United States Environmental Protection Agency
Region IV
POLLUTION REPORT

Subject: 

BACKGROUND

The Warrior Rosin Site is located at 3100 Warrior Road in Tuscaloosa, Tuscaloosa County, Alabama.  File information indicates that the Alabama Binder Company deposited tall oil, a viscous black pitch-like substance, into two unlined lagoons on site. The material has been leaking from the lagoons and observed flowing throught the woods toward the Warrior River.  The main building on site contains fifty two 55-gallon drums.  Some of the drums contained powdered materials, were labeled as Caustic Soda, and were exposed or leaking their contents.  Twelve above ground storage tanks are located near the main building.  The content of the tanks is unknown.


On July 15, 2008, OSC Les Simms responded to a release of tall oil from one of the lagoons.  The Potentially Responsible Party hired a contractor to begin cleanup operations.  The PRP excavated the tall oil released from the lagoons and stockpiling the tall oil in an area adjacent to the lagoon. However, no actions were taken to prevent further release of tall oil from the lagoons and the stockpiled material was left on site

OSC Tanner initiated a removal action at this site on December 14, 2009. The initial site work begain with clearing the vegetation and constructing a road to the lagoons containing the tall oil. The lagoons collected rainwater which needed to be removed prior to the excavation of the tall oil. A culvert located on the adjacent property which drains the surface water from the site was plugged.  Alabama Southern Railroad owns the culvert.  OSC Tanner met with the railroad regarding clearing the drainage culvert.  Further inspection revealed that the mouth of the culvert was plugged with debri.  The debri was removed which cleared the surface water pathway and allowed the water to leave the site.  Silt fence was also installed along the northern section of the lagoons to control erosion.

In its current state the tall oil has the consistency of taffy and can not readily be loaded directly into a truck.  The addition of a substrate was needed therefore a bench scale test was performed to determine the best substrate for the task (sawdust, lime, wood chips, soil).  In this instance the wood chips proved to be the most cost effective material for this purpose.

The crew will continue to dewater the lagoons and chip wood for blending with the tall oil. Meanwhile the excavator will continue to mix the wood chips with the tall oil to facilitate management of the tall oil. Environmental Management, contractor for EPA, is also working to secure a disposal facility for receiving the waste. Several disposal facilities have been identified to date. Once the analytical data is received from the laboratory, a waste profile will be generated and a disposal facility will be selected.  It is anticipated that transportaion of the waste material to an off site disposal facility will begin during the week of January 25, 2010.