The Site consists of the Lakewood Treating, Inc. property located at 13824 C.R. Koon Highway in Newberry, Newberry County, South Carolina. George and T.P. Mills purchased the property in 1980. The Mills leased a five-acre portion of their property to Lakewood treating, Inc. in 1983. Lakewood Treating operated the facility as a chromated copper arsenate (CCA) wood treatment facility since that time. In 1984, T.P. Mills passed away leaving his interest to his son, Fred T. Mills. At this time the Lakewood treating was run by Steffan Lake. Mr. Lake died in 1993 at which time his widow, Lynn Lake, ran the business. In 1997 she sold the company to Charles and Lou Doolittle. The last change in ownership was in October 2001 when the Doolittles sold the company to Kenneth Mitan through one of his companies, Magnifique Operations Department 34, Inc.
After Mitan took over, production dwindled and finally stopped, as no raw materials were being purchased. The employees working at the Site eventually stopped working when their paychecks bounced. At this time the site was left unattended exposing a cement drip pad that was used to catch excess CCA dripping from freshly treated wood. The drip pad fed into a cement containment area where the diluted CCA solution was recycled into the treatment process. In the containment area are three storage tanks, a 50% CCA concentrate tank, a water tank and a tank that contains CCA solution. There is also a pressure vessel where the wood was injected with the CCA solution.
DHEC conducted an emergency response at the Site on June 26, 2002 to mitigate the threat of the containment area overflowing and contaminating the surrounding soil with CCA. DHEC pumped the dilute CCA solution into frac tanks and transported the storm water off-site. On August 18, 2002 during a period of extremely heavy rain, the containment area did overflow. Local HazMat teams responded and dug a temporary catchment basin lined with plastic to allow for the excess spillage. Again, DHEC pumped the storm water into frac tanks and transported it off-site. Confirmation samples were taken from each frac tank, prior to transport, for volatile organic compounds (VOC) and RCRA metals analysis. The analytical data revealed the presence of chromium, copper and arsenic. On August 27, 2002, DHEC completed construction of a temporary tarp roof covering the drip pad to prevent further storm water contamination.
On May 21, 2003, at the request of DHEC, EPA On-Scene Coordinators (OSC) Jeff Crowley and Ben Franco, along with START, conducted a removal assessment at the Site. A waste sample was taken from the solution tank for metal analysis. Soil samples were taken from around the drip pad area as well as around the lip of the containment area for metals analysis. Finally, a waste sample was taken from the wastewater in the bottom of the containment area. The analytical data for the soil revealed levels as high as 230 mg/kg for arsenic and 270 mg/kg for chromium; however, these levels were not representative of the entire site and can been seen as extremes. For the waste samples, Table 1 shows the levels found and compares them to the Removal Action Levels (RAL). The values obtained for the water tank come from a DHEC sampling conducted July 1, 2003.
The following activities have occurred for the period stated:
Notice letters were sent by the OSC to the following parties on 8/21/03 to Fred T. and George L. Mills, Kenneth Mitan, Lakewood Treating, Inc., and Manifique Operations Department 34, Inc. Fred and George responded and voluntarily entered into an Administrative Order on Consent to conduct a removal action at the Site.
On November 12, 2003 the OSC received the Health and Safety Plan and a Statement of Qualifications for CBM Environmental (CBM).
On December 9, 2003, CBM conducted sampling at the site to define a disposal profile. OSC is expecting the work plan by December 15, 2003.
The planned actions for the removal action at the Site are as follows:
1. Remove all hazardous substances (CCA and solution) from storage tanks.
2. Decontaminate storage tanks.
3. Mitigate threat of contamination and exposure from cement drip pad and containment area.
4. Mitigate threat of release of CCA into ground water.
The next steps for the site are to obtain the work plan and start removal activites on-site.
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