Community Relations Plan, New Hampshire Plating Superfund Site, W.A
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HBspBWaUHSWSTiTWHSWSSPSffil^^K SDMS DocID 455695 Superfund Records Center SITE: VJiluO 4kA^ptsUrt. BREAK: 3.,», COMMUNITY RELATIONS PLAIff^^^R- i/!^C9S REMEDIAL INVESTIGATION/FEASIBILITY STUDY NEW HAMPSHIRE PLATING COMPANY SITE MERRIMACK, NEW HAMPSHIRE Halliburton NUS Environmental Corporation and Badger Engineers, Inc. EPA Work Assignment No. 33-1LG1 EPA Contract No. 68-W8-0117 HNUS Project No. 0772 July 1993 ««HALLIBURTON NUS Mii^ Environmental Corporation y ^ - ^ Environmental Technologies Group S^K HALLIBURTON NUS 187 BALLARDVALE STREET ™ " Environmental Corporation SUITE A-100 WILMINGTON, MASSACHUSETTS 01887 (508) 6.58-7899 0187-EPA-2635 Contract No. 68-W8-0117 July 8, 1993 Mr. Richard Goehlert (HSN-CANS) Remedial Project Manager U.S. Environmental Protection Agency J.F. Kennedy Federal Building Boston, Massachusetts 02203 Subject: Transmittal of the Community Relations Plan, New Hampshire Plating Superfund Site, W.A. No. 33-lLGl Dear Mr. Goehlert: Enclosed are four copies of the New Hampshire Plating Company Superfund Site Community Relations Plan. I am also forwarding one bound and one unbound copy to Ms. Van Alstine. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me. Sincerely, Betsy Home Community Relations Specialist PMO & BH:gmb Enclosure cc: D. Kelley/C. Van Alstine (EPA) w/enc. A. Ostrofsky (HNUS) w/enc. R, Palermo (BEI) w/enc. File 0772-1.0 w/o enc./0772-8,2 w/enc, COMMUNITY RELATIONS PLAN REMEDIAL INVESTIGATION/FEASIBILITY STUDY NEW HAMPSHIRE PLATING COMPANY SITE MERRIMACK, NEW HAMPSHIRE Halliburton NUS Environmental Corporation and Badger Engineers, Inc. EPA Work Assignment No. 33-lLGl EPA Contract No. 68-W8-0117 HNUS Project No. 0772 July 1993 Prepared By: Approved By: Betsy Home George D. Gardner Community Relations Specialist Program Manager TABLE OF CONTENTS COMMDNITY RELATIONS PLAN NEW HAMPSHIRE PLATING COMPANY SUPERFUND SITE MERRIMACK, NEW HAMPSHIRE SECTION PAGE A OVERVIEW OF THE COMMUNITY RELATIONS PLAN 1 B CAPSULE SITE DESCRIPTION 2 C COMMUNITY BACKGROUND 4 1. Community Profile 4 2. Chronology of Community Involvement 4 7 3. Key Community Concerns D 9 HIGHLIGHTS OF THE PROGRAM E 10 TECHNIQUES AND TIMING ATTACHMENTS ATTACHMENT A LIST OF CONTACT AND INTERESTED PARTIES ATTACHMENT B LOCATIONS OF INFORMATION REPOSITORIES AND PUBLIC MEETINGS FIGURES NUMBER PAGE 1 NEW HAMPSHIRE PLATING COMPANY SITE MAP 3 2 SCHEDULE FOR NHPC COMMUNITY RELATIONS ACTIVITIES 11 COMMUNITY RELATIONS PLAN NEW HAMPSHIRE PLATING COMPANY SUPERFUND SITE MERRIMACK, NEW HAMPSHIRE A. OVERVIEW OF THE COMMUNITY RELATIONS PLAN This Community Relations Plan identifies issues of community concern regarding the New Hampshire Plating Company (NHPC) Superfund site in Merrimack, New Hampshire, and outlines community relations activities to be conducted during the site Remedial Investigation/Feasibility Study (RI/FS). In general, community concern about the site is low, although this has not always been the case. The manner in which removal program activities were conducted between 1989 and 1991 resulted in a serious rift between town officials and EPA. Because EPA's credibility is an issue, an effective community relations program for the NHPC site should be tailored toward repairing EPA's image as a responsible, responsive, and trustworthy agency, not only with town officials but with site abutters and residents living downgradient of the NHPC site. This Community Relations Plan (CRP) has been prepared to assist EPA in developing a comprehensive community relations program for citizens affected by the NHPC site. EPA conducts community relations activities to ensure that the local public has input to decisions about Superfund actions and is well informed about the progress of those actions. The following sections comprise the remainder of the CRP: Capsule Site Description Community Background Highlights of the Program Techniques and Timing Attachments: List of Contacts and Interested Parties and Locations for Information Repositories and Public Meetings The information in this plan is based primarily on discussions conducted in and around Merrimack in April and May of 1993. Participants in these discussions included the Merrimack Board of Selectmen, the Conservation Commission, the Town Planning and Health Directors, Commissioners of the Merrimack Village District (water supply) , as well as site neighbors and residents of Merrimack. Additional background information was obtained from files at EPA's Environmental Services Division (which oversaw the removal activity). EPA's Region I Office in Boston, Massachusetts, has lead responsibility for managing the RI/FS. The Region I Office of External Affairs will oversee all community relations activities at the site. The New Hampshire Department of Environmental Services (NHDES) will provide EPA with field and technical support during the RI/FS activities at the site. B. CAPSULE SITE DESCRIPTION The New Hampshire Plating Company (NHPC) Superfund Site is located on approximately 