United States Environmental Protection Agency
Region IV
POLLUTION REPORT

Date:	Saturday, September 30, 2006
From:	Perry Gaughan

To:

Shane Hitchcock, EPA ERRB

Jim McGuire, USEPA - Region IV

Subject:

Clean-up Continues
Synthron Chemical Fire
305 Amherst Road, Morganton, NC
Latitude: 35.7569000
Longitude: -81.6600000

POLREP No.:	8	Site #:	A4LD
Reporting Period:	9-01 thru 9-30-06	D.O. #:
Start Date:	5/9/2006	Response Authority:	CERCLA
Mob Date:	5/8/2006	Response Type:	Time-Critical
Demob Date:		NPL Status:	Non NPL
Completion Date:		Incident Category:	Removal Action
CERCLIS ID #:	NCD982121790	Contract #
RCRIS ID #:

Site Description

For Site description and background information, refer to previous POLREP.

Current Activities

Errs remobed to the site on Tuesday, September 5th following the Labor Day weekend. Errs continued staging drums by compatibility group for disposal and consolidating liquids from small waste tanks into 250 gallon totes for future bulking operations. Throughout September,  Errs concentrated on disposal of over 800 drums of hazardous waste including bulking of compatible drums to minimize disposal costs.

Disposal activities during September included: 16,190 gallons of aqueous non hazardous liquid to HOH Corporation, Winston Salem, North Carolina, 3315 gallons of flammable liquid to EQ Environmental, Apex, North Carolina, 34 drums of 2-methylimidazole to PCI Synthesis, Newbury, Mass, 26 drums of stabilized butyl acrylate to Hexion Corp, Roebuck, SC, and 61 drums of stabilized butyl acrylate to BASF Corporation, Houston, Texas.           ......

Errs also continued demolition operations of the concrete structures around the tank farm area to prepare the tanks for transfer. Three large 20,000 gallon fiberglass tanks were taken down. Errs also prepared two large steam boilers for future cutting and disposal. On site collection and treatment of stormwater continues.

START contractors conducted on site and off site sampling during the first week of September to identify areas of concern east of the main reactor building and to insure that no hazardous substances migrated off site during the initial explosion and fire. USCG Strike Team continues to monitor general site activities with emphasis on contractor safety.

The OSC continues to coordinate site operations with Synthron management and local government officials. On September 26th, at Synthron’s request, a former employee was permitted access to the maintenance shed area to retrieve his personal tools and items prior to the shed be demolished.

Planned Removal Actions

Continue demolition of main building to recover hazardous materials. Continue sampling and hazcatting of totes and tanks. Begin discharge of FT 7, 8, 9, 11, and 12 to POTW. Schedule disposal of remaining frac tanks. Continue perimeter monitoring for dust and asbestos during demolition activities.

Key Issues

Disposal of wastewater for off site treatment and to POTW.
Disposition of unopened raw materials
Bulking of hazardous and non-hazardous waste for disposal
Asbestos segregation and removal
Demolition of main building and boiler rooms
Inventory of assets that will be left on site

Estimated Costs *

	Budgeted	Total To Date	Remaining	% Remaining
Extramural Costs
ERRS - Cleanup Contractor	$1,450,000.00	$824,000.00	$626,000.00	43.17%
IAGs - Coast Guard	$25,000.00	$5,233.00	$19,767.00	79.07%
RST/START	$200,000.00	$165,000.00	$35,000.00	17.50%
Intramural Costs

Total Site Costs	$1,675,000.00	$994,233.00	$680,767.00	40.64%

* The above accounting of expenditures is an estimate based on figures known to the OSC at the time this report was written. The OSC does not necessarily receive specific figures on final payments made to any contractor(s). Other financial data which the OSC must rely upon may not be entirely up-to-date. The cost accounting provided in this report does not necessarily represent an exact monetary figure which the government may include in any claim for cost recovery.

response.epa.gov/synthron

POLREP #8 Last Updated 3/4/2007