r WESTINGHOUSE SHARON SUPERMINI) SITE Sharon, Mercer County, Pennsylvania COMMUNITY RELATIONS PLAN MARCH 1999 Prepared for: I : ' ' ' . U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Region HI 1650 Arch Street Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19103 flRSOQQUQ TABLE OF CONTENTS 1 OVERVIEW OF THE COMMUNITY RELATIONS PLAN ....... 2 2 SITE DESCRIPTION AND HISTORY ................... 4 2.1 Site Descriptio ........n. .:,. ............................4 2.2 SiteHistoiy ..................;......................:.. 4 Sit3 .2. e Contamination ........ ................. ... .. 8 . .. .. 3 COMMUNITY BACKGROUND ..........................1 .1 3.1 Community Profile.. ................ \ ............. ..... 11 Histor2 3. Communitf yo y Involvemen ...................... .. t, 1 .1 3.3 Summary of Community Concerns ........................... 13 4 COMMUNITY RELATIONS OBJECTIVES ...../............5 .1 5 COMMUNITY RELATIONS ACTIVITIES ................ li. S... BACKGROUNA EP D.;............................... 6 2 2 . .. 6.1 Superfund Program .....................................2 .2 A GroupEP 2 s6. ........:..,.... .,......:...........^ . .3 2 .' . .. 6.3 State and Other Agency Roles . ,. ........................... 24 Figure! Site Layout Map ...................................... 10 Figure 2 Summary of Community Relations Activities ................. 21 Appendix A Interested Party and Contact List Appendix B Repositories, Meeting Locations and Other Informational Sources Appendi xC Glossary of Technical Terms Appendi xD Technical Assistance Grant Information Attachmen t1 . Sample Fact Sheet Attachment 2 Sample Public Notice AR50001* Thi P includesCR followine sth g sections: SITE DESCRIPTIO HISTORD NAN Y descriptioA thf no e site property, its characteristic historyd s an brie a d f,an summar thf yo e contaminant theid san r potential health effects. COMMUNITY BACKGROUND A profile of the local community around the site, a history of community involvement, and a summary of current community issues and concerns regarding the site and its cleanup. • COMMUNITY RELATIpNS OBJECTIVES A listing of the goals EPA has set to keep the site community informed and involved during cleanup actions. COMMUNITY RELATIONS ACTIVITIES A description of the specific activities EPA will conduct to achieve its community relations goals. EPA BACKGROUND An overview of the Superfund program and a description of the roles of EPA, state agencie othed san r parties involve stude cleanud th ysiten an de i th .f po APPENDIXE ATTACHMENTD SAN S listinA thf go e names, addresses and. telephone number federalr sfo , stat locad ean l officials; local media outlets othed ;an r interested parties. Also includee dar location publia r sfo c meeting, details abou informatioe tth n repositor othed yan r information sources ,glossara technicaf yo l termsampla d san e fact sheed tan public notice. Thi P drawsCR information so n from many sources including A files:EP ; Cit Sharof yo d nan Mercer County documents; public meetings, briefing communitd san y interviews; conference calls informad an l discussion locae sth linvolvin d mediaan inpud A ;gan EP t from stat locad ean l officials, community group othed san r interested parties. AR50'OOi»2 2.1 Site Description - The Westinghouse Sharon Site encompasses approximately 50 acres at 369 Sharpsville Avenue in the City of Sharon, Mercer County, Pennsylvania,. Between 1922 and 1985, Westinghouse Electric Corporation operate transformeda r production propertyfacilite th n yo . Prio 1922o rt , the sitoccupies e wa Savag e th y db e Arms Corporation. properte ,Th divides yi d into three areas, the North Sector, the Middle Sector and the'South Sector. During plant operations, most of the manufacturing and assembling operations were conducted in the Middle Sector buildings. Current site features include vacant buildings on the Middle and North sectors which range from 200 to '800 feet in width, an oil pump house, abandoned storage tanks, a concrete dike and a paved lot. entire Th e facility extends along Sharpsville Roa nearlr dmilee fo a yr on pag .n fo o (Se 0 ep 1 ema layousite.e th )f to site borderes Th Citei e nortSharpsvillee f yth o th y hb n deaso e Sharpsvilly tth b n ;o e Avenud ean residential homes; on the south by Winner International and the City of Sharon; and on the west by ARMCO Steel Corporation. Railroad tracks owne Conraiy db l Corporation also bordee rth propert wese pasd th tan o y st directly behin sitee additionn dth I . , several small industrial parks are located to the west and south of the site property. The Shenango River is located approximately one-half mile wes thf to e sitflowd ean s south towar Cite Sharonf dyth o . Located 1,600 feet downstream from the site, along the Shenango River, is the Shenango Valley Water Company which provides drinking water to approximately 75,000 people. 