EPA Adds Nine HazWaste Sites to Superfund List, Proposes 13 More

Environment News Service (ENS)

EPA Adds Nine HazWaste Sites to Superfund List, Proposes 13 More

WASHINGTON, DC, April 8, 2009 (ENS) - In Dayton, Ohio in 2003 and again in 2006, volatile organic compounds were detected in ground water beneath the Behr Dayton Thermal Products factory, which made vehicle air conditioning and engine-cooling systems. To address health risks from the contaminated water, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency installed vapor removal systems in 150 homes in the neighborhood south of the plant. Chrysler Corporation, which owned and operated the facility from 1937 until April 2002, installed systems at 54 homes south of the site.

Today, the EPA announced that it is adding the Behr Dayton Thermal Products site to the National Priorities List of Superfund sites, along with eight other sites.

The Behr Dayton Thermal Products factory as it was in 2001 (Photo courtesy IUE-CWA)

With the addition of the Behr Dayton site to the Superfund list, the U.S. EPA and state partner Ohio EPA will develop a long-term cleanup plan for the site. The first step will be a new study involving comprehensive sampling of soil, ground water and air in the area near the site.

Nearby, the New Carlisle Landfill, at 715 N. Dayton-Lakeview Road in New Carlisle, Ohio operated from the mid-1950s until the early 1970s. It is now covered with two to four feet of clay, but was not designed with a protective liner in the manner of modern landfills. Ohio EPA data indicates that water from two public wells and two residential wells in the nearby area contain vinyl chloride above the safe drinking water level. Both state and federal agencies are concerned about potential migration of the vinyl chloride toward residential wells within one-half mile of the site, so this site was also added to the Superfund list today.

Also in Ohio, the U.S. EPA proposes to add the Little Scioto River to the Superfund list - one of 13 sites proposed for listing today.

The Little Scioto River lies to the west of Marion, in Marion Township, Ohio. It flows into the Scioto River, a major tributary of the Ohio River. A four-mile stretch of river sediment is contaminated with coal tar creosote containing hazardous polynuclear aromatic hydrocarbons, or PAHs, from the former Baker Wood Creosoting facility in Marion, a wood treatment plant that operated from the 1890s to 1960s.

Since 1992 Ohio Department of Health has maintained a heath advisory against swimming, wading and eating fish from this stretch of the river.

Using a mix of U.S. Coast Guard Oil Pollution Act and Superfund emergency removal funds, the U.S. EPA conducted substantial excavation work from 2002 to 2006, removing 68,000 tons of sediment along about two miles of the river as well as a polluted shoreline area.

In 2006, the federal agency estimated the total cost of the multi-year river cleanup effort at a minimum of $20 million. Placing the Little Scioto River on the Superfund list would make the site eligible for additional cleanup resources and long-term planning.

A site may be placed on the Superfund list if it meets all three of these criteria:

The Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has issued a health advisory that recommends removing people from the site The U.S. EPA determines the site poses a significant threat to public health; and EPA anticipates it will be more cost-effective to use its remedial authority than to use its emergency removal authority to respond to the site.

Or a site can be listed if it scores high in a numeric ranking established by EPA�s Hazard Ranking System. Finally, designation by states or territories of one top-priority site will place it on the list.

These nine sites were added to the Superfund List today:

Raleigh Street Dump: Tampa, Florida
Arkla Terra Property: Thonotosassa, Florida
U.S. Smelter and Lead Refinery, Inc.: East Chicago, Indiana
Fort Detrick Area B Ground Water: Frederick, Maryland
Behr Dayton Thermal System VOC Plume: Dayton, Ohio
New Carlisle Landfill: New Carlisle, Ohio
BoRit Asbestos: Ambler, Pennsylvania
Barite Hill/Nevada Goldfields: McCormick, South Carolina
Attebury Grain Storage Facility: Happy, Texas

The following 13 sites have been proposed to the National Priorities List:

General Dynamics Longwood: Longwood, Florida
Lane Street Ground Water Contamination: Elkhart, Indiana
Southwest Jefferson County Mining: Jefferson County, Missouri
Flat Creek IMM: Superior, Montana
Ore Knob Mine: Ashe County, North Carolina
GMH Electronics: Roxboro, North Carolina
Raritan Bay Slag: Old Bridge/Sayreville, New Jersey
Gowanus Canal: Brooklyn, New York
Little Scioto River: Marion County, Ohio
Foster Wheeler Energy Corporation/Church Road TCE: Mountain Top, Pennsylvania
Papelera Puertorriquena, Inc.: Utuado, Puerto Rico
Peck Iron and Metal: Portsmouth, Virginia
Amcast Industrial Corporation: Cedarburg, Wisconsin

With all Superfund sites, the EPA tries to identify and locate the parties potentially responsible for the contamination. For the newly listed sites without viable potentially responsible parties, EPA will investigate the full extent of the contamination before starting cleanup at the site, so, the agency says, it may be several years before significant cleanup funding is required for these sites.

To date, there have been 1,596 Superfund sites listed. Of these, 332 sites have been deleted, resulting in 1,264 sites currently on the list.

With the proposal of the 13 new sites, there are 67 proposed sites awaiting final agency action - 62 in the general Superfund section and five in the federal facilities section for a total of 1,331 final and proposed sites.

Click here for Federal Register notices and supporting documents for these new final and proposed sites.

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