Evan Brandt, ebrandt@pottsmerc.com
04/29/2007

LOWER POTTSGROVE -- It’s not just the contaminated water below ground that is a concern at the former Occidental Chemical plant.

Of equal concern to Hank Cole and his clients, the Alliance for a Clean Environment, is the fact that open pools of sludge polluted with such chemicals as TCE, PVC and dioxin could be washed out in the next big flood.

When the Schuylkill topped its banks last June, the waters came dangerously close to washing the toxic waste into Philadelphia’s water supply, Cole said.

The latest feasibility study of the unlined lagoons by OxyChem’s consultant examines several options for cleaning the mess, which was first ordered in 1993. Options include removing the material and contaminated soil to a Canadian landfill, building a new landfill to hold the material at a location at the site that is not in the Schuylkill River flood plain and covering the lagoons over and making them into a landfill, which would require somehow protecting the area from flood waters.

Removing the 32,000 gallons of sludge and contaminated soil is the only safe option, ACE argues.

Cole’s analysis of the consultant’s study notes that the floodwaters that washed over the area last June lapped at the dirt berms that hold the waste sludge. The berms "showed some signs of erosion" and an inspection on Aug. 8, 2006, "revealed an area of PVC on the flood plain" and it is "quite possible that the material was carried from one of the lagoons to the flood plain by flood waters," Cole wrote.

Given how close that call was, the river and the more than 1 million Americans who depend on it for drinking water may suffer the consequences of leaving the material there for the next flood, he said.

It is no longer responsible or protective of human health and the environment to delay cleaning out the lagoons, argued ACE vice president Donna Cuthbert.

In an April 25 letter to Kathleen McGinty, secretary of the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection, ACE wrote, "We would like you to help us convince EPA to conduct or require Occidental to conduct an immediate removal action, including excavation of the earthen lagoon wastes and disposal in a secure off-site landfill."

Glen Springs prefers the option in which the material would be buried on the site because that would relieve the company of meeting "landfill disposal restrictions" that would be imposed at off-site landfills, Cole wrote.

"In other words, Occidental saves money by taking advantage of a loophole, at the expense of community protection," Cole wrote.

That option also would make redevelopment of the site difficult for anything but another industrial client, an option not likely to materialize under current economic conditions, thus relegating the site to remaining a polluted "brownfield" into the foreseeable future, Cole argued.

"In light of the recent flooding event, Glen Springs/Occidental’s listing of flood plain disposal demonstrates either a disconnect to reality or a total disregard for the environment," Cole wrote.

Cole also wrote that one option being considered, to "recycle" the material, would be more hazardous.

OxyChem’s previous attempts to recycle the waste by drying it in order to retrieve the usable PVC was unsuccessful. More than once, the waste caught fire and created dioxin, a byproduct of burning PVC.

Helpful Links

Pa. Department of Environmental Protection

www.depweb.state.pa.us/

Environmental Protection Agency

www.epa.gov/

Alliance for a Clean Environment

http://www.acereport.org/

Glen Springs Holding Co.

www.glennsprings-copperbasinproject.com/about.htm

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