The one acre Birch Swamp Road Site (the Site) is located in Warren, Rhode Island, off of an unnamed, unpaved access road that runs east-to-west, intersecting Birch Swamp Road to the west.
EPA conducted environmental investigations at the Site in July 2007, April and August 2008. Sampling results indicated elevated levels of heavy metals (including lead) and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) to be present in surface soils at the Site, exceeding the Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management’s (RIDEM) most stringent residential cleanup criteria. For additional information on the Site background please refer to “POLREP #1 – Initiation of Action.”
The current EPA fund-lead cleanup is addressing the lead- and PCB-contaminated surface soils on the property.
Excavation work began during the first week of September, with contaminated soils being stockpiled in a staging area located within the foundation footprint.
Excavation work outside of the foundation footprint has been completed, resulting in over 2,000 tons of lead- and PCB-contaminated soils.
The contaminated area was divided into grids approximately 25 ft x 25 ft square. Each grid was excavated down to 6 or 12 inches below ground surface (bgs), depending on the initial sampling results, and subsequently sampled along the floor and perimeter sidewalls. Additional rounds of excavations and sampling were performed for grids that did not meet the cleanup criteria, up to a maximum of 3 feet bgs.
All excavated areas outside of the foundation have been backfilled with topsoil, mulched and seeded. The one exception is an approximately 25 ft x 25 ft x 1 ft grid in a wetland area to the south of the access road, which will be allowed to naturally restore.
The Warren Department of Public Works (DPW) is sharing their water source with EPA for the cleanup. EPA’s water truck refills daily at the DPW and is used to keep all road and soil surfaces moist and free from dust. The effectiveness of the dust controls is being verified by air monitoring. To date, no exceedences of any site air quality criteria have occurred.
Two treatment and disposal facilities have been identified for the project and are in the process of being approved. Soils with lower levels of lead will be sent to the Environmental Soil Management, Inc. (ESMI) facility in Loudon, New Hampshire. Soils with higher levels of lead and containing PCBs will be sent to the Clean Earth of North Jersey, Inc. facility in Kearny, New Jersey. Waste shipping, in coordination with the Warren Police and Fire Departments, is projected to begin in early November 2008.
Once shipping has progressed to the point where foundation soils beneath the stockpiles are uncovered, the remaining grids (all within the foundation footprint) will be excavated and sampled, and consolidated and shipped with the remaining wastes. Excavated areas will then be backfilled with clean topsoil.
All on-site work is projected to be completed and all equipment and personnel demobilized by December 15, 2008.
The funding ceiling for the Superfund Technical Assessment and Response Team (START) contractor was increased from the project’s contingency fund, from $99,699 to $135,779. This additional funding was necessary to cover costs associated with soil sampling in areas where additional contamination outside of the foundation was discovered in early October 2008.
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