The Ogden Swift Building sits on the banks of the Weber River in Ogden, Utah. The facility was formerly a meat packing plant. It was eventually sold to a private business which used it to store surplus military items (including chemicals). A portion of the building was also leased to a chemical manufacturer which went bankrupt, leaving its inventory behind. The Site is currently owned by the City of Ogden and is being considered for re-development.

In 2018, an EPA Targeted Brownfields Assessment was conducted on behalf of the City of Ogden at the Site. This assessment documented more than 40,000 abandoned containers of chemicals including flammables, corrosives, toxic substances, water reactives, potential explosives and other dangerous chemicals.

The Site was referred to EPA's Emergency Response Unit. The City of Ogden granted EPA access to the property on March 19, 2019 and EPA initiated response operations on March 29, 2019.

EPA's objectives during the March 29-April 5, 2019 Operational Period were to:

1. Establish process to provide updates to stakeholders.

2. Establish air monitoring at perimeter and in work zones.

3. Remove debris and clear safe pathways throughout the facility.

4. Develop procedures to label, stage and categorize containers.

5. Identify priorities and address the most urgent situations.

1. EPA's On-Scene Coordinator conducted a kickoff meeting on Monday April 1st, 2019 with the local Fire Chief and other Public Safety officials as well as city and state officials. EPA established a website (https://response.epa.gov/OgdenSwiftBuilding) and distributed a Site Update to keep stakeholders and the public informed of EPA's response effort.

2. EPA conducted air monitoring at the perimeter and in various work zones. No concerning results were reported at the perimeter and no unexpected results were reported in the work zones.

3. EPA's crews began to clear pathways and debris from the work zones.

4. EPA established staging areas and developed a protocol to label, stage and categorize containers.

5. EPA has identified an area of the building containing calcium hydride, an extremely water reactive chemical. EPA plans to address this area of the building once debris has been removed and a clear pathway has been established.

- Finalize communication pathways with stakeholders.

- Continue conducting air monitoring at the perimeter and in work zones.

- Continue clearing safe pathways throughout the facility and establishing work zones.

- Prioritize the removal of hazardous substances and begin to address the most urgent situations.

EPA's objectives during the April 6-12, 2019 Operational Period were to:

1. Continue air monitoring at perimeter and in work zones.

2. Remove debris and clear safe pathways throughout the facility.

3. Begin to label, stage, sample, and categorize containers.

4. Sort and consolidate water reactive substances.

5. Clear rooms to be used as container staging areas.

1. Air monitoring conducted in the work zones only shows elevated air concentrations directly associate with EPA's work.  This is usually with the opening of containers for sampling, or in some cases when clearing debris uncovers leaking containers.  All personnel in the work areas are wearing respiratory protection.  There have been no elevated levels measured in the Site perimeter air monitoring. 

2. Crews have completed clearing entry points into the basement and first floor of the former Meat Packing building, and have cleared paths to two of the locations were numerous (several thousand) containers have been found.  Crews have also successfully cleared the rooms in the basement and first floor of the Meat Packing building that will be used for container staging and sampling.  The team removed all the debris from the storage bay adjacent to the Admin Building and staged and segregated the water reactive substances (CaH and Magnesium based MRE heaters ).  Crews also found and segregated several hundred containers of flammable materials and what appear to be containers of arsenic based rat poison.  A more exact counting of these containers is in progress.  In the process of removing the debris from these areas several hundred containers were taken to the staging areas. This has resulted in over 480 cubic yards of solid waste being sent off-site for disposal.  In addition 280 cubic yards of scrap metal has been sent off-site for recycling.

3. Crews constructed an outside drum staging area and began to label and sample containers located in the outside "Yard" areas.  Over 180 containers have been sampled and Hazard Categorization testing is underway.

- Finalize communication pathways with stakeholders.

- Continue conducting air monitoring at the perimeter and in work zones.

- Continue clearing safe pathways throughout the facility and establishing work zones.

- Prioritize the removal of hazardous substances and begin to address the most urgent situations.

EPA's objectives during the April 13-19, 2019 Operational Period were to:

1. Continue air monitoring in work zones and at perimeter.

2. Remove debris and clear safe pathways and work zones in the basement and first floors.

3. Collect and stage containers of hazardous substances.

4. Sample and categorize the hazardous substances in the staged containers.

1. Air monitoring conducted in the work zones occasionally showed elevated levels of contamination that were predictably associated with EPA's work. This work included opening containers for sampling, analyzing samples on-site to categorize hazardous substances and clearing debris which uncovered leaking containers.  All personnel in the work areas continued to wear appropriate respiratory protection. There were no elevated levels of contamination detected in the perimeter air monitoring. 

