EPA Proposes Plan to Remove Contaminated Soil from Nepera Chemical Superfund Site in Orange County, N.Y.; EPA to Hold Public Meeting on June 15 to Discuss Plan (NY)
(New York, N.Y.) The U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency (EPA) today released a proposed plan to remove
contaminated soil from the site of former lagoons at the Nepera
Chemical Company, Inc. Superfund site in Hamptonburgh, N.Y. EPA has
developed three options to address contaminated soil at the former
lagoons and has selected excavation and off-site disposal of the
contaminated soil as its preferred alternative. This plan amends
EPA’s 2007 cleanup plan for the site, which called for
excavating contaminated soil and treating the soil on-site to
degrade contaminants, but not removing soil from the site. The 2007
plan also included treatment of contaminated ground water at the
site. The ground water treatment activities at the site will not
change under the amended plan. The public can comment on
EPA’s plan until June 20, 2011. On June 15, EPA will hold a
public meeting to discuss the plan at 7:00 p.m. at the Hamptonburgh
Town Hall at 18 Bull Road in Campbell Hall, N.Y.
“EPA’s preferred alternative for
removing contaminated soil from the Nepera Chemical site is the
fastest way to complete this critical phase of the site
cleanup,” said EPA Regional Administrator Judith Enck.
“The contaminants in this soil – especially
semi-volatile and volatile organic compounds – are harmful to
human health, so removing them as quickly as possible must be a
priority.”
Subsurface soil at the Nepera Chemical site
contains a variety of contaminants, including semi-volatile and
volatile organic compounds. People could potentially be harmed if
they ingest or come into contact with contaminated soil or water.
Ground water samples from nearby residential wells and three public
supply wells have not revealed site-related contamination.
Additionally, the site is fenced in order to limit the potential
for exposure to site-related surface soil
contamination.
Three cleanup options for addressing the
contaminated soil are described in EPA’s proposed plan for
the site:
· Excavating
contaminated soil which would be disposed of at a permitted
off-site facility. This option would take about one year to
complete and cost about $3,025,000. This is EPA’s preferred
alternative.
· Excavating
contaminated soil and treating it on-site using techniques to
extract and break down contaminants in the soil. This option would
take at least two years and cost about $3,119,000.
· Taking no
action, which is an option that EPA is required to consider for any
cleanup plan.
The Nepera Chemical Company, Inc., Superfund
site is a 29.3-acre former industrial waste disposal facility.
Nepera made a variety of pharmaceutical and industrial chemicals.
Between 1953 and 1967, lagoons at the site received approximately
50,000 gallons of waste water per day from the Nepera Chemical
plant in Harriman, N.Y. The six backfilled lagoons cover roughly
five acres in total. State inspectors detected leaks from the
lagoons in 1958 and 1960, and operations ended in December 1967.
About 7,000 people live within three miles of the
site.
Contamination at the site has been addressed in
two stages: short-term actions and a long-term remedial phase
focusing on cleanup of the entire site. Short-term actions have
included the filling of the lagoons in 1974, the construction of a
fence limiting access to the site and the disposal of three drums
found during an excavation in 1991. Ground water monitoring and
soil sampling have been a primary component of the long-term
remedial investigation. EPA approved a final remedial investigation
study in March 2006 and completed its proposed cleanup plan in July
2007. This plan included excavating contaminated soil and treating
it on-site to degrade the contaminants. Additional data collected
since implementing the 2007 plan showed that less soil than
originally expected would need to be removed from the site. The
expected costs of removing soil also decreased. EPA proposed
removing excavated soil from the site as it will significantly
shorten the time needed to complete the site cleanup.
The proposed plan is available on EPA’s
website at https://www.epa.gov/aboutepa/epa-region-2. It is also available at the Hamptonburgh Town Hall
at 18 Bull Road, Campbell Hall, N.Y. and EPA’s New York City
office at 290 Broadway, 18th floor, New York,
N.Y.
Members of the public can comment on EPA’s
proposed plan until June 20, 2011 and send them to:
Mark Dannenberg, Remedial Project Manager
U.S. EPA
290 Broadway, 20th Floor
New York, N.Y. 10007-1866
Fax: (212) 637-4251
Email:
[email protected]
Follow EPA Region 2 on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/eparegion2 and visit our Facebook page, https://www.facebook.com/eparegion2.
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