United States Environmental Protection Agency
Region I
POLLUTION REPORT

Subject: 

Site Location

The Facemate Site, located at 5 West Main Street in the city of Chicopee, Hampden County, Massachusetts, includes 7 buildings presently standing, used for various stages of textile manufacturing, on an L-shaped area of 19.25 acres.  It is bordered on the north and west by the Chicopee River, on the south by the Chicopee Industrial Park(former Uniroyal Complex), on the southeast by mixed residential and commercial area, and on the east by commercial property.  Multiple family dwellings, apartments, and condominiums are located within 200 feet of the area.  Adjacent to the river and the Site are two water treatment pump stations and a flood-control dam.

The Site is not fully secure, only partially fenced-in, and hazardous materials are present in 3 of the buildings.  The area was used by Facemate Corporation to process and finish cotton fabrics (i.e., bleaching, dyeing, resin coating, fire retardant coating) until November 2003, when the company shut down operations due to bank foreclosure procedures and left the Site unoccupied.  Oil on the Site was used as either fuel for the plant boiler or lubricants for machinery used in the mill.  Bleaches, starches, dyes, acids, and resins were used in the cloth processing and finishing. Chlorinated solvents were used in the mill’s machine shops.  Tanks, vats, drums, and other containers of hazardous substances remain in these buildings.  Friable asbestos has been identified in several of the buildings, especially in the boiler room of the main mill building, and a debris pile of asbestos shingles and siding has been identified outside one of the buildings.  The Site has been abandoned since March 2004 without electricity, heat, water, or fire protection utilities.

The following activities have occurred:

.       On 11/16/04, the OSC, ERRS Response Manager, and MA DEP contact mobilized to the Site to conduct site walk.

.       From 11/29/04 - 12/3/04, the OSC, START, and ERRS Response Manager mobilized to the Site to coordinate the removal plan.  EPA OSC met with police and fire officials to notify them that removal effort was beginning on site.  ERRS subcontractor personnel, equipment, and materials were mobilized to the Site.  Site gates have been secured to restrict access.  Office equipment, office trailer, decon trailer and portable bathrooms were mobilized to the Site as required.

∙ From 12/06/04 - 12/10/04 Air cylinders arrived and were stored in order to be able to conduct level B activities.  Diesel generators arrived and were connected to provide electrical utility.  Drum and container activities began.  202 Drums and containers were collected and segregated by type (empties, acids, bases, dyes, etc.) and placed in staging areas on the top 3 floors of the main mill building (Building 1).  The OSC, START, ERRS Response Manager, and ERRS Subcontractor inspected the other buildings to verify if additional containers of hazardous substances existed but found nothing.

∙ Identify and characterize waste streams and develop waste profiles for disposal purposes.

∙ Overpack, inventory, sample, and analyze (as necessary) the hazardous substances in the containers at the staging areas.

∙ Inventory, sample, and analyze (as necessary), the hazardous substances found in vats and tanks.

∙ Overpack, consolidate, repackage, and stage any identified hazardous wastes.

∙ Provide transportation and disposal of hazardous substances including but not limited to, acids, bases, dyes, asbestos containing materials (ACM), PCBs transformer and transformer oil at CERCLA-approved off-site disposal and recycling facilities in a safe and cost-effective manner.

∙ Sample, analyze, and dispose of acidic sludge in the sulfuric acid tank containment area and perform proper decontamination or cleaning of the containment area.

∙ Investigate surface contamination in the unpaved areas around the Site (as necessary) and the areas where the above-ground and underground storage tanks were located.  Remove any soil contamination found as necessary.

Direct and coordinate with START and ERRS the ongoing removal action.  In addition, coordinate efforts with MA DEP.