(New York, N.Y.) The E.P.A. has finalized a project to address soil, sediment and surface water that is contaminated with hexavalent chromium and heavy metals by past industrial operations at the Shieldalloy Metallurgical Corporation location in Newfield and Vineland, New Jersey. The E.P.A. is requiring a combination of cleanup measures at portions of the location including capping of the soil, excavating and removing contaminated sediment and prohibiting future residential use of the facility.
Exposure to hexavalent chromium and heavy metals can have serious health impacts, including nervous system damage and, for some heavy metals, cancer.
Wells in the area are not used for drinking water, and residents have been connected to a municipal water supply that provides a safe source of drinking water.
The E.P.A. held a public meeting in Newfield on July 9, 2014 to explain its plan. The E.P.A. took public review for 30 days and considered public input before finalizing the plan.
The location includes a 67-acre area where the Shieldalloy facility was located, a 20-acre parcel where no location activities took place but which is used solely for the implementation of the groundwater remedy, and the Hudson Branch of the Maurice River. The company processed ores and minerals to produce metals and alloys at the location from 1955 to 2006. The company discharged industrial wastewater directly to unlined lagoons and to surface water. Contaminated areas of the facility itself, including a by-products area, 9 waste water lagoons, and storage tanks have been addressed by previous work. Processing operations have stopped, but the location is utilized today as office space and for warehousing. The location was added to the EPA's Superfund list in 1984.
Because of the nature and complexity of the contamination at the site, the investigations and cleanup of the location has been conducted in stages by the EPA, the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (NJDEP), the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and the parties responsible for the site.
Work overseen by the NJDEP in the 1970's addressed immediate risks to the surrounding community. Beginning in 1979, parties responsible for the location began operating a system to pump and treat the contaminated ground water. In 1986, the state of New Jersey restricted the use of wells in the area and required mandatory connection with the public water system to protect people's health. At NJDEP's direction, the company excavated the lagoons, removed 40 buried drums and the storage tanks, and capped several industrial areas of the site. In 1996, the ground water treatment system was enhanced to remove metals. Additionally, an air stripper was added, which forces air through polluted ground water to remove harmful chemicals.
Slag and waste generated by the facility also contaminated areas of the location with uranium and thorium. The slag piles and radioactive waste at the location are not part of the federal Superfund location and are being addressed by NJDEP and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC). In 2006, Shieldalloy submitted a suggestion to NRC to decommission the slag pile by capping the radioactive material at the site. The decommissioning suggestion is pending.
The location is also contaminated with perchlorate. Perchlorate was used to produce rocket fuel, fireworks, flares and explosives. Under a legal arrangement between E.P.A. and the parties responsible for the site, perchlorate contamination will be addressed in a separate phase of the cleanup. A study of the nature and extent of the perchlorate is ongoing.
In 2010, the E.P.A. assumed oversight responsibility for the location from the NJDEP. The E.P.A. conducted an in-depth investigation of the extent of the contamination in surface water, sediment and soils in order to determine how best to clean it up over the long term. The EPA's final project addresses portions of the Shieldalloy location that are distinct from the radioactive contamination and the perchlorate contamination.
E.P.A. conducted both human health and ecological risk assessments to evaluate exposures to the Hudson Branch and Burnt Mill Pond. Based on analysis by EPA, there is no indication of chemicals in the sediment or surface water of Burnt Mill Pond at levels that would be of concern to people, fish and wildlife in the pond. The human health risk assessment that evaluated exposure to the Hudson Branch did not identify any chemicals at levels of concern in either the sediment or surface water. Chromium, copper, lead, nickel and vanadium were detected at concentrations of concern to fish and wildlife in the sediment of Hudson Branch near the facility, with the concentrations of these chemicals decreasing significantly as the branch flows away from the facility in the direction of Burnt Mill pond.
The E.P.A. is requiring a one to 2 foot cap over soil in a 1.3 acre area of the facility to reduce potential exposure to soil contaminated with vanadium. Future construction on the location will be restricted to commercial use. The cleanup includes removing of 9,800 cubic yards of sediment that is contaminated with metals from the Hudson Branch. Additional sampling and study of the contamination in the Hudson Branch will be conducted. Water will be removed from the sediment and it will be taken to a facility licensed to gain the waste. The stream will be restored after the excavation. Surface water will be monitored until water quality requirements are met. Other protective measures such as fencing will be maintained. The E.P.A. will conduct a review every 5 years to ensure the effectiveness of the cleanup.
The Superfund plan operates on the principle that polluters should pay for the cleanups, rather than passing the costs to taxpayers. The E.P.A. searches for parties legally responsible for the contamination at sites that are placed on the Superfund list and it looks for to hold those parties accountable for the costs of investigations and cleanups. The cleanup of the Shieldalloy location is expected to be conducted and paid for by the responsible parties with oversight by the EPA. The cleanup of the Shieldalloy location under the EPA's project is expected to cost $5.3 million.
To view the EPA's record of decision for the Shieldalloy Metallurgical Corporation site, please visit: http://www.epa.gov/region02/superfund/npl/shieldalloy
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