Vineland, NJ

A.78 Vineland, NJ

Vineland Chemical

A.78.1 Contacts

Regulatory Contacts:

US Environmental Protection Agency, Region 2:

Betsy Donovan 212-637-4369

Nica Klaber 212-637-4309

Ron Naman 212-637-4375

A.78.2 Summary

Environment:	Marsh/wetland/floodplain
Scale:	Full
Contaminants of Concern:	Arsenic
Source Control Achieved Prior to Remedy Selection?	Yes (Contaminated groundwater under control)-unsure if contaminated soil and sediment under control
Final Remedy:	Excavation and MNR
MNR viewed as a success?	Yes

A.78.3 Site Description

Primary source(s): Improper storage of arsenic salts on the plant property led to soil and groundwater contamination. Prior to 1977, the company stored arsenic salts in open piles and in abandoned chicken coops. Arsenic contamination, attributable to the Vineland Chemical Company, has been detected in the soils and groundwater at the plant site and has been detected in surface waters and sediments as far as 36 miles downstream from the plant.

Location: The 54-acre Vineland Chemical Company site is located in Vineland, Cumberland County, New Jersey in a mixed industrial/residential area. The site is surrounded by residential properties. Currently the majority of the site is covered with vegetation with the exception of the parking lots and a paved manufacturing area.

The Vineland Chemical Company manufactured arsenic based herbicides from 1950 to 1994. The plant site included a number of manufacturing and storage buildings, a laboratory, several lagoons, and former chicken coops. As a result of waste storage practices, arsenic contaminated the adjacent wetland, site soil, groundwater, and the nearby Blackwater Branch, Maurice River, and downstream Union Lake.

By 1982, the Vineland Chemical Company, in response to State actions, instituted some cleanup actions and modified the production process. These modifications included: installing a non-contact cooling water system, lining two of the lagoons, installing a stormwater runoff collection system, and disposing of piles of waste salts. Also, in 1982, the company, under a State Administrative Order, began operating a wastewater treatment system to remove arsenic. The system received contaminated process water and groundwater from two lined surface impoundments and discharged treated water to percolation lagoons. The treatment was only able to process 35,000 gallons per day while an estimated 150,000 gallons per day left the site. Additionally, the system was unable to reduce arsenic concentrations to acceptable levels. Approximately 57,000 people depend on the groundwater system in the area for drinking water through private or municipal wells.

A.78.4 Remedial Objectives

Remediation risks at this site include dredging activities, which could disturb riverine and wetland areas, causing potential environmental impacts.

The Vineland Chemical Company site received $20 million in American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funding for the river areas remedial construction. A diversion channel will be constructed to divert the Blackwater Branch while arsenic contaminated sediments are excavated from the stream channel and buffering wetlands areas. The stream channel and wetlands will be backfilled and restored with indigenous vegetation. The goal of this remedy is to eliminate secondary source material, which adds arsenic contaminant load to downstream river environs and Union Lake.

After stopping the flow of arsenic contaminated groundwater from the site, a three year period for natural river flushing will be implemented. This will allow the submerged, arsenic contaminated sediments in the Maurice River to be flushed clean through natural processes. If, after this period, the submerged sediments are no longer contaminated with arsenic above the action level, no remediationThe act or process of abating, cleaning up, containing, or removing a substance (usually hazardous or infectious) from an environment. will be performed in the river.

A.78.5 Remedial Approach

Final selected remedy: Excavation

Site cleanup is being addressed in two stages. The cleanup has been separated into immediate actions and four long-term remedial phases focusing on source controlThose efforts that are taken to eliminate or reduce, to the extent practicable, the release of COCs from direct and indirect ongoing sources to the aquatic system being evaluated., contaminant migration management, and the cleanup of marsh, river, and lake sediments.

Operable Unit One (Plant Site Source Control): Alternative SC-5: In Situ Flushing
Operable Unit Two (Plant Site Management of Migration): Alternative MOM-4A: Site pumping/treatment/reinjection/discharge to the Maurice River
Operable Unit Three (River Areas Sediments): Alternative 3C: Dredging/excavation/extraction/floodplain deposition of exposed sediments/plant site deposition of river sediments/off-site hazardous sludge disposal
Operable Unit Four (Union Lake Sediments): Alternative 3: Removal/extraction/lake deposition of sediments/off-site hazardous sludge disposal

The USEPA has demolished and removed contaminated buildings on the plant site property and removed and disposed of hazardous chemicals stored/abandoned on the site. USEPA also constructed a groundwater extraction and treatment system, which has been operating since 2000, to control the off-site migration of groundwater contamination. Through use of a soil washing system, USEPA has processed over 400,000 tons of arsenic-contaminated soil/sediments and returned 95 percent of the material to the site as clean backfill. Finally, USEPA has completed cleanup of the first three sections of the Blackwater Branch through a combination of soil washing and off-site disposal.

The selected remedies for operable units 1 to 3 are protective of human health and the environment, comply with federal and state requirements that are legally applicable or relevant and appropriate to these remedial actions, and are cost effective. They use permanent solutions and alternative treatment technologies to the maximum extent practicable and satisfy the statutory preference for remedies that employ treatment that reduces toxicity, mobility, or volume as a principal element.

The selected remedy for OU 4 is an interim remedy that protects human health and the environment and provides for further monitoring and study to determine the scope and nature of any additional action which may be necessary. The supplemental study will address the dynamics of sediment transport to, within, and from Union Lake and will deal with the effect of arsenic on biota. The interim remedy will meet the statutory preference, with the exception of permanence. It will result in hazardous substances remaining in Union Lake above health-based levels and will be subject to a five year review.

A.78.6 Monitoring

Monitoring elements: The USEPA is performing environmental studies to evaluate the need to clean up the river and lake sediments. These long-term studies will use data collected before and during the cleanup activities involving soil and groundwater. The groundwater treatment plant is anticipated to operate for 15 years.

RAOs/project objectives achieved?

OU 1: On-site soils were processed in a soil washing facility and meet criteria set out in the ROD.
OU 2: Groundwater extraction and treatment is ongoing.
OU 3: The phased sediment excavation along the Blackwater Branch is ongoing. USEPA completed the cleanup of arsenic contaminated sediment associated with the first phase of the Blackwater Branch in December 2007. By October 2009, much of the contaminated sediment associated with phase 2 had been excavated and disposed off site.

A.78.7 References

USEPA Superfund Site Information. http://cfpub.epa.gov/supercpad/SiteProfiles/index.cfm?fuseaction=second.contams&id=0200209.

Publication Date: August 2014

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