Sludge Watch ==> Pennsylvania - Industrial sludge - threatens groundwater

[Maureen Reilly]

http://www.pottstownmercury.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=18276457&BRD=1674&PAG=461&dept_id=18041&rfi=6

Local group: Remove polluted lagoon sludge
Evan Brandt, ebrandt at pottsmerc.com
04/29/2007

LOWER POTTSGROVE -- It’s not just the contaminated water below ground that 
is a concern at the former Occidental Chemical plant.


Of equal concern to Hank Cole and his clients, the Alliance for a Clean 
Environment, is the fact that open pools of sludge polluted with such 
chemicals as TCE, PVC and dioxin could be washed out in the next big flood.


When the Schuylkill topped its banks last June, the waters came dangerously 
close to washing the toxic waste into Philadelphia’s water supply, Cole 
said.

The latest feasibility study of the unlined lagoons by OxyChem’s consultant 
examines several options for cleaning the mess, which was first ordered in 
1993. Options include removing the material and contaminated soil to a 
Canadian landfill, building a new landfill to hold the material at a 
location at the site that is not in the Schuylkill River flood plain and 
covering the lagoons over and making them into a landfill, which would 
require somehow protecting the area from flood waters.

Removing the 32,000 gallons of sludge and contaminated soil is the only safe 
option, ACE argues.

Cole’s analysis of the consultant’s study notes that the floodwaters that 
washed over the area last June lapped at the dirt berms that hold the waste 
sludge. The berms "showed some signs of erosion" and an inspection on Aug. 
8, 2006, "revealed an area of PVC on the flood plain" and it is "quite 
possible that the material was carried from one of the lagoons to the flood 
plain by flood waters," Cole wrote.

Given how close that call was, the river and the more than 1 million 
Americans who depend on it for drinking water may suffer the consequences of 
leaving the material there for the next flood, he said.

It is no longer responsible or protective of human health and the 
environment to delay cleaning out the lagoons, argued ACE vice president 
Donna Cuthbert.

In an April 25 letter to Kathleen McGinty, secretary of the Pennsylvania 
Department of Environmental Protection, ACE wrote, "We would like you to 
help us convince EPA to conduct or require Occidental to conduct an 
immediate removal action, including excavation of the earthen lagoon wastes 
and disposal in a secure off-site landfill."

Glen Springs prefers the option in which the material would be buried on the 
site because that would relieve the company of meeting "landfill disposal 
restrictions" that would be imposed at off-site landfills, Cole wrote.

"In other words, Occidental saves money by taking advantage of a loophole, 
at the expense of community protection," Cole wrote.

That option also would make redevelopment of the site difficult for anything 
but another industrial client, an option not likely to materialize under 
current economic conditions, thus relegating the site to remaining a 
polluted "brownfield" into the foreseeable future, Cole argued.

"In light of the recent flooding event, Glen Springs/Occidental’s listing of 
flood plain disposal demonstrates either a disconnect to reality or a total 
disregard for the environment," Cole wrote.

Cole also wrote that one option being considered, to "recycle" the material, 
would be more hazardous.

OxyChem’s previous attempts to recycle the waste by drying it in order to 
retrieve the usable PVC was unsuccessful. More than once, the waste caught 
fire and created dioxin, a byproduct of burning PVC.

Helpful Links

Pa. Department of Environmental Protection

www.depweb.state.pa.us/

Environmental Protection Agency

www.epa.gov/

Alliance for a Clean Environment

http://www.acereport.org/

Glen Springs Holding Co.

www.glennsprings-copperbasinproject.com/about.htm