U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
Fact Sheet # 19
Standard Chlorine of Delaware
(aka Metachem) Site
Delaware City, New Castle County Delaware
Community Update on Cleanup Progress
May 2010
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) continues its cleanup effort at the Standard Chlorine of
Delaware Superfund Site, also known as the Metachem Site, located in Delaware City, New Castle County,
Delaware. EPA is cleaning up the Site in four separate parts, called "operable units," or OUs. This fact sheet
provides a brief status report of the overall cleanup progress and upcoming activities.
Brief Site Background
The Standard Chlorine of Delaware, Inc. Site is a
former chemical manufacturing plant located in an
industrial area in New Castle County, DE, three
miles northwest of Delaware City. Chlorinated
benzene compounds were made on the 65-acre site
from 1966 to 2002. As a result of those activities,
chlorobenzenes from spilled material have been
found in the groundwater, soil, sediments and
surface water. Wetlands near the site are also
contaminated. The site was added to the National
Priorities List (NPL) in 1987, making it eligible to
receive Superfund monies.
EPA has taken responsibility for the site cleanup
where there is no viable Potentially Responsible
Party (PRP). In 2002, the site's owner declared
bankruptcy and abruptly closed the facility, leaving
an additional 40 million pounds of chlorobenzenes
and related chemicals in insecure tanks, pipelines,
process vessels and treatment systems.
To evaluate and address the different areas of
contamination, EPA divided the site into four parts
or "Operable Units" (OUs).
EPA's Region 3 Office has been working with the
Delaware Department of Natural Resources and
Environmental Control (DNREC) and other state
and federal agencies to help clean up the
contamination at this site.
Cleanup Progress and Next Steps
Below is a brief description of the work done to date
and next steps for each OU:
OU-1 interim (short-term) remedy for contaminated
groundwater:
• Groundwater monitoring wells were installed
and quarterly sampling has been ongoing since
2004.
• In 2007, EPA installed a pump-and-treat system
that uses multiple wells; replacing the previous
ineffective onsite wastewater treatment system
that was operated by the facility before EPA
took over the cleanup at the site.
• A sub-surface barrier wall was designed and
constructed to help keep contaminated ground-
water from migrating. Barrier wall construction
was completed in June 2007.
• Both the pump-and-treat system and the barrier
wall will remain in place, operate, and be evalu-
ated for use in the OU-4 remedy.
OU-2 addresses contaminated soils and sediments
contaminated by historic spills:
• Historic spill areas of the site included the rail
car loading area on the west side of the site, as
well as the west-central portion of the site,
where several aboveground storage tanks
collapsed.
• Contamination from these spills flowed north
and west into wetlands near Red Lion Creek. A
total of approximately 40 acres was impacted by
these spills.
• EPA is developing work plans for OU-2 as other
cleanup activities are underway.
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OU-3 long-term remedy for contaminated soils
and soil-gas in the former plant area.
In order to address contaminated soils and
related soil-gas in the area where the manufac-
turing plant used to stand, the OU-3 proposed
cleanup plan consists of:
• capping approximately 23 acres of surface
soil and
• connecting that cap to the sub-surface
barrier wall completed in 2007.
EPA is currently reviewing and carefully
considering all comments that were submitted
during the public comment period for the OU-3
proposed cleanup plan.
Comments submitted to EPA about the OU-3
proposed cleanup plan, along with EPA's re-
sponses to those comments, will be included in
the "Responsiveness Summary" section of the
Record of Decision (ROD). A ROD is a docu-
ment EPA writes to explain the cleanup option
that has been picked for a site, as well as the
basis for selecting that cleanup method.
EPA will run a public notice in the local news-
paper announcing when the ROD and Respon-
siveness Summary are complete (which is
estimated to be by the end of summer 2010).
OU-4 long-term remedy for contaminated
groundwater:
• The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) is
working with EPA on an aquifer study.
This study is separate from the on-site
groundwater monitoring.
• In 2009, EPA installed several new wells to
investigate deeper groundwater contamina-
tion underneath and next to the facility,
specifically looking for site-related
contaminants, such as benzene.
• As expected, contamination was detected in
two of the new wells that EPA installed in
an effort to confirm the location of
suspected contamination. This contamina-
tion was found within 600 feet (~ one tenth
of a mile) of the former Metachem plant.
Other new wells also located near the
former facility, but deeper below ground
surface, did not show contamination
• The level of benzene and chlorobenzene
contamination EPA is finding is considered
high; however, the area of concern is
located far from public drinking water
supplies and is not impacting drinking
water quality. EPA and DNREC will
continue to monitor these new wells
closely.
• EPA and DNREC plan to install more
monitoring wells in 2010 and conduct
additional tests as the study continues.
EPA plans to complete the groundwater
study and select a long-term remedy by
2012.
BEFORE
Totes in storage awaiting transporta-
tion to a licensed disposal facility.
August 2004
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The American Recovery
and Reinvestment Act of
2009 (ARRA or "Recovery
Act")
Cleanup work at this site is being partially
funded by the American Recovery and
Reinvestment Act (ARRA or "Recovery Act").
EPA received over $2.5 million in "stimulus
money" to remove the last of the bulk liquid
chemicals (see BEFORE and AFTER photos)
and to upgrade the groundwater treatment system
(this work is ongoing).
The funding made it possible for these tasks to
be started and/or completed in a shorter period of
time than without the funding. It has allowed us
to accelerate the cleanup of the groundwater at
the site.
~ Disposal of the remaining 800 containers of
bulk liquid chemicals ("totes") was
completed in summer 2009 using the
Recovery Act funds, which is almost three
years ahead of schedule.
~ The groundwater treatment system has been
operating since June 2007 and will continue
running using Recovery Act funds. Recovery
Act funds were also used for treatment plant
upgrades to optimize operations. These
upgrades have resulted in a doubling of the
rate at which contaminated groundwater can
now be treated by the system.
L l.l.lWk
AFTER
All totes have been removed for off-site disposal
July 2009
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For More Information
Online Resources:
http://www.epa.gov/reg3hwmd/npl/DED041212473.htm
http://www.awm.delaware.gov/Pages/Metachem%20cleanup%20update.aspx
If you have additional questions, please contact:
Trish Taylor, EPA Community Involvement Coordinator, 215-814-5539
Hilary Thornton, EPA Remedial Project Manager, 215-814-3323
Todd Keyser, DNREC Project Manager, 302-395-2600
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