3 : Pompton Lake Sediment : Public 4 Cleanup Proposal
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Page 1 1 UNITED STATES ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY 2 IN RE: : 3 : POMPTON LAKE SEDIMENT : PUBLIC 4 CLEANUP PROPOSAL/DUPONT : HEARING WORKS SITE PERMIT MODIFICATION: 5 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - x 6 Thursday, January 5, 2012 Pompton Lakes High School 7 44 Lakeside Avenue Pompton Lakes, New Jersey 8 Commencing at 7:14 p.m. 9 BEFORE: 10 ADOLPH EVERETT, HEARING OFFICER 11 ALSO PRESENT: 12 ARIEL IGLESIAS, DEPUTY DIRECTOR EPA REGION 2 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 Job No. NJ370997 Veritext/NJ Reporting Company 800-227-8440 973-410-4040 Page 2 1 HEARING OFFICER EVERETT: Good evening 2 and thank you for coming. My name is Adolph Everett. 3 I'm the EPA Region 2 Resource Conservation and 4 Recovery Act or RCRA Programs Branch Chief. I'm here 5 tonight to gather public input on the cleanup of the 6 Acid Brook portion of the DuPont Pompton Lakes site. 7 Cleanup is being conducted using the EPA's 8 authorities under the Conservation and Recovery Act 9 of 1976. Under the provision of federal regulation I 10 am serving as the official Presiding Officer of this 11 hearing and I welcome you all for being part of this 12 session. 13 I also want to introduce my colleagues 14 from EPA here tonight. From our Public Affairs 15 Division, Director Bonnie Bellow -- 16 DIRECTOR BELLOW: Here. 17 HEARING OFFICER EVERETT: -- 18 Intergovernmental and Community Affairs Branch Chief; 19 Todd Calongne as well as Mike McGowan and Dave 20 Kluesner; and from our Division of Environmental 21 Planning and Protection, Director John Filippelli, in 22 the back; Deputy Director Iglesias; and Cliff Ng, who 23 I believe is at the sign-in table. 24 The purpose of this hearing is to take 25 comment on EPA's tentative determination to select Veritext/NJ Reporting Company 800-227-8440 973-410-4040 Page 3 1 corrective action measures for the Acid Brook Delta 2 sediments and upland areas. These measures would be 3 imposed upon E.I. DuPont de Nemours and Company 4 Incorporated, or DuPont, during modification of the 5 EPA RCRA permit initially issued in 1992 for the 6 Pompton Lakes Works Facility, located at 2000 7 Cannonball Road. 8 As brief background, the Dupont Pompton 9 Lakes facility is regulated under the Resource 10 Conservation and Recovery Act because Dupont managed 11 hazardous waste onsite in regulated process units at 12 the time the regulations under the statute came into 13 effect in the early 1980's. 14 The statute was amended in 1984 to 15 incorporate what are called the Hazardous and Solid 16 Waste Amendments. Among these amendments is an 17 obligation that facilities that manage hazardous 18 waste must take actions to clean up their sites as 19 necessary. The EPA permit requires DuPont to clean 20 up contamination from the facility and remains in 21 effect even though DuPont ceased facility operation 22 in 1994. 23 The permit applies to all on-site and 24 off-site areas affected by operations at the Dupont 25 Pompton Lakes facility. Veritext/NJ Reporting Company 800-227-8440 973-410-4040 Page 4 1 Dupont also has cleanup obligation under 2 New Jersey law resulting in the 1988 Administrative 3 Consent Order entered into with the New Jersey 4 Department of Environmental Protection. The federal 5 and state programs follow similar procedures for site 6 assessment, investigation, evaluation and 7 remediation. EPA and the New Jersey Department of 8 Environmental Protection have a co-lead arrangement 9 for cleanup oversight at the site. 10 The EPA has the lead on the remediation 11 of the Acid Brook Delta sediments and uplands areas. 12 The Acid Brook flows from north to south through the 13 Eastern Valley on the DuPont property. The brook was 14 remediated in the 1990's, however, past discharges 15 into the brook resulted in contamination of delta 16 sediments and Uplands Soils. 17 The EPA hosted public information 18 sessions in October during which we went through 19 technical issues about the project in detail. The 20 presentations from those meetings are available on 21 the EPA Web site for this project. That Web site is 22 included on the handout that was given to you at the 23 sign-in desk. 24 But before we begin, I'd like to take a 25 minute to highlight the key activities and findings Veritext/NJ Reporting Company 800-227-8440 973-410-4040 Page 5 1 which form the basis of EPA's proposed RCRA permit 2 modification. 