Environmental Man- agement (DEM) uncovered numerous violations. A follow-up inspection. requested by the DEM, took place in September 2002 and revealed that the company had not addressed vio- lations identified during the first inspection. During the second in- spection, fire safety code violations were also identified by the North Kingston fire department and building officials. The federal and state hazardous waste management violations discovered included operating a treatment facility without a permit, improper labeling of waste containers, open containers, and lack of employee training in hazardous waste management methods. EPA and RI DEM also discovered that chemicals had been improperly stored outside the "EPA and RI DEM identified numerous violations at the facility." building resulting in exposure to ex- treme temperatures and the co-stor- ing of several incompatible wastes that can ignite or produce toxic gas if mixed. Following the inspection, over 80 gallons and 400 pounds of toxic chemi- cals were removed and properly dis- posed of to protect human health and the environment. deanupnews ------- Annual Toxics Release Inventory Issued n June 23> EPA released the 2002 Toxics Release Inventory (TRI) data. The TRI tracks the release of over 650 toxic chemicals to air, wa- ter, or land by facilities, including through disposal and other methods of release (e.g., air emissions). Ac- cording to the 2002 data, over 24,000 facilities released 4.8 billion pounds of TRI chemicals. The public can download the 2002 TRI data at: http://www.epa.gov/tri/ tridata/index.htm or search the data using TRI Explorer. TRI Explorer is accessible at: http://www.epa.gov/ triexplorer and allows users to search by geographic area, facility, or chemi- cal and view a variety of reports. TRI Explorer also provides state fact sheets for each of the states. The fact sheets offer detailed information about each state's releases and an in- teractive map for users to get addi- tional details by county. The TRI Program was established through the Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act of 1986 (EPCRA), which aims to inform the public of chemical hazards in their New ATF Building to Stand on Old LUST Site in DC On July 26, several OUST staff and OSWER interns vis- ited an old leaking underground storage tank site under- going remediation in the northeast section of the Dis- trict of Columbia. Five USTs had been removed from the site in 1991, and the presence of petroleum hydrocar- bons and other contaminants was discovered over much of the site. A re mediation system is in place, and the DC LIST program is working with the U.S. General Services Administration to clean up and prepare the site to be- come the new national headquarters of the federal Bu- reau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF). The building planned for the site is projected to house approximately 1,100 ATF personnel and open in 2005. community. Under EPCRA, facilities that release significant amounts of certain types of toxic chemicals are required to track these releases and lishes this data to inform citizens of toxic chemical management practices in their community and to encourage companies to properly manage toxic provide the data to EPA. EPA pub- chemicals. Want to join us in conserving paper? Sign-up to receive CleanupNews by emai Go to the CleanupNews page at: , enter your email address, and click "Submit." When a new i; CleanupNews comes out, you'll receive it in HTML—right to your desktop! Note: Signing up for electronic issues does not automati tion. Send hard copy subscription change requests to cleanup 5 ------- United Airlines Agrees to Pay $850,000 for Violations o o 0) On July 12, EPA announced that United Airlines, Inc. will pay an $850,000 civil penalty for hazardous waste violations observed at its San Francisco International Airport air- craft maintenance facility. In addition, United and EPA created an environ- mental compliance management sys- tem to help achieve ongoing compli- ance with hazardous waste regula- tions. The violations, which were uncov- ered through EPA inspections in 1999 and2001, spannedboth state andfed- eral hazardous waste laws. The is- sues found included open hazardous waste containers, improp- erly labeled hazard- ous waste containers, and storage of haz- ardous waste for longer than legally permitted. For additional information, contact Cameron McDonald, EPARegion9, (415) 972-3308. An open oil/solvent 50-gallon drum. Court Grants Full Recovery and Assesses Penalties Against Fiberglass Manufacturer by David Dowton, Office of Site Remediation Enforcement The district court for Puerto Rico has awarded the United States roughly $3 million in response costs and has assessed over $1 million in penalties for RCRA and CERCLA vio- lations at the J&G and Catano sites (2004 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 16000). After a preliminary inspection of the site revealed leaking drums, EPA made a number of attempts to obtain voluntary access to undertake a more comprehensive inspection and perform initial sampling. EPAs efforts were unsuccessful. Access was eventually obtained via a warrant and an inven- tory of stored hazardous substances, and an initial sampling was per- formed. Later EPA issued an admin- istrative order directing defendants to comply with EPAs request for access. EPA also issued the defendants a RCRA information request seeking detailed information of the materials used on site. The defendants failed to comply with either the order or the in- formation request. With defendants refusing to comply with EPAs order, access was once again obtained via a warrant. Subsequent inspection of the sites found hundreds of drums containing hazardous sub- stances haphazardly stored. Many drums were in a deteriorated state and were leaking. Sampling indicatedthat a number of drums were leaking ac- etone, styrene, and arsenic among other things. The material in many drums was also considered a RCRA hazardous waste because of its low flash point. Based on the site investi- gation and sampling, EPA determined that a removal action was appropri- ate. The Agency incurred roughly $3 million in excavating the drums and contaminated soil and transporting it for off-site disposal. The United States brought suit seeking recovery of all response costs as well as the civil