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.

Transportation Drive PCB

All POL/SITREP's for this site Transportation Drive PCB
Hazle Township, PA - EPA Region III
POLREP #8
Progress Report
Printer Friendly  |   PDF
 
U.S. ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY
POLLUTION/SITUATION REPORT
Transportation Drive PCB - Removal Polrep

EPA Emergency Response

UNITED STATES ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY
Region III

Subject: POLREP #8
Progress Report
Transportation Drive PCB

Hazle Township, PA
Latitude: 40.9335290 Longitude: -75.9986590


To:
From: Dominic Ventura, On Scene Coordinator
Date: 10/19/2015
Reporting Period: 9/14/15 - 10/16/15

1. Introduction
  1.1 Background
   
Site Number: A3XW    Contract Number:  
D.O. Number:      Action Memo Date:  
Response Authority: CERCLA    Response Type: Time-Critical
Response Lead: EPA    Incident Category: Removal Action
NPL Status:    Operable Unit:
Mobilization Date:      Start Date:  
Demob Date:      Completion Date:  
CERCLIS ID:    RCRIS ID:
ERNS No.:    State Notification:
FPN#:    Reimbursable Account #:

1.1.2 Site Description

     The Transportation Drive PCB site is located in a commercial area of Hazleton, Luzerne County, Pennsylvania. The majority of the site is currently owned by Walp Trucking Incorporated, who operates a trucking dispatch and service center. An unused portion of the site is also owned by Consolidated Lands, Incorporated.  Prior to 1983 the site was reportedly the location of a facility that scraped electrical equipment including transformers and large capacitors.

     EPA’s TSCA program referred the site to EPA’s Removal Program in April 2014 reporting that the property owner excavated a drainage ditch and uncovered several PCB large capacitors. Site assessment activities conducted at the site in May and June 2014 revealed electric equipment related scrap on the ground around the perimeter of the site and PCB concentrations that exceed the Toxic Substances and Control Act (TSCA) action level of 50 mg/kg.  The maximum concentrations of PCBs detected in a soil sample was 210,000 mg/kg.

     The OSC issued Special Bulletin A and Polrep 1 for the site on November 14, 2014 to take actions to secure the site while additional assessment was conducted. An Action Memorandum was signed on June 26, 2015 authorizing a Removal Action to mitigate the threat posed by PCB electrical equipment and PCB contaminated soil and debris at the site. Personnel and equipment were mobilized to the site on August 11, 2015 to begin site work.


Please see previous Polrep's for additional background information. 

2. Current Activities
  2.1 Operations Section
   

2.1.1 Current Activities

-  A Modification to the site Action Memorandum was signed on September 22, 2015.  The Action Memorandum was modified to allow soils with PCB concentrations up to 25 mg/kg to be left in place at depths greater that 24 inches.  If PCBs are left on site at depths below 24 inches at concentrations greater than 1 mg/kg, orange safety fence will be laid down atop the excavated area prior to backfilling with clean fill to provide a visible barrier.  The OSC will coordinate with the property owner, State, and local agencies to implement post removal site controls. 

- Site personnel mobilized back to the site on October 14, 2015 to resume site activities.  Site operations were suspended longer than anticipated to allow time for ERRS to arrange disposal of stockpiled soils and for the Action Memorandum modification to be finalized.  Upon arrival, ERRS conducted site maintenance activities such as checking/replacing silt fence and oiling equipment.   

- ERRS began transporting soil off site for disposal.  On 10/15/15 and 10/16/15 a total of nine truckloads (approximately315,412 kg) of PCB contaminated soil was transported off site for disposal at Wayne Disposal Waste Treatment in Belleville, Michigan.  Prior to shipment, the OSC confirmed with the EPA Region 5 Off Site Contact that there are no regulatory compliance issues at the facility. 

 - START conducted air monitoring for particulates.  No action levels were exceeded.

- ERRS recovered one capacitor from site soil.  A total of 10 capacitors and 1 pole mount capacitor have been found to date and are being stored on site in drums pending disposal. 

 - Results for confirmation samples were received for samples collected in excavated areas in the southeast corner of the Walp Trucking property.  Samples collected in 3 out of 6 areas exceeded a concentration of 25 mg/kg and will require additional excavation. 

- ERRS began excavating an additional  6 to 10 inches of soil from one of the previously excavated areas where soil samples exceeded 25 mg/kg. 

  2.2 Planning Section
    2.2.1 Next Steps

    EPA will continue Removal activities at the site. 

  2.3 Logistics Section
    No information available at this time.

  2.4 Finance Section
    No information available at this time.

  2.5 Other Command Staff
    No information available at this time.

3. Participating Entities
  No information available at this time.

4. Personnel On Site
  No information available at this time.

5. Definition of Terms
  No information available at this time.

6. Additional sources of information
  No information available at this time.

7. Situational Reference Materials
  No information available at this time.