On September 7, 2007, GAEPD investigated several locations that contained abandoned drums and waste in Dawson, GA. GAEPD was alerted by City of Dawson and Terrel County personnel. Several residents in the area had complained of an odor. GAEPD's investigation found that a company called Circle Environmental had been evicted from two properties leaving behind waste in drums and a connex box. The property located on 170 5th AVE is a warehouse in the middle of downtown Dawson. On September 10, 2007, EPA R4's Phone Duty Officer dispatched OSC Webster to assess the situation.
The OSC's assessment found metal drums containing hazardous labels thrown in piles outside of the warehouse. Because of the odor complaints, the OSC conducted air monitoring inside the warehouse and found elevated volatile organic compounds (VOC) levels. The levels were high enough that it required the use of Level B respiratory protection while performing the assessment. Under an emergency action, the OSC requested services from EPA's START contractor (Tetra Tech) and ERRS contractor(WRS).
The START contractor assisted with the identification and documentation of the drums located inside and outside of the warehouse. Approximately 488 drums were found through out the site. The majority of the drums had material in them and some had labels indicating waste oil, TCE or flamable liquids. The drums were on pallets and they were stacked inside the warehouse.
ERRS contractor was tasked to move the drums, identify if they are empty and stage the ones containing material by waste stream/incompatibility. Empty drums were crushed and sent off for disposal.
START will continue to provide air monitoring, document site activites and track drum information.
ERRS contractor will continue to stage drums, sample them, perform hazcatting of the samples and obtain waste samples for waste disposal purposes.
There has been some interest from an Albany, GA Channel 10 News and they have reported on two occasions. OSC will meet with local government officials and update them on EPA's action.
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