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. 

2.1.1 Current Activities

-  ERRS continued excavation of northeastern area of site along the road (C-008 and C-009).  START screened the area with Clor-n-soil kits to determine if the soils were below 50 mg/kg for PCBs.  The screening was conducted twice and failed both times.  The excavation is currently approximately 6 feet deep immediately adjacent to the roadway.  Excavation was terminated in this area due to the potential compromise of roadway integrity and excavation depths that appear to be below the water table. 

 - A magnetic and ground penetrating radar survey was conducted of subsurface under Transportation Drive at the northeast corner of the site (next to C-008 and C-009).  No anomalies were identified under the roadway during the survey that would indicate the presence of buried electrical equipment

- Began excavating soils in the southwest corner of the Walp Trucking property (area D).   Based on subsurface sample results, soil was excavated to a depth of 18 inches in this area.  The area was backfilled with clean fill and 2A modified stone. 

- Approximately 6 inches of soil were scraped from the interior access road (C-007).  No contamination was detected in this area during initial assessment.  However later sampling indicated PCB concentrations greater than 1 mg/kg and less than 25 mg/kg.  It is believed that contamination is due to use of the access road to transport contaminated material across the site. 

- ERRS began backilling in areas C-008 and C-009 and began reconstructing the drainage ditch and storm water retention basin in this area.  Contaminated soil present at depth below 6 feet was covered with 18 inches - 48 inches of clean fill, geo-textile fabric and then covered with large stone. 

- ERRS continued pumping water from drainage basin and excavation areas as needed . Heavy rains on 11/19/15 resulted in a shortened work day. 

- START conducted dust monitoring during excavation activities.  No action levels were exceeded.

- START conducted inspections of the drum storage area to ensure no leaks or other damage.

- 3 truckloads of contaminated soil (approximately 69 tons) were transported off site for disposal at Wayne Disposal Incorporated in Belleville, Michigan.  To date 86 truckloads of waste (approximately 2,000 tons) have been transported off site for disposal. 

- ERRS recovered one large capacitor from area C-009.  To date approximately 182 large capacitors and 3 small transformers have been recovered and are being stored on site in drums pending off site disposal. 

- START received confirmation from Norfolk Southern that set back is 35 feet from the center line of the rail line that borders the site.