2. EPA completed clearing debris and containers from the underground passages that connect the basements of the administration and meat packing buildings. EPA also expanded its ability to store containers by clearing an expanded area in both the basement and first floor of the meat packing building. To date, a total of 1120 cubic yards of non-hazardous debris has been shipped off-site for disposal and 360 cubic yards of metal has been shipped off-site for recycling.

3a. The room in the basement of the meat packing plant where an historic mercury spill occurred was cleared of mercury. Libby amphibole asbestos that was discovered mixed in with the mercury was also addressed. Crews are now clearing the thousands of additional containers of hazardous substances that were discovered in this room.  

3b. Most of the containers of hazardous substances that were cleared throughout the facility during this operational period were moved to staging areas in the basement and first floor of the meat packing plant for sampling. Containers of hydrofluoric acid, mercury, water reactive materials and other substances of particular concern were moved to the vehicle bay on the west end of the administrative building.

4. Over 500 containers of hazardous substances have been sampled and characterized. Crews are now beginning to segregate these containers into preliminary waste streams for compatibility testing.

- Maintain communication pathways with stakeholders.

- Continue conducting air monitoring in work zones and at the perimeter.

- Continue clearing debris and processing containers of hazardous substances in the basement and first floors.

- Clear debris outside the facility and begin construction of on-site treatment and bulking areas to both the north and the east of the meat packing building.

EPA's objectives during the April 20-26, 2019 Operational Period were to:

1. Continue air monitoring in work zones and at the perimeter.

2. Remove debris and clear safe pathways and work zones.

3. Collect and stage containers of hazardous substances.

4. Sample, categorize and segregate the staged containers.

5. Create areas to treat and/or bulk hazardous substances.

6. Begin disposing of oil that has been discovered on site.

1. Air monitoring conducted in the work zones occasionally showed elevated levels of contamination that were predictably associated with EPA's work of clearing debris and opening containers. All personnel in the work areas continued to wear appropriate respiratory protection. The sampling team upgraded to supplied air as the number of unknown containers increased. There were no elevated levels of contamination detected in the perimeter air monitoring.

2. EPA largely completed clearing debris from the basements of the administrative and meat packing buildings and continued to clear debris from the first floor of the meat packing building. EPA removed debris from the yard north of the meat packing and garage buildings in anticipation of treatment and bulking activities. To date, a total of roughly 1200 cubic yards of non-hazardous debris has been shipped off-site for disposal and 360 cubic yards of metal has been shipped off-site for recycling.

3a. EPA continued to address a room in the basement of the meat packing building where a historic mercury spill occurred. The mercury mixed with Libby Amphibole Asbestos was cleared during the last operational period but additional mercury and more Libby Amphibole (used as packing material in boxes of oil) were found further back in the room. Crews are now clearing this material and other containers from this room.  

3b. Containers were collected from the basements, first floor of the meat packing building, pole barn, garage and yard north of the meat packing building. These containers were moved to a staging area in the basement for assessment and/or sampling.

4. Over 900 samples have been analyzed as part of EPA's effort to characterize hazardous materials. Several thousand other containers have been also characterized based on their labels. Crews are now segregating these containers according to their chemical characteristics in preparation for treatment and/or bulking.

5. Crews are preparing the yard north of the meat packing building for treatment of the calcium hydride and hydrofluoric acid that has been discovered on Site. The team is installing a series of six 1000 gallon tanks in the area north of the garage building for bulking materials before disposal. Several lined pits are also being constructed to the east of the meat packing building for treatment of solid waste.

6. EPA shipped approximately 2110 gallons of engine lubricant oil off-site for disposal from 40 drums that have been collected in the basements.

- Maintain communication with stakeholders.

- Continue conducting air monitoring in work zones and at the perimeter.

- Continue clearing debris and processing containers of hazardous substances in the basement and first floors.

- Bulk paint and oil that has been discovered on-site to date.

- Treat the water reactive calcium hydride and hydrofluoric acid that has been discovered on-site. EPA will notify stakeholders before this activity begins.

EPA's objectives during the April 27 - May 3, 2019 Operational Period were to:

1. Continue air monitoring in work zones and at the perimeter.

2. Remove debris and clear safe pathways and work zones.

3. Collect and stage containers of hazardous substances.

4. Sample, categorize and segregate the staged containers.

5. Begin to treat, bulk and dispose of hazardous substances.