penalties for failure to comply with various provisions of CERCLA and RCRA. Finding that EPAs removal ac- tion was not arbitrary and capri- cious and was not inconsistent with the NCP, the court awarded the United States all response costs including sampling and in- vestigation costs and indirect costs. In addition, the court as- sessed a penalty of $750,000 for various RCRA violations includ- ing the storage and disposal of RCRA hazardous wastes without a permit. The court found that the defendant's failure to provide access to the sites was a violation under Section 104 of CERCLA and assessed a $102,000 penalty. Fi- nally, the court assessed the de- fendants a penalty of $263,200 for failure to comply with the RCRA information request. The court also found that the defendants are still obligated to respond to the request and ordered the defen- dants to comply with the informa- tion request within 30 days. cleanup ------- EPA Opens New Bedford Facility At the New Bedford press conference to announce the state's new Portfields grant, EPA Region 1 Deputy Admin- istrator Ira Leighton marked the opening of EPAs new $25 million sludge dewatering facility that is criti- cal to the PCB cleanup of New Bedford Harbor. The facility will re- ceive desanded sediments from an- other facility through submerged pipe- lines. The water will then be ex- tracted, treated to stringent stan- dards, and pumped back into the har- bor. The remaining dewatered sedi- ment will be properly disposed of ei- ther through landfilling at an ap- proved facility or in a confined dis- posal facility along the shoreline. Ap- proximately 900,000 cubic yards of sediments will be removed from the harbor and treated by the facility. Dredging is scheduled to start within a month of the announcement. Once the harbor dredging is complete, EPA Green Buildings, continued from page 3 use green building technologies at the redevelopment of a nearby contami- nated property in exchange for penalty mitigation credit. The violations may arise under a variety of statutory au- thorities, and the SEP will generally take place on property not owned by the violator. For example, a company with air violations located in the vi- cinity of a brownfield redevelopment could purchase energy efficient mate- rials/systems or low VOC emitting materials for the redeveloper to help minimize air emissions from the new development. The fact sheet is available online at: http://www.epa.gov/compliance/re- sources/policies/cleanup/brownfields/ sep-redev-fs.pdf. For additional information, contact K.C. Schefski, Office of Site Remediation Enforcement, (202) 564-8213. EPA's new sludge dewatering facility at New Bedford. will turn the sludge dewatering facil- ity, pier, and rail spur over to the city for its use. New Bedford Harbor has been on EPAs National Priorities List since 1983. From the 1940s to the 70s, two electrical component manufacturing plants dumped PCB waste directly into the harbor creating widespread contamination. Fish and lobster ad- visories have been posted to protect human health. To date, EPA has spent over $189 million on planning and engineering the remedy for New Bedford. Portfield, continued from page 1 commitment by federal agencies to work together to more effectively re- develop brownfields. The New Bedford dredging project will involve dredging sediments with contamination levels below Superfund levels. The Portfields fact sheet for New Bedford is available through the NOAA website at: http://www.brownfields.noaa.gov/pdf/ nb_projects_lpager.pdf Correction Correction: The above photo appeared in CleanupNews Summer 2004 with the National Corrective Action Conference article. The caption with the photo incorrectly stated that Dwight Bedsole is with Dow Chemical Company. He is with Dupont Engineering. cleanup ------- September 20-22, 2004 Brownfields 2004: "Gateway to Revitalization" St. Louis, MO http://www,brownfie cls2004,org September 21-23, 2004 Wastecon 2004 Phoenix, AZ http://www,swana,org/sections/ wastecon/ October 7-8,2004 2004 ASTSWMO Annual Meeting Arlington, VA http: 7/www, astswmo.org Of Glossary Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and OUST Explosives pQg DOE Department of Energy EPCRA Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-KnowAct ER3 Environmentally responsible redevelopment and reuse NOAA National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration WL National Priorities List OSRE Office of S ite Remed iation E nforcement OSWER Office of Solid Waste and Emergency Response RCRA RIDEM SEP TH UST WC Office of Underground Storage Tanks Polychlorinated biphenyls Resource Conservation and Recovery Act Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management Record of Decision Supplemental Environmental Project Toxics Release Inventory Underground storage tank Volatile organic compound cleanup CleanupNews is a publication of EPA's Office of Site Remediation Enforcement, in cooperation with the Office of Superfund Remediation and Technology Innovation, Office of Underground Storage Tanks, and Office of Emergency Prevention, Preparedness and Response. CleanupNews II is an electronic supplement to the CleanupNews print edition. The print issue is available four times a year, and the newsletter will be delivered electronically eight times a year (four issues consisting of the print edition and four issues consisting of supplemental news). Past issues of CleanupNews can be found at: http://www.epa.qov/coiiipliaiice/resoiirces/iiaAisletters/cleaiiiip/cleaiiiipiiews.htiiil To comment on the newsletter contact Richard W. Popino, PhD REM, at MC-2271A, U.S. EPA, 1200 Pennsylvania Ave., NW, Washington, DC 20460, emaihpopino.rick@epa.gov. To be added to or deleted from the subscriber list, contact Anne Politis at: anne.politis@dpra.com. To receive CleanupNews by email, subscribe at: http://www.epa.qov/compliance/resources/ list serv/cleanup.html. ^^^enaflo^mpliance/about/offices/osre.html Richard W. Popino, PhD REM, Editor in Chief EPA Review Board; Diane Bartosh, Paul Connor, Sandra Connors, Karen Ellenberger, Elliott Gilberg, Jeff Heimerman, Kenneth Patterson, Neilima Senjalia, Suzanne Wells Christine Rueter, Jam! Habluetzel, and Anne Politis, DPRA Inc..writers RuthColville, DPRA Inc., designer 008$ ^uATj^ joj jfyjuua^ ssauisng T^PUJO VcG aiVdS33d1S39VlSOd ssvnoisyid (VILLZ) AoueSy uoipecpjj ------- |