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Introduction The United States Environmental Protection Agency (U.S. EPA) is proposing to change the remedy for Neal's Dump and Bennett's Dump. The two proposed remedies change the original remedy for Neal's Dump and Bennett's Dump as described in the Enforcement Decision Document (EDD), dated August 3, 1984. This document is the Proposed Plan for the Record of Decision Amendment, and describes and summarizes the recommended changes to the original remedy as described in the EDD. The U.S. EPA is required to publish this Proposed Plan and make it available for public review and comment by Section 117(a) of the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act (CERCLA) of 1980, as amended by the Superfund Amendments and Reauthorization Act (SARA) of 1986. The changes described in this Proposed Plan are subject to public review. The information repository at the Monroe Public Library, 303 E. Kirkwood, Bloomington should be consulted for in-depth details on the development and evaluation of the changes being proposed. Public input on the suggested changes and the information that support these changes is an important contribution to the cleanup remedy selection process. Based upon new information or public comments, U.S. EPA may modify the recommended changes or select another alternative presented in the plan. The public comment period is from August 24, 1998 to September 23, 1998. A public meeting to discuss the proposed changes to the remedies at Neal's Dump and Bennett's Dump is scheduled for September 10, 1998, at 7:00 P.M., in the Monroe County Public Library, 303 East Kirkwood, Bloomington, Indiana.
Site Description and History On January 4, 1983, the United States filed a civil action against Westinghouse, now known as CBS Corporation (CBS), pursuant to Section 7003 of the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) and Sections 104, 106, and 107 of CERCLA, alleging an imminent and substantial endangerment due to improper disposal of Polychlorinated Biphenyi (PCBs) at two sites in the Bloomington area. During the fall of 1983, CBS expressed its interest in negotiating a settlement of that suit as well as a civil action filed by the City of Bloomington for improper PCB disposal at two of the sites owned by the City. After negotiations among CBS, U.S. EPA, the City of Bloomington, Monroe County, and the Indiana State Board of Health, (hereinafter collectively referred to as the "Parties") a Consent Decree was signed in 1985 and subsequently entered by the court on August 22, 1985, for the cleanup of Neal's Landfill, Neal's Dump, Lemon Lane Landfill, Anderson Road Landfill, Bennett's Dump, and the Winston Thomas Wastewater Treatment Plant. The Consent Decree called for the construction of a permitted, two-train, municipal solid waste fired incinerator to be used to destroy PCBs contaminating material excavated from the six sites. Interim cleanup measures such as removal of surface capacitors and placement of fencing and soil covers over Neal's Dump and Bennett's Dump occurred in 1987 and 1983 respectively. Beginning in 1991, the Indiana State Legislature passed several laws that initially delayed, and then blocked, the implementation of the incineration remedy required by the 1985 Consent Decree. In 1994, the parties agreed to jointly explore, under the Operating Principals, alternatives to the incineration remedy required by the Consent Decree. In November 1997, Federal Judge Hugh Dillin issued a judicial order stating that the six Consent Decree sites must be remediated by December 1999 and assigned Magistrate Judge Kennard Foster to oversee the progress of the parties toward meeting the December 1999 deadline. This Proposed Plan for Neal's Dump and Bennett's Dump is a result of the discussions among the parties as an alternative to the incineration remedy.
