Pollution Abatement Services New York EPA Id# Nyd000511659

i i iTi/->ki EPA REGION 2
POLLUTION CONGRESSIONAL DIST. 24
. . ______ . _ Oswego County
ABATEMENT 0swego
SERVICES
NEW YORK
EPA ID# NYD000511659
Site Description
The 15.5-acre Pollution Abatement Services (PAS) facility, which served as a chemical waste
incineration facility from 1970 to 1977, consisted of three lagoons containing more than a million
gallons of oil and mixed hydrocarbons, several aboveground and underground storage tanks containing
contaminated waste oil, and more than 15,000 leaking and deteriorating drums. Throughout the
operation of the facility, PAS experienced operational problems and was cited for numerous air and water
quality violations by state and federal agencies. From 1973 to 1976, lagoon overflows and liquid waste
spills were common, releasing wastes into the adjacent Wine Creek, which flows into Lake Ontario. In
response, the U.S. Coast Guard, EPA, and the New York State Department of Environmental
Conservation (NYSDEC) performed a number of emergency cleanup activities at the site. Following
the closure of the facility in 1977, all hazardous wastes were removed.
Approximately 24,000 people reside within 3 miles of the site. The immediate area is sparsely populated
and is zoned primarily for commercial and industrial activity. The Oswego municipal water treatment
plant has a surface water intake system on Lake Ontario approximately 1 mile from the point where Wine
Creek enters the lake. Municipally-supplied water has been made available to residents, but several have
opted to continue using private wells.
Site Responsibility: This site was addressed through federal, NpL L|ST|NG history
state, and potentially responsible parties' Proposed Date. 10/01/81
actions. Final Date: 09/01/83
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Threats and Contaminants
The on-site ground water is contaminated with various heavy metals and volatile organic
compounds (VOCs). The on-site soil is contaminated with polychlorinated biphenyls
(PCBs). Sludges are contaminated with PCBs and heavy metals. The potential exists
for health risks if contaminated ground water is ingested or touched.
Cleanup Approach
This site was addressed in four stages: immediate actions and three long-term remedial phases focusing
on the cleanup of surface contamination, the entire site, and off-site contamination.
Response Action Status
Immediate Actions: Over a 10-year span, numerous immediate cleanup activities to
reduce the threat to the public and the environment were undertaken. In 1976, EPA
constructed a dike to prevent an overflow of contaminants from entering the ground water
and soil in the surrounding area. In 1977, EPA treated and discharged the contaminated water from the
lagoons. A fence with a locked gate was constructed around the site in 1980 to keep unauthorized
individuals from entering. That same year, EPA overpacked and relocated 500 drums on-site. An
additional 1,200 drums were overpacked in 1981, and surface runoff controls were installed. The site
was covered with a clay cap, topsoil, and vegetation.
Surface Contamination: In 1982, EPA removed the site's superstructures and approxi
mately 10,000 drums of contaminants from the site. In 1987, 500,000 gallons of contami-
nated ground water were pumped from the site and sent off-site for treatment.
Entire Site: A ROD was signed on July 6, 1984. The selected remedy included the
following: (1) limited excavations and removal of contaminated soil, as well as the removal
of subsurface tanks and remaining drums to an EPA-approved landfill; (2) containment of
the wastes through the construction of an impermeable cap, perimeter slurry wall and leachate collection;
(3) on-site treatment of the leachate and contaminated ground water; and (4) ground-water monitoring.
