May 12, 2015
New York, N.Y.
The U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency has finalized its plan to clean up a nine mile stretch of
Bound Brook as the final phase of the cleanup of the Cornell-Dubilier
Electronics Superfund site in South Plainfield, New Jersey.
Cornell-Dubilier
Electronics, Inc. manufactured electronics parts at a 26-acre facility at 333
Hamilton Boulevard in South Plainfield from 1936 to 1962. PCBs and solvents
were used in the manufacturing process, and the company disposed of PCB-contaminated
materials and other hazardous waste at the facility.
Bound Brook passes next to
the former Cornell-Dubilier Electronics facility and was contaminated with PCBs
as a result of waste disposal at the facility, including releases that
continued long after its closure.
PCBs are chemicals that persist in the environment and
can affect the immune, reproductive, nervous and endocrine systems and are
potentially cancer-causing. PCBs had been widely used in hundreds of industrial
and commercial applications until they were banned in 1979.
PCBs are potentially cancer-causing in people and build
up in the fat of fish and mammals, increasing in concentration as they move up
the food chain. The primary risk to humans is the accumulation of PCBs in the
body from eating contaminated fish.
“This multi-million dollar cleanup will help restore the
environment and protect public health in South Plainfield, NJ,” said EPA
Regional Administrator Judith A. Enck. “This toxic legacy is on its way to
being addressed.”
The Superfund program operates on the principle that
polluters should pay for the cleanups, rather than passing the costs to
taxpayers. The EPA searches for parties legally responsible for the
contamination at sites that are placed on the Superfund list and it seeks to
hold those parties accountable for the costs of investigations and cleanups.
The estimated cost of the cleanup under this plan for the fourth phase is $242
million. To date, the EPA’s cleanup costs for this site exceed $180 million. Over $43 million has been recovered from
parties liable for the site thus far, and additional funds will be recovered
under the terms of existing settlements.
The final plan includes dredging PCB-contaminated
sediment, excavating soil from the flood plains, excavating an area next to the
former Cornell-Dubilier facility where PCB-containing capacitors were buried,
relocating a 36-inch waterline that crosses the former facility, and containing
groundwater that discharges from the facility to Bound Brook.
The public water supply that serves South Plainfield is
routinely tested to ensure it is safe and meets federal and state drinking
water standards.
The EPA held a public meeting on October 21, 2014 at the
South Plainfield Senior Center to explain the plan. The EPA accepted public
comment for 76 days and considered public input before finalizing the plan.
The final cleanup plan requires dredging an estimated
134,000 cubic yards of contaminated sediment in Bound Brook located mainly
between the Cornell Dubilier property and New Market Pond (including the pond).
Dredged areas will then be restored. The plan also requires excavating an
estimated 150,000 cubic yards of contaminated floodplain soil located
downstream of the former facility property. Areas that are disturbed will be
restored. As part of the excavation work, EPA will temporarily divert portions
of Bound Brook around active work areas.
In addition, the final plan includes excavating an area
next to the former Cornell-Dubilier facility where buried PCB-contaminated
capacitors are located. All capacitor waste will be excavated and disposed of
at a facility licensed to receive the waste. Finally, the plan addresses the
area of the groundwater deferred from a previous phase of the cleanup. EPA is
requiring a system to contain contaminated groundwater that discharges from the
former Cornell-Dubilier facility and prevent it from releasing into the Bound
Brook. The EPA will conduct a review every five years to ensure the
effectiveness of the cleanup.
Because of the nature and complexity of the contamination
at the Cornell-Dubilier site, the EPA divided the cleanup into four phases.
In the first phase, the EPA cleaned up nearby
residential, commercial and municipal properties. PCB-contaminated soil was
removed from 34 residential properties near the former facility property.
In the second phase, EPA addressed contaminated buildings
and soil on the former facility. This was accomplished by demolishing 18
contaminated buildings and removing 26,400 tons of building debris. EPA
excavated approximately 21,000 tons of contaminated debris and soil from an
undeveloped area of the facility. Additionally, the contaminated soil at the
site was treated using a technology that heats the material so that
contaminants can be pulled out and captured. Soil that could not be cleaned
using this method was taken out of the area for disposal at a permitted
facility.
The third phase focuses on site-related contaminated
groundwater. Currently EPA is monitoring the groundwater and intends to put in
place restrictions that will prevent the use of untreated groundwater as
drinking water. In addition, EPA has been performing periodic sampling to
ensure that potentially harmful vapors from the contaminated groundwater are
not seeping into nearby buildings. Since it was unclear how the groundwater was
impacting Bound Brook in the vicinity of the former Cornell-Dubilier
Electronics, Inc. facility, EPA deferred
action on this area; it was subsequently included in this, the fourth and final
phase of the project.
The fourth and final phase of the cleanup will address
contamination in and near the Bound Brook, and is the subject of the plan that
has been finalized.
To view the record of decision and the EPA response to
public comments for the Cornell-Dubilier Electronics Superfund site, please
visit: http://www.epa.gov/region2/superfund/npl/cornell