Neal's Dump Neal's Dump is located in southeast Owen county, approximately 4.2 miles south of Spencer, Indiana. The site is 500 feet northwest of Pottersville Road on the turnoff marked River Valley Estate. Neal's Dump is approximately one-half acre (100 feet by 100 feet) in size and is 50 feet above the flood plain of the White River. The site was owned by Ray Neal between 1967 and 1971, closed in 197 1, and subsequently sold in August 1977. Richard Neal, son of Ray Neal was the transporter to Neal's Dump of capacitors filled with PCB containing oil, PCB oil stained rags and PCB contaminated sawdust from the former Westinghouse facility on Curry Pike in Bloomington, Indiana. The site is currently owned by Betty White. In November 1980, the U.S. EPA inspected the site and discovered exposed capacitors, some which were leaking oil. Soil samples onsite showed PCBs, specifically Arochlor 1242 as high as 188,000 parts per million (ppm). In October 1981, off-site sampling around the dump failed to show the presence of PCBs. In May 1982, the U.S. EPA's Field Investigation Team collected 6 soil samples on the Neal's Dump site and discovered PCBs from 0.41 ppm to 19,000 ppm. In addition, in June 1982, a magnetometer survey to determine the site boundaries along with the installation of 4 monitoring wells were completed. By September 1982, a monitoring well program was implemented and a residential survey as to well water usage was also completed. Based upon the data collected at the site, Neal's Dump is estimated to contain 14,000 cubic yards of contaminated material. In December 1983, remedial measures were implemented by CBS which include the following:
The August 3, 1984 EDD (1) chose complete excavation of 14,000 cubic yards of contaminated material from Neal's Dump for incineration in the proposed municipal waste incinerator.
Bennett's Dump Bennett's Dump, sometimes referred to as Bennett's Stone Quarry is located approximately 2.5 miles northwest of Bloomington, Indiana. After quarrying operations were completed, a portion of the site was used for waste disposal and consists of a 3.5 acre main site, an adjacent 0.5 acre satellite site and a very small area north of the two main fill areas. Stout's Creek is adjacent to the dumping area and directly west of the main site. The site was discovered in early 1983 after a Monroe County Health Department inspection which revealed that dumping of electrical parts and capacitors from CBS had occurred, transported by Fell Iron and Metal. In May 1983, the U.S. EPA's Technical Assistance Team completed an inspection and discovered electrical components, including capacitors and capacitor paper along with stained soil throughout the main dumping area. Nine soil samples were collected and ranged from 380,000 ppm to below 5 ppm. Based upon the inspection and sampling data, U.S. EPA determined that an emergency action was warranted and the U.S. EPA would fund this removal action. The removal action consisted of the following:
The removal action began on June 6, 1983 and was completed on July 13, 1983. The area south of the capped area and beyond the fenced area contains buried capacitors based upon information gathered during the installation of the fence. This area will be investigated by trenching and soil sampling during the remedial action. In May 1984, test trenches were dug at the site to confirm the presence of buried iron as indicated in the previous geophysical study and to determine the vertical extent of capacitors and contaminated soil. The trenches were terminated at a depth of 3 to 4 feet in some places due to the large number of capacitors encountered and the presence of groundwater just below the surface. The study indicated the widespread PCB contamination to a depth of six feet below land surface. It was estimated that 23,000 cubic yards of contaminated soils were located at the Bennett's Dump site (this figure was revised to 55,000 cubic yards during the Consent Decree negotiations). In early 1984, Bennett's Dump was added to list of sites to be included in the Consent Decree negotiations with CBS and U.S. EPA, City of Bloomington, Indiana State Board of Health and Monroe County. A total of 55,000 cubic yards were scheduled to be treated in the incinerator. CBS was required to begin an additional hydrogeologic investigation (2) in August 1986 for Bennett's Dump. Seven monitoring wells were installed at Bennett's Dump and sampling results in monitoring well 5 has shown an oil phase with high levels of PCBs. In April 1998, CBS completed stormwater sampling in Stout's Creek to determine the flows in the creek along with PCB concentrations in the creek. The data showed that during a 2.14 inch rain, Stouts Creek flowed at approximately 26,000 gallons per minute with a maximum PCB concentration of 0.5 parts per billion. In addition, during May 1998, CBS completed sediment sampling and fish sampling in Stouts Creek with the range of PCBs in sediments from less than 1 ppm to 1.8 ppm with fish results in Stouts Creek at concentrations of PCBs from 0.0083 ppm to 9.2 ppm (3).
