Tremont City Landfill

Overview

Site Location

Tremont, Ohio

Site Description

The Tremont City Barrel Fill Site is an area with over 50,000 buried barrels filled with many different organic and inorganic compounds. The barrels are buried with a cover of 10-17 feet of soil above the barrels. In addition to the barrels there are cells also in the Barrel Fill Site where mixed solutions of hazardous wastes where dumped into the cells over a period of time. Extensive and apparently rather accurate records were kept of the material going into the Barrel Fill Site. Because of this there are a number of potentially responsible parties (PRPs) that have environmental liability. A group of about 7 PRPs have formed a company to manage the investigations under the superfund program. The PRP group is called RESA (Responsible Environmental Stewards Association (check). RESA signed an administrative order with EPA region V to conduct the Remedial Investigation and Feasibility Study for the Barrel Fill Site. Their consulting firm is Haley and Aldrich. The RI was approved by EPA in late 2006. Currently a draft cleanup alternatives array document is available.

Organization Requesting Assistance

CF/Water and the Clark County Combined Health District

Summary of TOSC Assistance

CF/Water and the Clark County Combined Health District asked TOSC (Technical Outreach Services for Communities) to prepare a basic summary of activities related to an ongoing Remedial Investigation and Feasibility Study (RI/FS) for the Tremont City Barrel Fill Site. The general goals of an RI/FS are to determine the presence, nature, extent, and risks associated with contamination at a site, and to evaluate cleanup options, if needed.

An RI/FS is one of several steps in the Superfund process taken to address contamination issues at a site. Prior to the start of the RI/FS, several interim actions were taken to address contamination issues that were detected. After completion of the RI/FS, which is expected soon, a proposed plan and record of decision will be issued for the selected corrective actions. The EPA will take and consider public comments on the proposed plan prior to issuing the record of decision. Remedial actions will then be designed and implemented, and reevaluated every five years. The time period required to work through the Superfund process is sometimes on the order of decades.

Other Activities

Since completion of the RI in October of 2006, an Alternatives Array Document was completed in March of 2007 to develop and screen possible remedial action alternatives that will be analyzed and presented more fully in the Feasibility Study (FS). Since April 2007, technical reviews, responses, and additional data gathering have been ongoing between the Ohio EPA, U.S. EPA, and consultants for Responsible Environmental Solutions Alliance (RESA). Much of this technical discussion is about the geology and groundwater flow conditions below the barrel fill, and the likelihood of impacts to the two lower groundwater aquifers. A presentation of the results of this discussion is expected when the FS report is issued. RESA represents former barrel fill customers that are designated by the EPA as potentially responsible parties for the site’s contamination.

Proposed TOSC Services

To assist CF/Water, the TOSC program is conducting the following activities, as TOSC funds permit:

  1. Explain technical data from the documents prepared for the Tremont City Barrel Fill Site.
    1. Review the Remedial Investigation (RI) and provide a short summary of the RI for CF/Water.
    2. Review the alternatives array document and provide a short summary.
    3. Present the summaries at a CF/Water meeting in July or August 2007.
  2. Review the Feasibility Study (FS) when it becomes available during fall 2007. Prepare and present a summary of this document to CF/Water.
  3. Assist CF/Water in preparing comments and questions for the regulatory agencies.
    1. Informal comments on documents prior to release of the Proposed Plan and during opportunities provided by EPA and Ohio EPA.
    2. Public Comments on the Proposed Plan for the barrel fill site.
    3. Provide technical assistance as needed regarding the adjacent Landfill Site and the Transfer Station Site.

TOSC activities will be performed within the limits of funding and staff availability for the program and to the extent that the activities are beneficial to the community. Funds are currently available to assist through approximately November of 2007.

NOTE: The EPA TOSC and TOSNAC programs have ended.