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| Brownfields Weekly |
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January 10, 2002 THIS WEEK:
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New Jersey Superfund Site Expands the Great Swamp Refuge NEW YORK, New York - Under the terms of an agreement announced by U.S. Representative Rodney Frelinghuysen last week, the EPA, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) and the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (NJDEP), will preserve New Jersey's New Vernon Road Superfund site and use it to expand the Great Swamp National Wildlife Refuge. The property is one of four areas contaminated through the improper handling and disposal of asbestos materials. EPA has completed cleanup work at the federal Superfund site and will transfer custody of 25 uncontaminated acres to FWS, which will set up an environmental awareness center in a barn currently housed on the lot. NJDEP will take title to the remaining five acres containing the landfill of asbestos material remediated by EPA. FWS will provide NJDEP with $300,000 to help maintain this portion of the property. EPA Administrator Christie Whitman and Regional Administrator Jane M. Kenny joined NJDEP Commissioner Bob Shinn and FWS Acting Deputy Regional Director Rick Bennett to mark the land transfer at a celebratory event hosted by Representative Frelinghuysen. "This refuge is a testament to the good that can be accomplished when interested citizens come together in an important cause," Whitman said. The Asbestos Dump site consists of four different properties, including an 11-acre site in Millington, New Jersey where, beginning in 1927, a succession of owners operated an asbestos product manufacturing plant. Asbestos material disposed of at the Millington site comprised a large mound of approximately 1.5 acres. Three separate satellite sites were contaminated when asbestos-contaminated waste materials from the Millington site were landfilled at nearby properties. One of the properties is the New Vernon Road site, which was a corn and dairy farm in the 1960s and was later used to landfill broken asbestos tiles and siding, as well as loose asbestos fibers. Another satellite property, the White Bridge Road site, covers 12 acres and was also a farm until 1969, when the owner started landfilling asbestos waste. Both the New Vernon Road and White Bridge Road sites adjoin the Great Swamp National Wildlife Refuge. The third site is known as the Dietzman Tract, located within the Great Swamp National Wildlife Refuge and used as a dump for refuse and asbestos. EPA addressed asbestos contamination on all four properties that make up the Asbestos Dump Superfund site and has completed all the work needed to ensure that none of the properties pose any threat to the environment or the public. EPA selected a cleanup plan for the New Vernon Road property in September 1991. The cleanup involved consolidating all the asbestos-contaminated material in one area and treating it on-site to prevent any spread or release of contaminants. After this work was completed, a soil cover was placed on the disposal area to provide an additional level of protection, ensuring no release or migration of asbestos-containing materials. All Superfund cleanup activities were completed at the site in early 1999.
Cleanup Starts on Former Metal Plating Shop in Connecticut BOSTON, Massachusetts - EPA Region 2 announced that it has begun a cleanup of the former Progressive Plating facility in Bridgeport, Connecticut. The site, formerly used as a metal plating shop, contains abandoned containers of cyanides, metals, acids, and bases. EPA has already secured the site from trespassers, and EPA contractors will be identifying and removing all toxic or hazardous materials for proper disposal. "It's important that we take care of this problem quickly because of the potential exposure of the people in the neighborhood," said Robert W. Varney, regional administrator for EPA's New England office. The former Progressive Plating facility is a one-story building at 80 Hastings Street in Bridgeport. The site was used by Progressive Plating Technologies, Inc. for the electroplating of metal parts with cadmium, nickel, and zinc. In the fall of 2001, the company shut down operations and left the site unoccupied. Containers of hazardous substances remain in the building, including toxics such as cyanides and metal solutions, and hazardous materials such as acids and bases which pose a risk of fire or explosion. The site is abandoned and without electricity, heat, water, or fire protection utilities. The Connecticut Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) and the Bridgeport Fire Department have been monitoring the situation and have inventoried the hazardous materials present. In November, the DEP requested EPA's assistance with the site. The DEP and the fire department are providing logistical support for EPA at the Progressive Plating site. The site was secured last week, and this week the building will be prepared for removal activities. If EPA identifies hazardous substances which are usable products in good condition, EPA will seek to return such products to the manufacturer or another secure facility for re-use. The cleanup is expected to take three to four months and to cost approximately $1 million.
