U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

Official websites use .gov
A .gov website belongs to an official government organization in the United States.

HTTPS

Secure .gov websites use HTTPS
A lock () or https:// means you’ve safely connected to the .gov website. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites.

Abrachem Chemical

All POLREP's for this site Abrachem Chemical
Clifton, NJ - EPA Region II
POLREP #50 		Printer Friendly  |   PDF
 
On-Scene Coordinator - Paul L. Kahn, Michael Hoppe, On-Scene Coordinators 8/14/2009
Time-Critical - Removal Action Pollution Report (POLREP) #50
Start Date: 1/2/2009
Pollution Report (POLREP) #50
Site Description
At 1615 hours on 10/29/08 EPA received a notification from the NRC that a chemical release was occurring at Abrachem Chemical, a bulk chemical packaging facility that leased a building in Clifton, Passaic County, NJ.  The NJ Dept. of Environmental Protection was on-scene and requested EPA's presence.

At 1730 hours OSC Ellen Banner and OSC Paul Kahn responded to the scene.  The company was found to be storing drums and bulk containers of known and unknown chemicals in 17 56-foot long intermodal shipping carriers (ISCs), stacked 3 tiers high (approx. 35 feet).  Only 5 of the ISCs could be opened, and inside those it was observed that drums and bulk containers were staged behind tiers of empty poly drums, giving  the impression that the ISCs were used for new drum storage.  EPA observed that in the one ISC where the release originated at least one drum was leaking its contents onto a wooden pallet; strong chemical odors emanated from the open door of the ISC and were also pervasive in the general area.  

The Operator of Abrachem retained the services of a remediation company, and contractor personnel were advised to lay poly sheeting and begin removing and overpacking the leaking and unknown drums that were readily accessible.  Work commenced almost immediately, but at 2100 hours was halted due to lack of adequate lighting and inability to phyusically access the majority of the drums through the narrow doorway.  

The Operator of Abrachem and the Owner of the property was issued a Field Expedient Notice, and in response the Operator stated he would initiate a removal action.  When his efforts to respond to the release, and threats of a release, proved to be inadequate EPA sought voluntary access to initiate a response action.  This access was denied on two occasions.  On 12/4/2008 EPA issued a Unilateral Administrative Order (UAO) for access.  The Operator refused to comply with the UAO and EPA referred the matter to the Department of Justice for a legal remedy.  On 1/8/2009 a federal Magistrate issued an access warrant to EPA to initiate a response action at the Site.






Current Activities
Removal activities continue.  ERRS is overpacking the last drums that are unfit to ship in their as-is condition.  Plans are underway to begin shipping the  ≈ 1,000 drums of waste chemicals that EPA was not able to return to original suppliers/end-users on 8/14.

On 8/12/09 Veolia ES shipped 12 drums of Exxon-Mobil Jayflex™ resin for disposal at Veolia ES, Middlesex, NJ, at no cost to the government.

ERRS recycled 25 used car/truck tires from the Site that were accumulating rain water, and as such were breeding grounds for mosquitoes.

Five additional drums of dilute waste sodium permanganate solution were located (previously logged-in but overpacked), bringing the total number of drums of this waste stream to 15, or 825 gallons.  The OSC has notified the local POTW that these 5 drums would also be discharged to the sanitary sewer in accordance with the prearranged agreement between EPA and the POTW.

Dow-Corning (Union Carbide/Rohm & Haas) has contacted the OSC after a long period of no communication and indicated they were going to remove their 8 drums of acrolein, carbon black, and bromine compounds for T & D at their cost.  Arrangements for pick-up are pending.  

With the departure of the 8 Dow drums and the discharging of 15 drums of dilute permanganate solution almost 450 containers of chemicals will have been disposed of at no cost, or minimal cost, to the government.  This amounts to about 28% of the total number of containers EPA discovered on the Site.

As a cost-saving measure, EPA's technical contractor, Weston Solutions, (RST) which has not been on Site since late July, is permanently demobed.  RST will however maintain the Drum Trak container inventory data-base remotely.  As drums are shipped for disposal the daily tally will be electronically sent to the RST office in Edison where the data-base will be updated.  All reports generated from the data-base will likewise originate from the RST office.  This will result in a cost-saving of more than $10,000 since RST's last day on Site in late July.





Planned Removal Actions
ERRS will continue to prepare drums for shipping, starting on 8/14.

ERRS will continue discharging 2 drums of dilute permanganate solution to the sanitary sewer each non-rain day.  



Next Steps
See above.

Key Issues
See above
 
Disposition Of Wastes


Waste Stream Quantity Manifest # Disposal Facility
Solidified "Jayflex" resin, phthalate ester blend with C5-C20 paraffins. 12 drums 00180793 VES Veolia ES, Middlesex, NJ  NJD 0024544544
Water solution of less than one percent (1%) sodium permanganate, drum #737. 55 gallons on 8/11 at 2 PM n/a Discharged to sewer [local POTW] in accordance with prearranged agreement between USEPA and POTW.
Water solution of less than one percent (1%) sodium permanganate, drum #742 55 gallons on 8/12 at 8:30 AM n/a Discharged to sewer [local POTW] in accordance with prearranged agreement between USEPA and POTW.
Water solution of less than one percent (1%) sodium permanganate, drum #738. 55 gallons on 8/12 at 2 PM n/a Discharged to sewer [local POTW] in accordance with prearranged agreement between USEPA and POTW.
Used auto and truck tires. 25 tires n/a Local tire recycling center..
Water solution of less than one percent (1%) sodium permanganate, drum # 736 55 gallonns on 8/13 at 10 AM n/a Discharged to sewer [local POTW] in accordance with prearranged agreement between USEPA and POTW.
Water solution of less than one percent (1%) sodium permanganate, drum # 739 55 gallons on 8/13 at 2 PM n/a Discharged to sewer [local POTW] in accordance with prearranged agreement between USEPA and POTW.
Water solution of less than one percent (1%) sodium permanganate, drum # 741 55 gallons on 8/14 at 10 AM n/a Discharged to sewer [local POTW] in accordance with prearranged agreement between USEPA and POTW.
Water solution of less than one percent (1%) sodium permanganate, drum # 721 55 gallons on 8/14 at 2 PM n/a Discharged to sewer [local POTW] in accordance with prearranged agreement between USEPA and POTW.