Report to the North Carolina General Assembly on The
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MEMORANDUM TO: ENVIRONMENTAL REVIEW COMMISSION The Honorable Jimmy Dixon, Co-Chairman The Honorable Chuck McGrady, Co-Chairman The Honorable Trudy Wade, Co-Chairman FROM: Mollie Young, Director of Legislative Affairs, NCDEQ SUBJECT: Inactive Hazardous Sites Program Annual Report Pursuant to G.S. 130A-310.10, “The Secretary shall report on inactive hazardous sites to the Joint Legislative Commission on Governmental Operations, the Environmental Review Commission, and the Fiscal Research Division on or before October 1 of each year.” If you have any questions or need additional information, please contact me by phone at (919) 339-9433 or via e-mail at [email protected]. Cc: Don Van der Vaart, Secretary, NCDEQ Tom Reeder, Assistant Secretary for Environment, NCDEQ Michael Scott, Director of Waste Management, NCDEQ Lanier McRee, Fiscal Research Division, NCGA Report to the North Carolina General Assembly on the Division of Waste Management’s Inactive Hazardous Sites Program North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality Division of Waste Management http://deq.nc.gov/about/divisions/waste-management/superfund- section/inactive-hazardous-sites-program October 2016 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY The N.C. General Assembly created the Inactive Hazardous Sites Program in the Department of Environmental Quality’s (DEQ) Division of Waste Management (DWM) to identify, investigate and clean up properties contaminated with hazardous substances. The program also manages the assessment and cleanup of old pre-regulatory landfill sites that have environmental contamination and that predate modern landfill standards designed to prevent contamination. This report satisfies the requirements, set out in G.S. 130A-310.10, for an annual report to the General Assembly. A total of 3,112 chemical spill or disposal sites and old, unlined dumps or landfills (pre- regulatory) have been cataloged. Of this number 2,548 still require work to address public health or environmental hazards. Of the 2,548 remaining open cases, 669 are old, unlined landfills that predate solid and hazardous waste permitting laws. By state law, approximately 45 percent of the proceeds of a statewide solid waste disposal tax is directed to address contamination at these pre-regulatory landfills. DWM has established contracts with private firms to assess and remediate the pre- regulatory landfill sites. DWM has started a pilot study of an alternative privatized method of state-funded assessment and remediation of four pre-1983 landfills, to evaluate ways to improve efficiency and reduce cost. At the end of FY2015-16, the uncommitted cash balance in the Inactive Hazardous Sites Cleanup Fund (IHSCF) dedicated to addressing the non-landfill inactive hazardous waste sites was $0. The fund receives a $400,000 appropriation for this purpose from the General Fund each year. The program has recovered funds for assessment and remediation through bankruptcy claims for several sites over the years. In most cases, these new monies go into special trust funds, since the payments can only be used for specific sites in accordance with bankruptcy settlement agreements. The following provides a status of sites cataloged by the Inactive Hazardous Sites Program. Catalog of Contaminated Sites: Total Number of Inactive Hazardous Sites Cataloged 3,112 Chemical Spill or Disposal Sites 2,435 Pre-Regulatory Landfills 677 Total Number of Sites Requiring No Further Action 564 Chemical Spill or Disposal Sites 556 Pre-Regulatory Landfill Sites 8 Remaining Open Sites 2,548 Chemical Spill or Disposal Sites 1879 Pre-Regulatory Landfills 669 Program Activities for FY2015-16: Chemical Spill or Disposal Sites: Oversight of Responsible Party Cleanup Actions - Total 263 Registered Environmental Consultant (REC)-Supervised Remedial Actions 123 Staff-Supervised Remedial Actions under Administrative Agreements 65 Additional Staff-Supervised Actions Pending Administrative Agreements 68 Spill Response Actions 7 High Risk Orphan Site (no responsible party) Actions (completed and ongoing) 101 Inactive Hazardous Sites Cleanup Fund Actions in FY2015-16 Contaminated Site Assessments Completed or Ongoing 34 Contaminated Soil/Waste Removal Actions Completed or Ongoing 5 Homes Provided Alternate Water or Treatment Systems Maintained 10 Testing Conducted by Staff Water Supply Wells Sampled at Non-Landfill Sites 74 Sites with Other Testing (soils, surface water) 22 New Site Screenings Sites Screened 49 Sites Added to Inventory 37 Sites Evaluated for No Further Action (NFA) Status Sites Evaluated 21 NFAs Granted 20 Pre-Regulatory Landfill Sites: 1st Phase Assessments Completed (receptor research, geophysical perimeter assessment) 7 Contaminant Delineation