Gibbsboro site gets cleanup OK

GIBBSBORO - The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has finalized its $14 million plan to clean up contaminated soil and sediment at a Gibbsboro dump that is part of court order involving a Superfund cleanup site with multiple locations in the borough and neighboring Voorhees.

The money is earmarked for the Route 561 Dump site in Gibbsboro, which was used for paint waste by the former Lucas Paint Works and later Sherwin Williams manufacturing plant. The site, located near the former plant in Gibsbboro, includes businesses, a vacant lot, the White Sand Branch creek and a wetland.

Though technically not on the Superfund Priorities List, the dump is being cleaned up in conjunction with the larger Lucas-Paint Works/Sherwin Williams/Hilliards Creek Superfund site. The site contains lead and arsenic from paint.

Meanwhile, the EPA already has begun a separate $14 million cleanup of contaminated soil on residential properties around Kirkwood Lake. Ray Klimcsak, EPA project manager for the Superfund site, said that project has started on eight of the 33 properties already.

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“Lead is a toxic metal that can impact a child’s ability to learn and cause a range of other serious health problems,” said EPA Regional Administrator Judith Enck. “EPA’s final plan is an important step forward in our comprehensive strategy to cleanup this complex site and protect people’s health and the environment.”

Arsenic is a toxic that also damages human health and can cause cancer.

Enck said the EPA will remove approximately 23,000 cubic yards of contaminated soil and back fill the excavated area with clean soil. The contaminated soil will be taken off site and disposed of at facilities licensed to handle the waste. Then a cap of either vegetation or asphalt will be installed depending on the type of property.

She said the EPA will monitor air near the work site and will coordinate with the property owners or occupants "to ensure work is done with minimal disruption."

The EPA is requiring restrictions be placed on how the land may be used in order to limit people’s exposure to the contaminated soil. The EPA will conduct a review every five years to ensure the effectiveness of the cleanup.

The dump, and Sherwin-Williams/Hilliard’s Creek site and the United States Avenue Burn Superfund site are sources of contaminated soil and sediment, which has spread onto a number of residential properties within Gibbsboro and Voorhees.

Sherwin Williams agreed to clean up the dump as part of a 1999 court order involving the Superfund site cleanup that includes the paint plant and surrounding soil and lake, a burn site, Hilliards Creek and Kirkwood Lake.

Under previous orders by the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection and the EPA, Sherwin-Williams has removed 8,096 cubic yards of sludge from a former lagoon area, removed 44,785 gallons of liquid waste, installed a soil vapor extraction treatment system to reduce the volatile organic compounds in the soil near two former plant buildings, installed fencing to limit access to some source areas and taken other steps to address the pollution.

Kirkwood Lake residents and elected officials concerned with the lake's health have been pleading with the EPA to clean up the lake first, but EPA maintains the lake would be re-contaminated by pollution upstream if the other sites are not cleaned up first.

“Obviously, our comment letters had no impact. We are almost four decades dealing with this and appear to be going nowhere.  This is so frustrating on many levels,” said Alice Johnston, chairwoman of the Kirkwood Lake Environmental Committee.

Both Voorhees Mayor Michael Mignogna and U.S. Rep. Donald Norcross, D-N.J., have written to the EPA that the lake may not survive until then because it continues to get shallower from silting. Norcross' letter said there is a pressing need to address the entirety of the site  now.

Klimcsak said the projected schedule is for the burn site solution to be addressed in 2017, the plant site and soils in 2018 and all the bodies of water in 2019.

Carol Comegno: (856) 486-2473; ccomegno@gannettnj.com

For more information

To read the cleanup plan, visit semspub.epa.gov/src/document/02/393183

EPA Region 2 is also at twitter.com/eparegion2 and facebook.com/eparegion2

To view the final cleanup plan, visit epa.gov/superfund/route-561-dump