U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Region 3 Delaware, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Virginia, West Virginia and the District of Columbia Dwyer property Groundwater Plume ¦ -A ADDED TO EPA NATIONAL PRIORITIES LIST Elkton, Cecil County, MD Dwyer listed as Superfund site On March 10, 2011 the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) listed the Dwyer Property Groundwater Plume on to the National Priorities List (NPL). The NPL is EPA's national list of hazardous waste sites identified for long-term investigation and cleanup under the program commonly known as Superfund. For more information about the Super- fund program and the Dwyer site , please visit the following links. http ://www.epa.gov/superfund/ http://www.epa.gov/reg3hwmd/super/sites/ MDD985366756/index.htm March 2011 Site contamination The Dwyer Property Groundwater Plume was listed on the NPL because elevated levels of the chemical trichloroethene (TCE) were detected in the ground- water above the EPA's Safe Drinking Water Act standards. Testing of private drinking water wells in the area of the site has found no evidence that people are drink- ing contaminated water. However, the EPA plans to conduct additional testing to verify these findings and take additional samples to find out the levels and extent of contamination. For more information about the chemical TCE, visit: http://www.atsdr.cdc.gov/substances/ toxsubstance.asp?toxid=30 A Brief Site History The Dwyer Property Groundwater Site is a portion of a former industrial facility, Triumph Explosives, Inc., which primarily manufactured incendiary bombs, shells, land mines, grenades, and flares for the Department of Defense from the 1930s through the end of World War II. 1946-1948: Bowers Battery and Spark Plug Com- pany manufactured carbon batteries at the site. 1948-1958: Aerial Products, Inc., manufactured black powder fireworks at the site. 1958-1972: Mr. Martin Dwyer produced incendiary flares at the site and used the land to graze cattle. The site is currently abandoned and heavily over grown. You're invited Learn more about the dwyer site Attend an informal open house to meet the EPA site team and ask questions. March 30, 2011 Elkton High School Room F107 110 James St. Elkton MD 21921 6:30 p.m.—8:30 p.m. For more information, contact your EPA Commu- nity Involvement Coordinator, Bill Hudson, at (800) 553-2509 or at hudson.william@epa.gov ------- Next Steps Once a site has been added to the NPL, the next step in the Superfund process is the Remedial Investigation and Feasibility Study (RI/FS). The RI/FS is a long-term study used to find out the extent of the contamination and if there are any potential long-term exposure risks to human health or the environment. The study will also help determine the best cleanup methods to use at the site. Work for the RI/FS may include: ~ Reviewing all existing data to determine what additional tests may be needed to address the TCE contamination. ~ Installing new monitoring wells to better delineate the boundaries of the plumes and to find out the extent of contamination in the groundwater. ~ Sampling monitoring wells to evaluate whether or not seasonal changes impact how the contamination behaves in the groundwater. ~ Preparing a risk assessment to evaluate potential threats to human health and the environment. ~ Evaluating a range of cleanup options that will address the risks at the site and pre- sent those options to the public for com- ment. ~ The RI/FS process may take several years to complete and EPA will continue to keep the community informed as we make progress. Stay Involved and Informed Community involvement is a critical part of EPA's de- cision-making process. Contact your EPA Commu- nity Involvement Coordina- tor for more information about how you can be in- volved: Bill Hudson 1-800-553-2509 (toll free) 1-215-814-5532 (office) hudson.william@epa.gov Upcoming Community Involvement Activities SEPA Open House at Elkton High School March 30, 2011 from 6:30 p.m.—8:30 p.m. At the Open House, EPA will provide information about: ~ How to apply for a Technical Assistance Grant (TAG) to hire an independent technical advisor to help interpret and comment on site-related in- formation, data, reports and other technical docu- ments. ~ How to form a Community Advisory Group to be a liaison between the EPA and the commu- nity. SInterview community members to help design the Community Involvement Plan for the site. Interviews include a short survey and an opportunity to discuss site-related concerns or questions (scheduling will be- gin in April 2011). ^Provide updated fact sheets to the community as EPA makes progress at the site. A local information repository has been established to house documents related to the Dwyer site at: Cecil County Public Library - Elkton Branch 301 Newark Ave, Elkton, MD 21921 410-996-5600 http://www.cecil.ebranch.info/ contact-us/elkton/ More Information ------- |