Published in the Asbury Park Press
By JEAN MIKLE
TOMS RIVER BUREAU
DOVER TOWNSHIP -- The generally light winds and the long distance between soil-excavation sites and the nearest residences should help reduce the danger from emissions during the cleanup of the former Ciba-Geigy Corp. Superfund site, an official from the federal Environmental Protection Agency said last night.
"The chances of an emergency occurring at this site are very, very, very, very small," said Romona Pezzella, the EPA's remedial project manager for the site, which is owned by Ciba Specialty Chemicals Corp., Ciba-Geigy's successor company.
Some homes in Dover's Oak Ridge section are about 900 feet from one of the planned excavation sites; those houses are located closest to one of the work areas. Homes in Manchester's Pine Lake Park section are about 4,600 feet away from the closest site. The West Dover Elementary School is about 1,800 feet away.
Ciba Specialty Chemicals employee Joseph Guarnaccia, a civil engineer who produced an air model that tracked the likely path and concentration of emissions from the planned excavation work, said the distances are important because contaminant concentrations tend to dissipate as they drift farther from a cleanup site.
Prevailing winds at the site are from the northwest and southwest, Guarnaccia said. The average wind speed ranges from 5 to 15 mph. Air monitors will be set up at the sites, about 300 feet away from the sites and along the perimeter of the property, Pezzella said at the meeting, held at the Quality Inn, Route 37.
The EPA will establish "action levels" for contaminants, which would require workers to take action if contaminant levels rise beyond a certain point during excavation, she said. Actions could include anything from covering the site with a tarp or other material, spraying it with foam or shutting down the operation.
Guarnaccia said his model indicates that two minutes after excavation is shut down, there no longer are any detectable emissions.
Under a legal agreement reached recently by Ciba, the EPA and the U.S. Department of Justice, Ciba will spend about $92 million over eight years to clean up 10 pollution sources on the site that are contributing to a groundwater pollution plume that migrates off the company's property.
Bioremediation, which involves using bacteria that already live on the property to break down and consume hazardous waste, will be the main cleanup method used on Ciba's land. An estimated 145,000 cubic yards of soil, which contain volatile organic pollutants, will be dug up and treated.
About 5,000 cubic yards of soil will be dug up and removed for off-site treatment and disposal. Excavation work at the site will start in about 18 months.
Because of the time it takes for the bacteria to consume contaminants, excavation at the site will only take place about 30 days a year, Pezzella said. She said workers will be able to choose the best weather conditions to dig up soil and will not excavate dirt when wind and weather conditions are unfavorable.
About 19,500 drums filled with pollutants will be dug up and taken off-site for treatment and disposal, while another 12,500 drums, which are filled with less contaminated material, will be trucked off-site for disposal.
The drums that will be removed are in an unlined and unprotected disposal area. About 30,000 drums that are in a lined landfill at the site will not be removed.
Several residents who attended last night's meeting expressed particular concern about the proximity of the West Dover Elementary School to the Ciba site. Pezzella said the EPA has no plans to limit the excavation operation to times when children are not at school.
She said EPA and Ciba officials have met with West Dover Principal Irene T. Benn, Toms River Regional Assistant Superintendent of Schools William Cardone, and members of the school's Parent-Teacher Organization, to begin discussions of the planned work on the Ciba property.
EPA and Ciba officials plan to make a presentation about the upcoming work to the West Dover PTO on Feb. 13, Pezzella said.
Published on December 11, 2001
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