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

 - Excavation and disposal activities on CLI's property is now completed.  Restoration and construction of surface water management features still needs to be completed.

- ERRS continued loading out PCB contaminated soil for disposal from the Walp property.  PCB contaminated soil is being transported by truck and rail to Heritage Environmental Services in Roachdale, Indiana for disposal as PCB Remediation Waste.  During this reporting period a total of approximately 1,741 tons (79 intermodal containers) of PCB Remediation Waste was transported off site for disposal from Walp Trucking's property.

-  To date, a total of approximately 7,149 tons of PCB remediation waste has been excavated and transported off site from the Walp property.  A total of approximately 3,714 tons of PCB remediation waste has been excavated and transported off site from the CLI's property.

 - ERRS excavated PCB contaminated soil and backfilled excavations with clean fill in the southwestern portion of the Walp Trucking property.  Areas were excavated to a depth of 24" to 40" depending on subsurface sample results.  In areas were subsurface samples (18" - 24") contained PCB's at greater than 25 ppm, post excavation sampling was conducted to ensure site cleanup goals were achieved. 

-  Areas of Walp Trucking property that were excavated were filled with clean fill and approximately 1 foot of 2A modified stone.  The areas were then rolled with a vibraroller.  This quantity of stone is needed because much of the Walp Trucking property is used as a parking area for large trucks. 

- Top soil was spread and graded in the western portion of the CLI property and along the western side of the drainage ditch of the Walp property. 

- Storm water was pumped from open excavations.  In areas where confirmation samples indicated PCB concentration in soil greater than 1 ppm, water was pumped to a holding tank.  Water will later be sampled to determine proper treatment/disposal.  Water pumped from areas that were confirmed to contain soil with less than 1 ppm PCBs were discharged through a de-sedimentation bag. 

- Five large capacitors were uncovered in the southern portion of the Walp Trucking property.  Capacitors were placed in a drum with absorbent material and will be transported off site for proper disposal. 

- START conducted sampling across the road on an unused parcel of land where storm water discharges from the Walp Property.  Surface and subsurface samples were collected from 16 locations.  Of the 42 samples collected, 14 contained PCB at a concentration greater than 1 ppm.  The highest concentration detected (5 ppm) was directly in front of the eastern discharge pipe.  The sample results indicate that slightly elevated PCB concentrations are limited to the area directly in front of discharge pipes. 

- START conducted daily particulate monitoring.  No action levels were exceeded.