United States Environmental Protection Agency
Region VIII
POLLUTION REPORT

Subject: 

1.1 Site Description

The Parish Chemical Company Site ("PCC" or the "Site") is located at 145 North Geneva Road, Vineyard, Utah.  The PCC property is located approximately 1.5 miles east of Utah Lake and 0.5 miles west of the Interstate 15 Highway.  The area surrounding the facility is occupied by light residential and industrial businesses.  

The Site is fenced and includes the following installations: a two story building occupying 11,000 square feet; two unlined surface impoundments (each 20 feet by 50 feet and 5 feet deep) located in the southwest portion of the property; raw material drum storage located west of the building; approximately 800 to 1000 55-gallon drums, located immediately west of the building stacked two and three high with wooden pallets under each layer; numerous 300-gallon totes located at various locations in the yard; a hazardous waste storage area in the north portion of the property; and several aboveground storage tanks with capacities ranging from 2,000 to 5,000 gallons at various locations in the yard.  A partial Site inventory made available to the OSC discusses the presence of at least 11,000 various chemicals/compounds in quantities ranging from 5-3,000 grams.  Residences, businesses, I-15, and a school are near the Site.

1.2 Background  

PCC is a specialty chemical manufacturing company incorporated in 1972 that has operated at its present location since 1978.  The Parish facility had difficulty complying with regulations and garnered attention in 1992 when a fire at the Site shut down Interstate 15 and a ½-mile radius was evacuated to protect a nearby elementary school, residences, and businesses. Subsequent Site inspections by local and state regulators prompted the Utah Department of Environmental Quality (UDEQ) to request EPA conduct a removal assessment. During a 2008 joint inspection with UDEQ, the On-Scene Coordinator (OSC) observed numerous hazardous waste violations – many of which had been documented in the local and state inspections.

In April 2008, EPA conducted a time-critical removal action (TCRA) to stabilize the Site and mitigate the threat of release posed by over 2000 containers of hazardous substances, pollutants or contaminants that were in the process of failing, leaking or in serious disrepair. Once the 2008 Removal Action was completed, Parish resumed manufacturing activities which has resulted in large quantities of various chemicals continuing to be stored and improperly managed.

1.3 Threat Determination

EPA Removal Program and contractors were confident that removal actions had mitigated many of the threats that initiated the Agency's 2008 response, however, due to historical management practices at the PCC facility, future issues were anticipated.  

No actions are planned at this time.

2.1 Operations

Operations during the early spring of 2008 resulted in the removal and proper disposal of 522 drums/totes and over 248 smaller containers at the Site. Containers removed from the "Outdoor Storage Area" consisted of 23 different waste streams with over 22,000 gallons of hazardous pollutants and contaminant materials mitigated.