The U.S. EPA proposes to remove the Federal Creosote Superfund site in Manville, NJ from the Superfund list. Beginning in 1919, the site was operated as a facility to treat railroad ties with creosote. Over the course of the site’s 30-year period of operation, creosote was discharged into unlined canals and lagoons. Discharges and other activities led to contamination of soil and groundwater on the site with toxic levels of creosote. After operations ceased, during the 1960s, homes and a commercial center were built on top of the contaminated land. The EPA reports that “on at least one occasion, creosote sludge seeped into a residential basement sump and was pumped out into a storm sewer.”
The site was added to the Superfund list in 1999. As part of the clean-up process, EPA, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, and other participating entities removed over 450,000 tons of contaminated soil from the site, and cleaned up nearly 100 residential and commercial properties that were impacted by the contamination. The EPA and NJDEP have concluded that the site no longer poses a threat to human health and the environment, and that all necessary cleanup actions are complete.
According to the EPA, cleanup took place in three stages:
1. EPA dealt with buried lagoons and canals that still contained creosote and byproducts. EPA acquired 18 residential properties and demolished them to reach the toxic source material. Toxic source material was excavated, treated, and disposed of properly.
2. Contaminaed soil was excavated from all residential properties in the Claremont Development.
3. The Rustic Mall (the commercial area on-site) was demolish by its owners, and EPA removed contaminated soil there.
Additionally, groundwater has been sampled since 2006. Sampling indicates that contaminants are still present, but that they are no longer spreading from the site into the groundwater. Groundwater sampling will continue even after the site is taken off the Superfund list, and EPA will monitor the site every five years.
The public may comment on the EPA’s decision to remove this site from the Superfund list. Public comment period began on March 5, 2014.
Comments can be submitted to EPA identified by Docket ID no. EPA-HQ-SFUND-1999-0013 or by one of the following methods:
On the internet: http://www.regulations.gov. Follow on-line instructions for submitting comments.
Rich Puvogel, Remedial Project Manager