Summary of Site Risks at Neal's Dump and Bennett's Dump Neal's Dump is located in a residential area within Owen County. The site is fenced to prevent trespassers but residential houses surround the site. Past sampling data shows PCBs as high as 220,000 ppm along with low levels of volatile organic compounds. Therefore, based upon sampling data, PCBs are tile contaminant of concern. Using U.S. EPA's Guidance on Remedial Actions for Superfund Sites with PCB Contamination - August 1990, and 40 CFR Part 761 - Disposal of PCBs, the cleanup of Neal's Dump is proposed to be 10 pprn for PCBs until a depth of seven feet. Depths beyond seven feet, PCB concentrations must be on average under 25 ppm (4). Bennett's Dump is located within a quarry operation and would be considered within an industrial operation, therefore the future use of this property would be considered industrial. As with Neal's Dump, PCBs are the chemical of concern and based upon the U.S. EPA guidance document, Guidance on Remedial Actions for Superfund Sites with PCB Contamination - August 1990 and 40 CFR Part 761 - Disposal of PCBs, a cleanup value on average of 25 ppm for PCBs and an 18 inches of soil cover is the proposed cleanup number at Bennett's Dump (5).
Summary of Proposed Changes During discussions with Magistrate Judge Kennard Foster, the governmental parties and CBS reviewed PCB treatment options, local disposal options and off-site disposal options. Off-site disposal options included a commercial, permitted TSCA landfill (Option 1). Local disposal of PCB waste includes building a TSCA/Resource Conservation Recovery Act (RCRA) compliant landfill at the location of the former proposed incinerator ash landfill at Bottom Road in Bloomington, Indiana (Option 2). In addition, consolidating the PCB contaminated material from Neal's Dump and Bennett's Dump on the surface of Neal's Landfill with a subsequent TSCA/RCRA compliant cap has also been considered for disposal (Option 3). This is sometimes referred to as piggybacking. Based upon the difficult schedule of completing the remediation of CBS sites by December 1999 and the opposition to thermal treatment by the community, treatment options were not considered and screened out of the detailed cost analysis.
Neal's Dump Three different alternatives with three different disposal options (commercial landfill, Bottom Road Landfill, Neal's Landfill Consolidation) to remediate Neal's Dump have been considered and are as follows:
Bennett's Dump At Bennett's Dump, four alternatives were reviewed and as with Neal's Dump, three different disposal options were examined. The following are the four alternatives considered to remediate Bennett's Dump:
Evaluation of Alternatives The U.S. EPA used nine criteria described below to evaluate the proposed change to the ROD. A discussion comparing the proposed change against these criteria is provided below. The evaluation criteria consisted of: Criteria I - Overall Protection of Human Health and Environment addresses whether or not a remedy provides adequate protection and describes how risks posed through each pathway are eliminated, reduced, or controlled through treatment, engineering controls, or institutional controls. Criteria 2 - Compliance with Applicable of Relevant and Appropriate Requirements (ARARs) addresses whether or not a remedy will meet all other Federal and State environmental statutes and/or provides grounds for issuing a waiver. Criteria 3 - Long-Term Effectiveness and Permanence refers to the amount of risk remaining at a site and the ability of a new remedy to maintain reliable protection of human health and the environment over time once cleanup standards have been met. Criteria 4 - Reduction of Toxicity, Mobility, or Volume through Treatment is the anticipated performance of the treatment technologies that may be employed in a remedy. Criteria 5 - Short-Tenn Effectiveness refers to the speed with which the remedy achieves protection, as well as the remedy's potential to create adverse impacts on human health and the environment that may result during the construction and implementation period. Criteria 6 - Implementability is the technical and administrative feasibility of a remedy, including the availability of materials and services needed to implement the chosen solution. Criteria 7 - Cost addresses the estimated capital and operation and maintenance costs, as well a present-worth cost. Present Worth is the total cost of an alternative in terms of today's dollars. Criteria 8 - Support Agency Acceptance indicates whether, based on its review of the Proposed Plan Amendment, the support agency (State of Indiana, Monroe County, and City of Bloomington) concurs with, opposes or has no comment on the recommended alternative. Criteria 9 - Community Acceptance will be assessed in the Record of Decision Amendment (the document that outlines the selected cleanup plan) following a review of the public comments received on the Proposed Plan.
