United States Environmental Protection Agency
Region II
POLLUTION REPORT

Subject: 

At 1615 hours on 10/29/08 EPA received a notification from the NRC that a chemical release was occurring at Abrachem Chemical, a bulk chemical packaging facility that leased a building in Clifton, Passaic County, NJ.  The NJ Dept. of Environmental Protection was on-scene and requested EPA's presence.

At 1730 hours OSC Ellen Banner and OSC Paul Kahn responded to the scene.  The company was found to be storing drums and bulk containers of known and unknown chemicals in 17 56-foot long intermodal shipping carriers (ISCs), stacked 3 tiers high (approx. 35 feet).  Only 5 of the ISCs could be opened, and inside those it was observed that drums and bulk containers were staged behind tiers of empty poly drums, giving  the impression that the ISCs were used for new drum storage.  EPA observed that in the one ISC where the release originated at least one drum was leaking its contents onto a wooden pallet; strong chemical odors emanated from the open door of the ISC and were also pervasive in the general area.  

The Operator of Abrachem retained the services of a remediation company, and contractor personnel were advised to lay poly sheeting and begin removing and overpacking the leaking and unknown drums that were readily accessible.  Work commenced almost immediately, but at 2100 hours was halted due to lack of adequate lighting and inability to phyusically access the majority of the drums through the narrow doorway.  

The Operator of Abrachem and the Owner of the property was issued a Field Expedient Notice, and in response the Operator stated he would initiate a removal action.  When his efforts to respond to the release, and threats of a release, proved to be inadequate EPA sought voluntary access to initiate a response action.  This access was denied on two occasions.  On 12/4/2008 EPA issued a Unilateral Administrative Order (UAO) for access.  The Operator refused to comply with the UAO and EPA referred the matter to the Department of Justice for a legal remedy.  On 1/8/2009 a federal Magistrate issued an access warrant to EPA to initiate a response action at the Site.

Removal activities continue.  OSC continues to work with chemical suppliers to retrieve their chemicals for reuse or disposal.  

On 6/30 Givaudan Flavors Corp. shipped four drums of mixed organics for T & D at no cost to the government.

On 6/30 rep from the company that purchased the heavy lift crane was on Site to begin dismantling the crane in preparation for shipping it to Mexico.

On 6/30 one of the ERRS crew reported not feeling well.  Based on his symptoms and no
improvement over 30 minutes, he was driven to a local IH clinic where he was diagnosed with heat stress.  He was driven to a local hospital and IV fluids were administered.  He returned to light duty on 7/1 and by 7/2 was fully recovered.  The Health & Safety Plan has been amended to reflect hot weather-related illness and injuries.  In addition, depending on the nature of the work on any given day and the temperature/humidity, longer and/or more frequent breaks may be necessary to prevent heat-related illnesses.

On 7/1 an architect for the owner of the property was on Site to do a detailed walk-thru of the entire building.

On 7/2 Ashland Chemical picked up 7 drums of waste ethers and amines for T & D at no cost to the government.

ERRS continues to bulk partial drums and to stage drums in discreet waste streams for T & D.

ERRS forwarded the last of three sets of analytical data for the composite drums sampling, oil and solids.  A copy of the data was electronically transmitted to the tech rep for the property owner Clifton 2003, LLC, in addition to other data that was requested but which remained to be compiled by ERRS.  In the spirit of mutual cooperation, EPA has provided a prompt and thorough response to every request for information made by the property owner.

Keep bulking partial drums of chemicals for T & D.  Continue efforts to have chemical companies come forward to address the removal of their chemicals for T & D or recycling into commerce.

ERRS is preparing the bid package for T & D of the remaining waste chemicals at the Site.  The OSC should have the package to review and approve during the week of 7/6.

Bulking compatible chemicals is approaching a conclusion, as is grouping chemicals by waste stream.

Review and issue bid packages for T & D of the approximately 1,000 remaining drums of waste chemicals.

See above