This week marks the completion of Phase I activities. The tanks and some soils have been removed and this area regraded. The attached photo shows the former tank area as it looks now. This week's activities focused on segregation and staging of hazardous substances not related to the creosote.
This week, ERRS regraded the rear section of the facility.
Also, ERRS worked on removing unknown small containers from a box turck parked on the property. According to the property operator, Hazel Court Enterprises leased a piece of land offsite from the current Site property at the corner of Freeman and Buell Streets. This property belongs to Kinder-Morgan. Kinder-Morgan contacted the property operator and informed him that there was an abandoned truck on this offsite property. The operator moved the truck to the Site property to secure it and tried to find the owner. OSC Wagner contacted CI Richardson for assistance in identifying the truck owner. CI Richardson and a law enforcement colleague examined the truck to try and identify the VIN number. Howerver, the number could not be located and hence, the owner could not be found.
The box truck contained a large quantity of unknown containers, most of which were paint. ERRS offloaded the truck and segregated the small containers according to compatibility. Below is an approximate inventory of the small containers:
Quarts of paint 550
Pints of paint 30
Acids 13
Epoxy and resins 60
Flammable liquids 24
Enamel paint 287
Latex Paint 522
Unmarked Paint 207
Total -------------
1524
These items were segregated according to compatibility and staged in a sheltered area on the Site. The property operator has agreed to dispose or resuse the contents of these containers. The actions performed by EPA regarding the contents of the box truck are directly related to Hazel Court Enterprises and not to the creosote issues attributed to Bernuth Lembcke and/or Eppinger and Russell.
During the above operations, EPA opened 18 55-gallon drums on Site reported to contain walnut shells. The OSC confirmed that these drums do indeed contain walnut shells and not hazardous substances. These drums will be left on Site for future use by the property owner or operator.
OSC Wagner and START also performed a preliminary reconnaissance of a storage box on Site which contains excess DRMO materials. The following items were identified:
- approximately 180 5-gallon pails of engine aircraft lubricating oil
- approximately 50 1-gallon containers of A-5 Accelerator (contains lead oxide 47% , polybutene 5%, and toluol 26%)
- 5-gallon containers of Epocast-2D-A Epoxy Laminating Resin (Ciba-Geigy Corp., Los Angeles, CA)
- Several cases of 1-gallon containers of Neoprene Troweling Compound (Haartz-Mason, MA), contains lead
The property operator informed the OSC that he was taking actions to dispose of this material. These materials also are considered part of the Hazel Court Enterprises operation and not the former creosote operations.
On Thursday, 7/26/06, OSC Wagner met with VDEQ. OSC informed DEQ that EPA would be unable to attain State ARARs because EPA had identified contamination below the groundwater table. There is currently no plan by EPA to address groundwater as part of this removal action. Also, there is a Voluntary Remediation Program cleanup underway next door at the Amerada Hess facility. EPA's action will, however, minimize the continued release of creosote to groundwater. OSC Wagner will prepare a letter regarding this issue to the VDEQ ARARs Coordinator.
All personnel demobilized from the Site on 7/27/06.
OSC Wagner is preparing a request for additional funding to continue disposal of contaminated soil, to excavate additional contaminated soils on Site, and to perform excavation in a stream on Site which is heavily contaminated with creosote. This stream discharges directly to the Elizabeth River.
OSC to prepare additional funding request. ERRS to pursue transportation and disposal for remaining containers.
Disposal remains a key issue at the Site. At this time, only one U.S. disposal facility has been identified as capable of receiving this waste.
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