Recommended Changes The U.S. EPA has evaluated the three disposal options for PCB contaminated material greater than or equal to 50 pprn from both Neal's Dump and Bennett's Dump and Option 1, disposal at a commercial, permitted TSCA landfill is the U.S. EPA's recommended disposal option. Table 1 is a comparison of a commercial, permitted landfill verse a landfill at Bottom Road and piggybacked at Neal's Landfill. A commercial permitted landfill is more protective than a piggybacked landfill at Neal's Landfill and will be easier to implement than a landfill at Bottom Road. Even though disposal at a commercial landfill is more expensive, the ability to implement disposal at a commercial landfill outweighs the cost savings. Disposal at the Bottom Road site becomes less expensive as the volume of material increases, therefore adding the 14,000 cubic yards from Neal's Dump and 55,000 cubic yards from Bennett's Dump makes disposal at Bottom Road below the cost of a commercial landfill.
The U.S. EPA is recommending Alternative 3 for the remediation of Neal's Dump with disposal at a commercial, permitted TSCA Landfill. Material contaminated with PCBs will be excavated to 10 ppm at a depth to seven feet and for depths greater than 7 feet, the PCB cleanup value will be on average 25 ppm. It has been estimated that the volume of material for off-site disposal is 14,000 cubic yards along with an estimate of one million pounds of oil containing PCBs for treatment by off-site incineration. Table 2 is a comparison of the three proposed alternatives and the three disposal options for the 14,000 cubic yards of material. Comparing the alternatives, Alternative 3 is the most protective with disposal in a commercial landfill and is cost effective at $6.29 million.
The U.S. EPA is proposing Alternative 4 for the remediation of Bennett's Dump with disposal in a commercial TSCA landfill. It has been estimated that approximately 55,000 cubic yards of material greater than the 25 pprn cleanup standard for PCBs will require disposal in a commercial TSCA landfill. In addition, an estimated 770,000 pounds of oil containing PCBs greater than 500 ppm will be incinerated at an off-site facility. Sediments greater than 1 ppm PCBs within Stouts Creek will be excavated and disposed of off-site in TSCA landfill or special waste landfill that will accept PCBs at less than 50 ppm PCB or under the soil cap. Groundwater monitoring will occur semi-annually until the Five-year Review. Table 3 is a comparison of the four alternative for the remediation of the Bennett's Dump site. The recommended $17.96 million remedy is protective and in the long-term is the most effective and permanent. (1) Documents used as a basis for the EDD include "Preliminary Report on the Extent of Contamination at Neal's Dump", Ecology & Environment, November 1982, "Laboratory Analysis from April 14, 1983 - Soil Sampling Effort at Neal's Dump by Ecology & Environment, and Remedial Alternatives Assessment - Neal's Dump, July 1983. (2) See Phase I Progress Report from Blasland & Bouck Engineers, January 1987. (3) See CBS correspondence dated June 29, 1998 regarding Bennett's Dump Stream Investigation. (4)See Memorandum from Dr. J. Milton Clark, dated August 17, 1998 as to background on the development of cleanup numbers for Neal's Dump. (5)See Memorandum from Dr. J. Milton Clark, dated August 17, 1998 as to background on the development of cleanup numbers for Bennett's Dump. Public written comments on the above information may be submitted from August 24, 1998 to September 23, 1998 to: Derrick Kimbrough (800)-621-8431 The ONE public meeting to discuss this cleanup plan modification and allow public input will be held September 10, 1998 at 7:00 PM in the Auditorium of the Monroe County Public Library, 303 East Kirkwood Avenue, Bloomington, Indiana. |
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