Superfund Lab

The Environmental Protection Agency serves a vital role in the preservation of our planet. On December 2, 1972, President Nixon combined several departments that measured, monitored, and researched environmental impact to form the EPA and begin working on the growing national concern about pollution.  Their quest is to work towards a cleaner and healthier environment in the United States. One of the ways that the EPA accomplishes this goal is through Superfund sites.  Superfund sites are sights that were once hazardous waste disposal sites. It is one of the EPA’s missions to clean up these areas and establish viable environments in them and hold the companies responsible for the pollution.

914th Airlift Wing-AFRC

One of these Superfund sites is located in Niagara Falls, New York.  Naturally, what first comes to mind when we think about Niagara Falls is the majestic waterfall that attracts so many tourists each year.  Only a few miles away sits the 914^th Airlift Wing-AFRC. This military facility was opened in 1942 has trained reserve officers and airmen for over seventy years.  Unfortunately, defense missions that were used for training purposes left behind hazardous material that contaminated the ground water in several areas.

The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation assumed responsibility for the cleanup of the 914^th Airlift Wing-AFRC areas that suffered the highest damage. The Former Fire Training Pit, the Underground Tank, the Landfill, and the Former Hazardous Waste Drum Storage Yard, were areas of greatest concern. These areas showed high levels of benzene, trichloroethene, and vinyl chloride and needed to have cleanup to prevent further damage.

In 1996 The Former Fire Training Pit an Interim Corrective Measure took place for six months using soil heating and soil vapor extraction to reduce the concentrations of volatile chemicals in the soil. The storage drum facility under went product recovery and is still undergoing biodegradation testing. Fortunately, the EPA was able to determine that the contamination has been restricted to the military base and because of limited access to the area had not spread outside the fences of the base.

Minot Landfill

Another Superfund site resides in North Dakota, not far from the Canadian border. Smack in the middle of Ward County North Dakota is the Minot Landfill. The landfill covers 26 acres of land and was an operational landfill from 1961 to 1971. The landfill was used to dispose of municipal and industrial waste including drums of oil, battery casings, lime sludge and calcium carbide. When the landfill closed in 1971 it was buried under three feet of clay and seeded. The land was used for recreation and traffic. Unfortunately, reports of foul odors and gas bubbles began to surface by 1985 causing the EPA to take notice of the site. Testing by the EPA and the North Dakota Department of Health revealed that the soil, groundwater and surface water were contaminated with harmful chemicals such as benzene, toluene, halogenated aliphatics not to mention arsenic and barium. In 1989 the EPA added the site to the National Priorities List.

In order to clean up this site, the EPA collaborated with local city and state efforts. Drains were installed to collect the water contaminated by traveling through the waste underground. Strict regulations were also put in place to regulate how the surrounding land was used. The EPA put the site on a five year review cycle and asked for public opinion during each one of these reviews.

While there are no current plans to reuse the site, grass grows and is harvested twice a year for hay. The EPA has determined that the cleanup efforts are successful and an ongoing process, but continues to review the site and its progression every five years.

Dixie Oil Processors

A third Superfund site can be found in the southeast corner of Texas. In Harris County, just twenty short miles south of Huston is a place called Dixie Oil Processers. This site occupies over 26 acres of land and is split into two regions, a North DOP and South DOP. The north claims 19 acres of this site and the south has just over seven acres. DOP North was open from 1969 to 1978. Insides its borders were six pits used for storage and treatment of wastewater containing copper (prior to the copper being recovered and discharged). These pits were no longer in use by 1977. With DOP North discontinuing operations; DOP south opened for business in 1978 and closed in 1986. DOP South was used for hydrocarbon washing to produce chemicals such as fuel oil and other petroleum products.

In 1984 they removed 6, 000 cubic yards of contaminated soils, but by the time DOP South closed it left behind more than 100,000 cubic yards of contaminated soil. What contaminates were left behind in the soil? Ethlybenzene, hexachlorobenzen, methylene chloride, and tolene just to name a few! In 1988 the EPA issued a Record of Decision on the site. The ROD stated that there would be limited action, which included fluids stabilization and site cover.

The DOP site undergoes a review every five years and in August of 2006 was removed from the National Priorities List. The containment remedy and soil cover over the site greatly reduce the human health risk. While there are plans to use the site for other purpose, those plans do not include residential use.

IKMHSSS

For those of use that live in northern Arizona, there are superfund sites in our back yards. Once such site in located in the Dewey-Humboldt area. The Iron King Mine Humboldt Smelter Superfund Site (IKMHSSS) lies right outside of Dewey-Humboldt. In 2008 the EPA decided to perform studies on the mine tailings to determine photostabilization ability. The vegetation used in these studies were picked from a selection of vegetation that was (and is) natural to the surrounding area. These included catclaw and mesquite trees, quailbush and mountain mahogany bush, Arizona fescue grass, deer grass and buffalo grass.

The study required that different levels of compost be mixed in with the mine tailings. Because the mine tailings created acidic soil, one the compost was mixed in (the compost being neutral to alkaline) the pH of the soil increased.

After 60 days of growth in a 10% compost mixture, the vegetation used showed varying rates of dry shoot weight. The catclaw weighed about .5 grams, the mesquite at 1 gram, quailbush at 1.5 grams, mountain mahogany at .75 grams, Arizona fescue grass at .25 grams and buffalo grass at 4 grams. The buffalo grass and quailbush both appeared to thrive with only the 10% compost mixture, while the rest of the vegetation showed minimal amounts of growth.

Bacterial counts were also measured at IKMHSSS. In the control area (with no compost added) on the first day of the study neutrophlic hetrotrophic bacteria counted at 10³ CFU. On day 60 of the study the area mixed with 15% compost showed a neutrophlic hetrotrophic bacteria level of 10⁸ CFU.  This was the highest count of any level of compost mixture at any point during the study.

Superfund sites hold important value to our country. These once abandoned toxic sites damage our environment and the surrounding neighborhoods. It is the EPA’s mission to reclaim these areas and turn them into productive pieces of land. Once at a time they are succeeding, but it is evident that community support and participation is a vital part of this process. The EPA cannot do it alone, each one of us holds a responsibility to create happy, healthy environments for the generations to come.