EPA Extends Public Comment Period on Cleanup Plan for Maywood Chemical Company Superfund Site

Today's post was shared by US EPA News and comes from yosemite.epa.gov

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has extended the public comment period for its proposed cleanup plan to address contaminated soil at the Maywood Chemical Company Superfund site in Maywood and Rochelle Park, New Jersey.  The Agency is extending the comment period, which was set to end on October 22 to November 21.  Previous industrial activity at the site resulted in contamination of the soil and ground water with volatile organic compounds, radioactive waste and metals.  The EPA proposal calls for a combination of removing and treating contaminated soil.  The EPA held a public meeting on September 9, 2013 to explain the proposed plan. For more information and to view the proposed plan, visit http://epa.gov/region02/superfund/npl/maywood.

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What Happens When The Government Shuts Down 94 Percent of the EPA

Today's post was shared by Mother Jones and comes from www.motherjones.com

Tuesday morning, 94 percent of the Environmental Protection Agency's 16,000 workers were furloughed due to the government shutdown. "They basically lock things up, batten things down, which takes a few hours, then a vast majority of people are sent home," says consultant Dina Kruger, who worked at the EPA during the 1996 government shutdown. To make sense of what it means that over 15,000 EPA employees are now sitting at home instead of working, consider how many facets of the environment the agency has its hands in: The EPA monitors air quality, regulates pesticides and waste, cleans up hazardous chemical spills, and ensures that people have safe drinking water, among other things. Now, according to the plan it laid out for the shutdown, only some workers will be on hand to respond to emergencies and to monitor labs and property. That means the EPA will temporarily halt cleanup at 507 superfund sites across the country, the agency told the Huffington Post. Sites where the EPA was cleaning up hazardous chemicals are shuttered in any situation where closing them down won't be an immediate threat to the surroundings. This will slow down cleanups and tack on additional costs that will accrue as these contaminated sites are left to their own devices, says Scott Slesinger, legislative director at the National Resources Defense Council and a former EPA employee. "The only sites that would be exempted would be those that, if they stopped working...

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EPA Finalizes Cleanup Plan for Gowanus Canal Superfund Site in Brooklyn, New York; $506 Million Cleanup Will Remove Contaminated Sediment and Create Jobs

Today's post was shared by US EPA News and comes from yosemite.epa.gov

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has finalized a plan to clean up the Gowanus Canal Superfund site in Brooklyn, New York, one of the nation’s most seriously contaminated bodies of water. The final plan, announced today on the banks of the canal by EPA Regional Administrator Judith A. Enck with Congressmember Nydia Velázquez, state and local officials and community representatives, will require the removal of contaminated sediment and the capping of dredged areas.  The plan also includes controls to reduce sewage overflows and other land-based sources of contamination from compromising the cleanup. With community input, EPA has decided on the option in the proposed plan that will require the disposal of the least contaminated sediment at a facility out of the area rather than building a disposal facility in the water near Red Hook. The cost of the cleanup plan is currently estimated to be $506 million.  “More than 150 years of industrial waste, storm water runoff and sewer overflows turned the Gowanus Canal into one of the most extensively contaminated water bodies in the nation, threatening people’s health and the quality of their daily lives,” said Judith A. Enck, EPA Regional Administrator.  “The cleanup plan announced today by EPA will reverse the legacy of water pollution in the Gowanus. The plan is a...

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EPA Announces the start of Sampling Activities at the CTS of Ashville, Inc. Superfund Site in Ashville,North Carolina

September 20, 2013) Today, US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) officials announced sampling activities for the Soil Vapor Extraction (SVE) Confirmation Sampling and Analysis Plan and the Non-Aqueous Phase Liquids (NAPL) Investigation will begin on Monday, September 23, 2013 at the CTS of Ashville Inc. Superfund Site in Ashville, NC. 

The work will include collecting soil and water samples to better understand how deep and wide the highest concentrated contamination exists on and adjacent to the former plant property.

The NAPL Work Plan requires that samples also be collected on adjacent properties to the east of the Site, and if data indicates the need sampling may proceed to properties on the west of the Site. Specialized equipment will be used and the sampling area may be expanded as data is collected. This work is essential to determine the best cleanup plan for the Site.

The sampling event is projected to take about 3 months. EPA and/or its contractor will provide oversight of the sampling activities.

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