The American Street Tannery Site is located in the Northern Liberties Section of Philadelphia, Philadelphia County, Pennsylvania. The site is within the city block comprised of George, Bodine, American and Widley Streets. The area being investigated includes the site of the former tannery and the residential properties and surrounding homes on Widley Street. The former tannery comprised of a complex of five building that housed different tanneries until 1986. The site was abandoned until 1987 when it was subject to a removal action to stabilize facility of a variety of chemicals including acids, base/neutral, corrosives, toxic, and others. Later in 1990, a fire damaged the buildings. The City of Philadelphia decided to demolish the buildings, but not before vandals broke in and spilled PCB at the site and in the neighborhood. A second removal action took place to cleanup the spilled PCBs. The site was later acquired by Tower Development and redeveloped under PA Act 2 Program. The site is currently owned by Liberty Homes Philadelphia Inc. Residents in proximity of the site have expressed concerns about handling of contaminated soils and chemicals left behind in groundwater. The area occupied by the Liberty Walk Apartments was not addressed during the sampling event.
On December 19, 2006, the OSC, the CIC, and START four members met at the site to conduct the sampling as described in the Sampling and Analysis Plan.
On December 19, 2006, the following samples were collected:
• 15 surface soil samples and one field duplicate,
• Four subsurface soil samples and one field duplicate sample (not analyzed),
• One sump water sample (not analyzed),
• Three groundwater samples and one field duplicate sample (not analyzed),
• Three soil gas samples and one trip blank,
• One trip blank (not analyzed),
• One IDW sample (not analyzed).
On December 21, the OSC returned to the site to meet the disposal contractor to sign the manifest for the drums with Investigation Derived Waste.
On January 16, 2007, a second sampling event was conducted to recollect samples for analysis for volatile organic compounds (VOC) because the laboratory reported that the samples collected on December 19 were received at a temperature of 13 °C, which exceeds the acceptable temperature limit. The OSC cancelled the VOC analyses for the sump water, groundwater, trip blank, IDW, and subsurface soil samples collected on December 19, 2006.
On January 16, 2007, the following samples were collected:
• Four subsurface soil samples and one field duplicate,
• One sump water sample,
• Three groundwater samples and one field duplicate sample,
• One trip blank,
• One IDW sample.
On January 18, 2007, EPA returned to the site to to meet the disposal contractor to sign the manifest for the drums with Investigation Derived Waste.
According to the established project schedule, the validated data from the sampling event is due in approximately 60 days after the samples are taken. EPA will then forward the data package to ATSDR/PADOH for their review. Once ATSDR has reviewed the data, EPA will send the results to the homeowners and the interested parties. The OSC will work with the CIC to communicate the results and any actions needed as necessary thruogh factsheets and other communication outlets. The OSC and the CIC will continue to coordinate activities with the City of Philadelphia, PADEP, and the Northern Liberties Neighbors Association.
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