A. On February 5, 2005, a tractor trailer owned by Logistics International-Georgia was traveling southbound on I-81 through Augusta County, Virginia when the brakes on the truck caught fire. The driver pulled off the road and was able to disconnect the tractor from the trailer; however, the trailer shortly caught fire. The driver contacted 911 and emergency crews responded.
B. EPA assistance with I-81 Tractor Trailer Chemical Spill site was requested on 2/18/05 by the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality (VADEQ).
A. EPA OSC Bob Kelly, START and ERRS mobed to the Site to continue removal operations.
B. ERRS started and completed excavation of 6 inches of contaminated soils from the point of spill down to the southbound culvert. Soils were stockpiled onto poly for loadout on Wednesday evening (March 09, 2005).
C. The diversion piping used to divert water from the site to a drainage ditch north of the Site developed a leak. ERRS crew repaired piping and contracted Godwin for new piping.
D. START contacted and gained access to 4 residences to collect water samples. Samples were hand delivered to lab in Richmond, VA.
E. START collected soil samples from the excavated area to determine if the soils are clear of chromium. Samples will be shipped to lab in Fort Meade, MD.
F. Loadout of contaminated soils began Wednesday evening at 2000 hrs. VDOT closed down the right lane southbound from mile marker 231 to 230 from 2000 hrs to 0630 hours the following morning in order for ERRS to place roll-offs for loadout. ERRS loaded and staged 11 roll-off boxes totaling approximately 175 tons of soil at the VDOT yard. Additionally, they vacuumed out approximately 21,000 gallons of contaminated water from the southbound culverts.
G. VDOT reopened the southbound right lane at 0700 hours on Thursday, March 10, 2005.
H. On Wednesday, March 9, 2005, OSC Kelly received an e-mail from a resident that the tributary runs through. Resident stated that one of his sheep had died. Resident was inquiring if the contaminate spilled could have played a part in the sheep's death. OSC Kelly called the resident and was told that the sheep was old and may have died of old age. However, resident stated that the tributary had overflowed and he was concerned that the contaminant may have traveled onto his property and would like to have the sheep autopsied.
I. START contractor coordinated with the Virginia Department of Agriculture lad to have a necropsy run on the sheep liver and kidney. Analysis will be for chromium. Results will be back in a few weeks.
J. OSC Kelly tasked START to collect sample from the clean fill that will be used to replace the excavated soils. Also, to collect samples from the drainage culvert, median and stream. These samples were sent to various labs for total chromium, hexavalent chromium, silver, pH and nitrate analysis.
K. VDOT contacted OSC Kelly inquiring when the original waste that was generated at the fire would be removed. VDOT stated that this waste has been on the right-of-way for approximately 6 weeks and wanted it removed immediately.
L. OSC Kelly contacted ORC attorney and was told to remove this waste as part of the removal actions and we would include the cost when we go to cost recovery.
M. OSC Kelly increased the ERRS ceiling from $150,000 to $200.000.
Ongoing removal actions are taking place.
a. The OSC will task the ERRS contractor to begin T & D operations of original waste and EPA generated waste stored at VDOT yard.
b. The OSC will await analytical results to determine the next course of action.
c. The OSC will await results of liver and kidney analysis of sheep and deliver these results to resident.
|
