The Site is an abandoned paper mill encompassing numerous buildings used for the manufacture of paper products. The Site is situated on approximately 75 acres and is located between Frenchtown Road and the Delaware River. Numerous areas of environmental significance have been identified on Site in the main production plant, the resin manufacturing plant and waste water treatment plant and aeration lagoons. The focus of this removal action is to address an early response action to address the removal of oil-containing electrical equipment.
On May 13, 2008, EPA completed the RSE. EPA observed that the facility had sustained significant damage due to vandalism, scavenging, arson and weather exposure that reportedly occurred after operations ceased at the facility. Process equipment, tanks, and metal had been torn from their places; there were holes in floors and walls; the structures were littered with debris, building rubble (cinder blocks, bricks, sheet rock), damaged equipment, ductwork and electrical conduit; and electrical transformers near the front of the Main Mill and behind the cogeneration power plant had been removed and/or scavenged as evidenced by the missing equipment and the presence of damaged ceramic insulators scattered in those areas.
The RSE concluded that operations and waste disposal practices at the Site, and the vandalism, scavenging, arson and weather exposure that took place after closure of operations, led to releases of hazardous substances at the Site, based on, inter alia, the following findings: a. buildings at the Site have been damaged due to scavenging and vandalism, resulting in damage to ACM and presumed ACM inside and outside the Site structures; b. friable asbestos has been documented throughout the Site, including in samples collected outside of the buildings; c. elevated levels of polychlorinated biphenyls (“PCBs”) have been identified in the soil near the power plant, in former discharge pipes leading from the Coatings Facility into Quequacommissacong Creek (Q Creek), and in the soil and sediment on the banks of Q Creek; and d. elevated levels of volatile organics compounds (“VOCs”) have been identified in the subsurface soils between the Coatings Facility and Q Creek as a result of past releases from a cluster of underground storage tanks.
Based on the RSE, EPA found that a CERCLA removal action was warranted at the Site, and recommended that: all friable asbestos present outside the buildings/rooms at the Site be removed, collected and disposed of; an asbestos survey be conducted on the roof tops of the Main Mill and the Coatings Facility and inside the Main Mill and Coatings Facility; all friable ACM present within the buildings that is directly exposed to the outside be removed and disposed of or all building openings be sealed and secured; any liquids, heels and/or residues containing CERCLA hazardous substances, pollutants or contaminants in aboveground storage tanks, vessels, piping, pits and sumps be characterized, removed and disposed of; elevated levels of PCBs in and around the pipes
associated with the Coatings Facility be evaluated, including a determination of the
source of the PCB contamination in and around Quequacommissacong Creek, and a source removal conducted; and elevated levels of VOCs in the vicinity of the Coatings Facility be evaluated and a source removal conducted.