Phase Assessments Completed 15 1st Phase Assessments Ongoing 3 Contaminant Delineation Phase Assessments Ongoing 38 Remedial Design Ongoing 20 Remedial Action Ongoing 6 Remedial Action Completed 3 New Site Evaluations 1 Homes Provided Alternate Water or Treatment Systems Maintained 21 Number of water supply wells sampled 139 Other program activities include response to public inquiries (these generally run 2000 to 3000 each year), filing bankruptcy claims to generate cleanup funds, and implementation of the Bernard Allen Emergency Drinking Water Program (BAP) (data for the BAP is provided in a separate report to the N.C. General Assembly). TABLE OF CONTENTS I. The Inactive Hazardous Sites Inventory and the Inactive Hazardous Waste Sites Priority List……………………………………………… ...............................................................1 II. Sites That May or Are Known to Require Use of the Inactive Hazardous Sites Cleanup Fund…………………...........................................................................................4 III. Federal National Priorities List Sites Requiring a State Cost-Share..................................13 IV. Responsible Party Voluntary Site Remedial Action ..........................................................19 V. Imminent Hazard Sites .......................................................................................................27 VI. Summary of the Inactive Hazardous Sites Cleanup Fund and the National Priorities List Cost Share Fund ..............................................................32 Appendix A: Inactive Hazardous Waste Sites Priority List………. .............................................37 Appendix B: Inactive Hazardous Sites Inventory – Site Status..................................................... 87 Appendix C: Inactive Hazardous Sites Inventory - Pre-Regulatory Landfill Sites....................... 163 LIST OF TABLES Table 1 Inactive Hazardous Sites Inventory: List of New and Reactivated Sites FY2015-16............................................................................................................... 2 Table 2 Inactive Hazardous Sites Inventory: Sites Receiving No Further Action Status FY2015-16………….…............................................................................... 3 Table 3 Summary of Inactive Hazardous Sites Cleanup Fund Expenditures FY2015-16... .4 Table 4 Federal North Carolina National Priorities List Sites ...........................................14 Table 5 Voluntary Party Remedial Actions Under Administrative Agreements FY2015-16…………………………………………………………….................20 Table 6 Additional State-Directed Responsible Party Assessments/Cleanups Not Under Voluntary Administrative Agreements During FY2015-16.......................24 Table 7 Summary of Imminent Hazard Sites ......................................................................27 I. THE INACTIVE HAZARDOUS SITES INVENTORY AND THE INACTIVE HAZARDOUS WASTE SITES PRIORITY LIST The Division of Waste Management’s (DWM) Inactive Hazardous Sites Branch implements the Inactive Hazardous Sites Response Act of 1987 (IHSRA). The IHSRA requires DWM to maintain a catalog of inactive hazardous substance or waste disposal sites. The program has cataloged 2,435 chemical spill sites and 677 old unlined landfills. Of these, 564 sites now have all work completed and are assigned “No Further Action” status. Twenty-three completed all work and were assigned “No Further Action” status in FY 2015-16. This number includes three pre-regulatory landfill sites. Table 2, on page 2, provides a list of those sites. Table 1, on page 2, provides a list of sites added to that inventory in FY 2015-16. A total of 37 new sites were added this past fiscal year and two sites were reopened. N.C.G.S. 130A-310.2 requires DWM to prioritize sites cataloged in the Inactive Hazardous Sites Inventory based on the threat to public health and the environment. Sites are first cataloged in the "Evaluations Pending" category of the Inactive Hazardous Sites Inventory until DWM ranks the site based on rules found in 15A NCAC 13C .0200. Once ranked, sites are transferred to the Inactive Hazardous Waste Sites Priority List. The priority list is provided in an appendix to this report organized in order of the threat to public health and the environment. The purpose of this list is to prioritize full-scale (complete) remedial actions at sites without responsible parties. The rank or absence of a site on the priority list does not limit DWM in conducting abatement actions at sites with immediate hazards. N.C.G.S. 130A-310.10 requires reporting of the location of each inactive hazardous waste disposal site, the type and amount of hazardous substances or waste known or believed to be located at each of these sites, the last action taken at each of these of these sites and the date of the