2 2. Site History Between 192 1985d 2an , Westinghouse Electric Corporation manufacture repaired dan varietda y of distribution and power transformers as well as electrical apparatus including reactors, regulators, rectifier mobild san e transformers manufacturinl .Al g operation site eth ceaset sa n di 1985. During manufacturing, a portion of the liquid-cooled transformers were filled with a coolant called inerteen ,speciaa l dielectric fluid whic non-flammables hi . Inerteen consistf so either undiluted polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs mixtura )r o PCBf e trichlorobenzeneo d san . Inertee s firsnwa tSharoe useth t da n plan utilizes 1936n ti wa d varyin,n an d i g concentrations until 1976. Early Warnings •, . / t . , . ' • • • . '•-•,- '' . ' In response to clinical studies which showed that PCBs may be a human carcinogen (cancer- causing agent), Westinghouse discontinued using PCBs in their operations in 1976. In addition, UR5000U3 Westinghouse remove incinerated dan d 48,000 gallon PCBf s o 15,00 d san 0 gallon organif so c solvents fro site 1976mn eth i . During operation late eth n 1970si earld san y 1980s, plant spill occasionad san B surfacinlPC n gi soils occurre sitee thess th A . t da e incidents occurred instead ,an facinf do g enforcement actions, Westinghouse removed the spilled materials and cleaned the contaminated areas. In 1984, two major incidents occurred at the site which released PCBs and other chemicals into the environment. The first incident occurred when approximately 6,000 gallons of a mixture containing transformer oil petroleu,a m produc silicond tan e flui releases dwa d aftera malfunction in one of the facility's heat exchanger units. The heat exchanger malfunction caused the mixture to be released from Its underground storage tank into the surrounding soil and groundwater. Because this storage tank housed 1960sPCBe th A sn believe,i EP s tha soie ltth around the tank was already contaminated with PCBs. Therefore, the released liquid flowed through the soil,, absorbed PCB contamination, and collected in a pond near the plant drainage area, calle moate dth .pagn o (Se ep e10. ma A als)EP o believes that during this time, PCB- contaminated oil leaked into sewers at the site and drained into the Pine Run tributary of the Shenango River. The second release, in November, 1984, involved the facility's coal-crusher sump. Upon discoverin densga e drainagliquie th n di eplante areth f ,ao facility officials investigate source dth e thf o e materia discovered lan d that approximatel gallon4 y10 PCBf so s remainin sume d th pha n g i leaked and collected in the onsite moat. Although contamination from these two events was contained from spreading further, the moat, soils and groundwater at the site remained contaminated, : Site Investigation d Regulatorsan y Action, s In April 1985, after initial site investigations, the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (PADEP) [formerl Pennsylvanie yth a Departmen Environmentaf to l Resources] issued an Administrative Order to Westinghouse to investigate the sources and amount of PCB-oil and industrial solvent contamination at the site. Under the Administrative Order, Westinghouse conducte subsurfac e dstuda th f yo e condition site eth andt sa Augusn ,i t 1986, submitteo dt PADEP a report detailing the study and its findings. The 1986 study revealed that soils and groundwater at the site contained hazardous substances, including PCBs and other organic compounds. In November 1985, at the request of PADEP, EPA investigated the site and detected PCBs at thf o e fouo tw r locations where Westinghouse discharged plant water intShenange oth o River. This caused concern because the Shenango Valley Water Company, located downstream, uses the Shenango Rive its ra s water source. PCBs also were detecte riven di r sediments collected nea. r the site. As a result of these findings, EPA proposed the site for inclusion on the National Priorities List (NPL Jun)n i e 1988 anticipation .I thf neo site bein gNPLe listeth ,n d o PADE d Pan Westinghouse entered into a Consent Order and Agreement on September 21,1988. This order and agreement requires Westinghouse to conduct a remedial investigation and feasibility study at the site. The Westinghouse Sharon Site was formally included on the NPL in 1990. As part of the remedial investigation, samples were collected from several site monitoring wells during field work in 1992 and 1993. Sampling results from these wells indicated that PCS- contaminated oil was present in the groundwater beneath the site, The discovery of this contamination led to further investigations which revealed that an estimated 5,000 to 10,000 gallon oif slo contaminated with PCBs, dioxins, chlorinated solvent trichlorobenzend san e forme separatda e aqueous layer whic thf o efloatins groundwatehp wa to n go r beneat sitee h.th Becaus potentiae th f e thio r lsfo oi Shenangtravee o lt th o lt o Rive affecd r an Shenang e tth o Valley water supply A issue,EP Unilaterada l Administrative Orde Westinghouso rt Februarn ei y 1994. The Unilateral Administrative Order required Westinghouse conduct actions to remove and dispose of the contaminated material located on top of the groundwater at the site. la respons ordere th o e,t Westinghouse installed recovery well colleco st t contaminated materiad lan prevent it from traveling into the Shenango River.