United States Environmental Protection Agency
Region III
POLLUTION REPORT

Subject: 

This site is at the Perryville, Maryland water filtration plant.  A contractor working onsite on March 5, 2009, removed a transformer containing PCB oils.  The level of PCB in the oil was greater than 20%. The oil from the transformer was spread over a portion of the site.  The MDE arrived onsite Saturday evening, March 7, 2009, and sampled the oil.  Lab results received Monday morning indicated the presence of PCBs at high levels in the oil.  MDE requested EPA assistance with the site.

The second cleanup contractor completed the excavation and offsite disposal of contaminated soils on or about October 30, 2009.  They shipped approximately 780 tons of PCB contaminated soils from the site.  Post excavation sampling indicated that all of the sampling locations except for 4 were below the cleanup level of 25 ppm.  Of these four, two were at 30 pppm, two were higher.  The OSC determined that these results were acceptable and that the excavation area could be backfilled.  The two higher samples were located in bedrock  at approximately 5 to 8 feet below ground surface where it was not practicable to excavate further.  These areas were backfilled with a layer of bentonite clay to minimize contaminant migration.  The entire excavation area was then backfilled with clean fill and seeded.  

On June 30, 2010 and July 2, 2010, the remaining wastes from the initial cleanup contractor were shipped offsite for disposal.  On July 16, 2010, the OSC went to the site and observed that the wastes had been removed and obtained copies of the manifests for the wastes. Therefore, all wastes, (including the transformer carscass) have been removed from the site.

No further EPA actions are planned at this site.  The site is considered closed.