3 Under the permit, DuPont was required to 4 perform an investigation to determine the nature and 5 extent of contamination caused by facility 6 operations. DuPont performed those investigations 7 and studies for the Acid Brook Delta study area 8 between 1995 and 2008. DuPont looked at three major 9 components: The sediments, the Uplands Soils, and 10 the Shoreline Properties. Under the RCRA permit, 11 DuPont is also required to use its findings of its 12 investigations, upon EPA approval, to propose and 13 evaluate corrective action measures adhering to the 14 criteria prescribed in the permit. 15 For the sediment, mercury and lead were 16 determined to be the key site-related pollutants of 17 concern. We decided to focus our attention on the 18 mercury because when inorganic mercury is processed 19 by certain bacteria, it turns into organic methyl 20 mercury, which is a more toxic form of mercury. 21 Methyl mercury can accumulate in the smaller aquatic 22 organisms and then in fish and other animals of the 23 food chain. As such, this ecological pathway poses a 24 greater risk than direct human contact. Also, 25 mercury and lead are located in the same areas, so Veritext/NJ Reporting Company 800-227-8440 973-410-4040 Page 6 1 cleaning up the mercury will also eliminate the lead. 2 Samples of bottom sediment were taken 3 across the entire lake and channel. Mercury 4 concentrations were determined at the top 6 inches 5 which is the layer most available to plants and 6 animals and most likely to result in mercury getting 7 into the food chain. 8 To address these ecological concerns, 9 DuPont proposed and evaluated remediation to reduce 10 the potential for mercury to turn into methyl mercury 11 in the near shore sediments and to reduce the area of 12 exposure of ecological receptors to elevated 13 concentrations of mercury in the delta sediments. 14 Based on our review of the Study, the EPA is 15 proposing as a final remedy for the Acid Brook Delta, 16 the dredging of at least 68,000 cubic yards of 17 sediments from 26 acres of the lake. 18 The area to be dredged is determined by 19 mercury concentrations within the first 6 inches of 20 sediment. However, within this area the delta will 21 be dredged at least down to the "peat" layer which 22 was present when the delta was submerged following 23 the Pompton Lakes dam enlargement in 1908. 24 The EPA also proposes the excavation of 25 7,800 cubic yards of soil, in 17 separate locations, Veritext/NJ Reporting Company 800-227-8440 973-410-4040 Page 7 1 from approximately one acre of the Uplands area. 2 These locations will be cleaned up to the lower of 3 human health-based direct contact standards or 4 ecological criteria for mercury and other metals. 5 The dredged sediments and excavated soil 6 will be disposed of at an authorized off-site 7 disposal facility. We'll also develop an appropriate 8 post-remediation monitoring program. 9 It was also determined that the 10 Shoreline properties were not impacted by delta 11 sediments during historic storms and no corrective 12 work is being proposed for them. 13 The proposed permit modification is 14 limited to the selection of remedies that I just 15 described. DuPont will also need to obtain state and 16 local permits for this work. Plans to clean up the 17 remaining areas of on-and-off-site contamination will 18 be the subject of future public meetings and public 19 hearings on proposed permit modifications when 20 investigations have been completed and proposals have 21 been drafted and reviewed by the agencies. 22 We're here this evening to listen to you 23 and to take your statements on this proposed permit 24 modification. This hearing is on the record and a 25 transcript will be available. We will also prepare a Veritext/NJ Reporting Company 800-227-8440 973-410-4040 Page 8 1 written summary responding to comments made this 2 evening and comments submitted in writing during the 3 public comments period which ends January 13. All 4 the information that you need to submit comments to 5 EPA is contained in the handout given to you at the 6 sign-in desk. We also have comment cards available 7 for those of you who wish to submit comments to us in 8 writing tonight. All comments will be considered, 9 but it will be asked that you keep your comments and 10 statements focused on the proposed permit 11 modification. 12 Those wishing to make statements should 13 have signed in and received a number. I will call 14 out the number of the speaker. For those with an odd 15 number, I'd ask that while the odd number speaker 16 before you is speaking, please approach the 17 microphone on the right of the auditorium and those 18 with an even number, please use the microphone on the 19 left, on the left side of the auditorium.