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. Site assessment activities conducted at the site in May and June 2014 revealed electric equipment and 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

Week of 5/23:

- Areas C-026 and C-027 (southern portion of the Walp Trucking parking lot) were excavated and backfilled with clean fill and 2A modified stone.  Confirmation samples were both less than 1 ppm PCBs. Excavated soil is being stockpiled and stored on site temporarily pending transportation off site for disposal. 

- A total of 4 capacitors were found and were placed in drums with absorbent material.  Drums will be stored on site in a secure area and will be inspected daily until proper disposal is arranged.   

Week of 5/30

- Areas C-028 was excavated to a depth of 40 inches and C-029 was excavated to 30 inches (southern portion of the Walp Trucking parking lot).  Confirmation sampling was conducted in these areas and both areas contained PCBs less than 25 ppm. 

- A total of 37 large capacitors were found and were placed in drums with absorbent material.  

Week of 06/06:

- Areas C-028 and C-029 were backfilled.

- Areas C-030 and C-031 were excavated to a depth of 42 inches. 

- A total of 161 large capacitors were found and were placed in drums with absorbent material.  

Week of 06/13:

- Continued excavating in Areas C-030 and C-031.  Confirmation Samples were greater than 1 ppm and less than 25 ppm. 

-  Placed orange safety fence at bottom of excavation and backfilled Areas C-030 and C-031. 

- Backfilled and graded areas of the both the Walp Trucking and CSI properties.

- A total of 15 large capacitors were found and were placed in drums with absorbent material.  

Other Tasks Completed During Reporting Period:

- Storm/groundwater that has collected in excavations was pumped to a temporary storage tank if soil in the excavation contained greater than 1 ppm PCBs or if there was a visible sheen.  START collected a water sample from the tank.  The sample contained PCBs at 11 ug/L.  Based on the concentrations of PCBs detected in the water, the OSC determined that water could be released to site drainage through a sediment or carbon drum filter.  Site drainage does not flow to a stream or river but instead sheet flows in the wooded lot adjacent to the site where it evaporates and/or percolates into the ground.  The middle portion of the water column in the tank will be discharged to site drainage through a filter bag.  Water sitting on bottom and top of the tank will be discharged through a carbon filter drum to ensure any oily sheen at the top of the tank or heavy sediment at the bottom of the tank are captured. 

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

- To date, at total of approximately 419 large capacitors and 3 small transformers have been recovered from subsurface/surface of the site.