13 acres on Wright Avenue in Merrimack, New Hampshire, 600 feet west of the Merrimack River. Figure 1 depicts the site and its surroundings. From 1962 to 1985, NHPC conducted electroplating operations on site, discharging its waste into four lagoons in a wetland behind the NHPC building. The lagoons were unlined and had no leachate detection or collection system or other means to contain the plating waste. In the early 1980s, the NHDES and EPA began attempts to control the Company's hazardous waste disposal activities under the Resource Conseirvation and Recovery Act (RCRA) . The State issued a Notice of Violations and Order of Abatement in which New Hampshire Plating was required to treat its wastes prior to discharge into the lagoons. The Company ceased operations in 1985 because it was unable to meet the financial assurance provisions of RCRA and continue to pursue the field investigation necessary to determine the nature and extent of the contamination it caused. In 1987, a contractor for the State stabilized the plating waste in the lagoon system with lime and a sodium hypochlorite solution; removed debris, drums, and plating tank liquids; and conducted superficial decontamination of the NHPC building. The EPA "removal" action, which began in 1989, confirmed that a number of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) including trichloroethylene (TCE) and 1,1,1-trichloroethane (1,1,1-TCA); inorganics (metals) such as arsenic, cadmium, chromium, lead, zinc; and cyanide were present in the lagoon system. Since these contaminants were detected in monitoring wells on and around the site, in July 1991, EPA proposed to add the site to its National Priorities List (NPL), making it eligible for funds for long-term cleanup. Final NPL listing occurred in October 1992. The site has been designated a Fund-lead site for the RI/FS. i i I i ft I I i I I I i I 1 1 i I I t 1 I I I I I II II II II II I i FIGURE 1 NEW HAMPSHIRE PLATING COMPANY SITE MAP C. COMMUNITY BACKGROUND 1. Community Profile The Town of Merrimack is located in Hillsborough County in south central New Hampshire. The community covers 33.8 square miles, and is composed of four villages: Merrimack, Reeds Ferry, Thorntons Ferry, and South Merrimack, which link Manchester and Nashua. The estimated 1990 population was 22,156. Located between the state's two largest cities, until relatively recently the Town was a bedroom community. However, Merrimack has grown significantly in the last thirty years, attracting the Anheuser-Busch brewery in the mid-1960s. In the 1970s and 1980s, several other major companies located in town, including the Nashua Corporation, Sanders Associates (now Lockhead Sanders Associates), Digital Equipment Corporation, Kollsman Instrument Company, and M/A-Com Omni Spectra (now M/A-Com Passive Components). Merrimack is governed by five selectmen, elected for staggered terms, at the annual election in May. The selectmen set policy, which is carried out by a Town Manager, who serves for an indefinite period. Town Meeting, also held in May, is open to all residents. The Merrimack Village District, which is charged with overseeing water distribution (including fire protection), has the power to levy taxes to support those responsibilities. The District is composed of five commissioners who are elected at an annual District meeting (separate from the Town election or Town meeting). WW 2. Chronology of Community Involvement in The level of community concern about the site was highest in 1990 and 1991 toward the end of the removal action. Town officials had been told that EPA would need to spend approximately $2 million to clean up the site within one year. A Village Crier article, dated June 5, 1990, indicates that among the activities planned were "fixation and stabilization of 10,000 cubic yards of contaminated sledge [sic] by mixing it into a concrete matrix for removal to an EPA-RCRA approved landfill." EPA conducted a public meeting on June 13, 1990. The sign-in sheet indicates that beyond the three state and federal officials in attendance, only six other individuals (four of whom were Town officials) were present. At the meeting, EPA announced that the cost of the clean-up work had increased from $2 million to approximately $6 million. The additional money was necessary "to remove a fuel tank from beneath the metal plating building, restore the excavated area to wetlands, transport and store the contaminated soil and treat the sludge and recycle its metals," according to a June 14, 1990, article in The Union Leader. -4 A July 3, 1990 article in the Union Leader noted that EPA was in the process of obtaining a more accurate estimate for recycling 2,500 square yards of sludge. Janis Tsang, EPA's Assistant On- scene Coordinator for the removal action, is quoted as indicating that the latest estimate would cost about $5 million. A week later Ms. Tsang replaced Paul Groulx as the On-scene Coordinator. On October 2, 1990, the same newspaper stated that EPA had authorized $5.9 million but again, Ms. Tsang indicated that amount might not be sufficient.