Attend "Funding Green Buildings: Sources and Strategies" - Jan 22 The Environmental Technology Center, a model of sustainable building techniques and technologies at Sonoma State University, will host a workshop titled "Funding Green Buildings: Sources and Strategies." The workshop will provide a 10-step "roadmap" for optimizing agency or client green building-related financing, capital campaigns and grantwriting strategies. Jan McAdams, a fundraising and grantwriting expert and leader of "Funding Green Buildings" workshops since 1979, will present case histories to describe creative approaches to the financing and fundraising process. In addition to funding strategies, attendees will learn the "Energywi$e 100:" the 100 major public and private sources for grants and donations for sustainable and PV commercial design applications. Registration includes a copy of the 150-page course manual, "The Energywi$e Construction Funding Directory for Green Buildings--2002 Edition." For more information and to
register for this workshop, please contact:
Defense Department Supports New Hazmat Cleanup Research KINGSTON, Rhode Island (ENS) - A University of Rhode Island researcher will receive $830,000 from the Department of Defense to field test a new technology for cleaning up hazardous wastes. Environmental hydrologist Thomas Boving, assistant professor of geosciences at URI, and colleagues from the University of Arizona, the Colorado College of Mines, and the University of Texas-San Antonio, developed an innovative system to remove a wide range of toxic materials from the ground using a product called cyclodextrin. "Cyclodextrin is a type of sugar made from corn starch," said Boving, a native of Germany who joined the URI faculty in 1999. "It's better than other technologies for cleaning up hazardous materials because it's non-toxic and leaving it underground for a period of time causes no harm." Due to the chemical structure of cyclodextrin, many toxic materials like solvents, pesticides and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons are attracted to it. To clean up a site, Boving will inject quantities of cyclodextrin solution into contaminated soil and groundwater. After allowing the material to move through the earth and attract the contaminants, the cyclodextrin will be pumped out of the ground and recycled. Because of the relative high cost of cyclodextrin, using it just once would make the process uneconomical. Boving and colleagues from the URI Chemical Engineering Department developed a method of stripping off the contaminants from the cyclodextrin so it can be used again. The Department of Defense controls about 28,000 sites that must be cleaned up, and at least 500 of those contain the contaminants on which Boving's system works best. The federal government estimates it will cost about $1 trillion to clean up these sites and the thousands of other sites around the country that also need cleaning. A military installation in Virginia was selected as the field demonstration site for Boving's technology demonstration. Beginning in May, his team will conduct preliminary testing of the soils and groundwater at the test site and prepare the field study. The actual field test will continue for three to four months during summer of 2002.
British Hospital Brownfields to Become Town Homes and Greenfields Recent targets set by the British government demand that 60 percent of all new houses should be built on brownfield sites to relieve the pressure on greenfield sites and preserve the English countryside. Thanks to that edict, two former hospitals on abandoned British brownfield sites will soon become home to a nature conservatory, new town homes, and a completely refurbished Victorian-era theater. British development company Laing Homes, who will build on and refurbish the two former hospital sites, build over 90 percent of their housing developments on recycled land -- far exceeding the government requirement. Plans for converting 31 acres of the former Normansfield Hospital into 190 new apartments and town houses were approved by the London Borough of Richmond. Also approved for construction was a second, UK$50 million development of 200 houses and apartments at the former Bexley Hospital site. The first 31-acre development, to cost a projected UK$40 million, will be called Langdon Park. When completed, Langdon Park will include a completely refurbished Victorian theater that will remain on the property, a nature conservation area with specially created sports fields and play areas, a learning disabilities center, and the conversion of another on-site building into a hotel. The second, to be called Old Bexley Lane, will incorporate the conversion of a historic mansion on the property into a clubhouse for the future homeowners. Only a third of the 50 acre hospital grounds will be developed into housing. The remainder will become a greenfield recreation area with sports fields and a playground. For more information on brownfields
remediation and redevelopment in England and Europe, visit our international
partner, BrownfieldSites.com: |