These remedial activities were conducted by NYSDEC and, with the exception of the on-site treatment
system, were completed in 1986. In September 1991, EPA and a group of PRPs entered into an interim
leachate and ground-water removal administrative order on consent (AOC). This AOC requires the
routine removal of leachate and ground water from within the containment system until a permanent
treatment system is constructed. The extracted leachate and ground water (approximately 15,000 gallons
every two weeks) is currently transported to an EPA-approved treatment and disposal facility.
f\ Post-Closure Investigations: Since the construction ofthe containment system, various
post-closure investigations indicated the presence of VOCs in the ground water outside of
the containment system. Under EPA supervision, the PRPs completed an RI/FS to determine
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the nature and extent of this ground water contamination and to identify remedial alternatives. The
investigation was completed in the fall of 1993. A ROD was signed in December 1993. The selected
remedy to address this contamination problem includes, among other things, enhancing the present
source control system by optimizing operating parameters, bedrock ground-water extraction and
treatment, and connecting downgradient residents in the Smith's Beach area, who are using residential
wells, to the public water supply to ensure that potential future exposure to contaminants in the bedrock
ground water does not occur. A Phase I Supplemental Pre-Remedial Design Study to evaluate the
potential effectiveness of bedrock pumping to contain impacted ground water in the bedrock outside the
containment system, and to determine potential impacts of bedrock ground-water pumping on the
existing containment system and the creeks and wetlands was completed in 1994. It was determined that
pumping of the bedrock groundwater was not necessary and perhaps not even possible without impacting
the adj acent wetlands. A Phase II Supplemental Pre-Remedial Design Study, completed in September 1996,
concluded that the Pollution Abatement Services site is not the source of pesticides in the surface water of
Wine Creek and is not presently a source of PCB contamination in the sediments in the adjacent wetlands and
Wine and White Creeks (although it was a likely source of PCB contamination before the construction of
the containment facility in 1986). The Phase II Supplemental Pre-Remedial Design Study also identified two
additional potential sources of PCBs in the sediments in the wetlands and creeks in the vicinity of the
Pollution Abatement Services site. The findings of the Phase I and II Supplemental Pre-Remedial Design
Studies were documented in a September 1996 Explanation of Significant Differences.
Since residual PCBs from the Pollution Abatement Services site may remain in the sediments in the vicinity
of the site and, therefore, may act as a continuing source of contamination, a focused feasibility study was
completed in August 1997. The purpose of this study was to identify and evaluate remedial alternatives to
address the PCB-contaminated sediments. A ROD addressing the PCB-contaminated sediments was signed
on September 30, 1997. The selected remedy requires no further remedial action, however, it does require
long-term monitoring of the PCB-contaminated sediments at the site. Since no further physical construction
is necessary at this site, the site qualified for inclusion on the Construction Completion List with the signing
of the ROD in September 1997.
In lune 1998, EPA issued a Five-Year Review Report, which concluded that the remedies at the site were
implemented in accordance with the remedies selected in the RODs and that the remedies set forth in the
RODs are fully protective of human health and the environment. EPA will conduct another Five-Y ear Review
on or before December 2003.
Site Facts: In 1990, the PRPs signed an AOC with EPA to undertake an investigation into the nature
and extent of the contamination located outside the slurry wall surrounding the site. In July 1994, the
PRPs executed an AOC with EPA to perform the Supplemental Pre-Remedial Design Study. Following
negotiations with the PRPs related to the continued performance of the operation and maintenance related
to the containment remedy, a Consent Decree was executed with EPA. The Consent Decree was entered
in U.S. District Court (approved by the Judge) on August 10, 1998. In September 1998, EPA entered
into a Consent Decree with the PRPs to undertake the PCB-monitoring activities called for in the 1997
ROD. The Consent Decree was entered in U. S. District Court on February 25, 1999. The work called
for in both Consent Decrees is currently underway.
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(Construction Completed: Monitoring Underway)
The immediate and long-term cleanup actions undertaken at the site have greatly reduced the threat to public
health and the environment. These efforts include the treatment and discharge of more than one million
gallons of contaminated water that were contained in on-site lagoons, the removal of more than 10,000 drums
of contaminants from the site, the capping of the 15.5-acre landfill, the installation of a slurry wall, and the
extraction and off-site treatment/disposal, to date, of approximately 2.4 million gallons of leachate.
Cleanup Progress
Site Repositories |^jj	
Oswego City Hall, West Oneida Street, Oswego, NY 13126
EPA Region II Superfund Records Center, 290 Broadway, 18th Floor, New York, NY 10007-1866
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