There are new challenges ‘every day’
at the Federal Creosote Superfund site.
By: Charlie Olsen
Trucks go in and trucks go out that’s what most casual observers at the Rustic Mall have been seeing for the past five and a half years.
But at the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Federal Creosote Superfund site there is much more than meets the eye.
Perry Novak, site superintendent for Sevenson Environmental Services Inc., the company hired for the project, has to deal with a number of different challenges every day. He has to deal with equipment failures. He has to deal with veins of creosote in the soils that are bigger than expected.
He has to deal with potentially harmful amounts of dust and odor at a gusty location. He has to redirect sewers and storm drains.
Most importantly, he has to minimize the impact on businesses and residents.
On Tuesday, Mr. Novak spent most of his time walking the neighborhood and local businesses to get their input on how the cleanup is affecting them.
His biggest concern this week is the shallow excavation next to the Jerry Davis Early Childhood Center, a daycare for developmentally disabled children.
At the daycare center, workers are using an excavator to remove about 240 cubic feet of contaminated material from a strip of blacktop about 30 feet long and 2 feet wide while children play in a playground less than 20 feet away.
Once the material has been loaded into trucks, the exposed soil will be sampled for the presence of cancer-causing creosote and the hole will be filled with dirt from the Tinton Falls quarry.
The contaminated soil, now referred to as thermal, will be shipped to Canada and incinerated.
It’s the fourth time the soil in this area has failed, bringing the excavation closer and closer to the daycare center two feet at a time.
Mr. Novak appears visibly anxious.
"This used to be one of the drying areas," he said. "We can’t just excavate the entire area because of the daycare center … those are handicapped kids … anywhere else you can leave the hole open but we don’t have that luxury."
When Sevenson began the cleanup on Jan. 2, 2001, there were a number of concerns stemming from the fact that two of the most contaminated sites dubbed Lagoons A and B were filled in to build the Claremont development in 1962.
The lagoons, which were basically open-air tar pits 300 feet long and about 50 feet wide, required Sevenson to dig 26 feet deep to remove the creosote. The houses lying on top of those areas were purchased by the government and leveled.
Lagoon B is now a grassy field by the train track; Lagoon A is a storage area and the base of operations for the project.
But those weren’t the only areas affected by the creosote the project keeps creeping into new areas after testing and samples reveal more contaminated soil that must be removed.
According to Mandeep Talwar, project engineer for the Army Corps of Engineers, the entire area was sampled and divided into a grid with each square representing 30 square feet and 4 feet of depth.
The soil is tested with geo-probe using borings from the center of the grid, but the original estimates usually have been exceeded, as is the case with the daycare center.
Up until Federal Creosote closed in 1957, the entire mall and residential area was used for the treatment of telephone poles and railroad ties with creosote a thick, oily byproduct of coal tar that retards the rate at which the wood rots.
Although it is still the most widely used preservative for wood, coal tar creosote contains polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) carcinogens that have a smoky odor and other volatile organic compounds.
In April 1996 a resident reported a thick, dark-brown oily substance flowing from a sump to the state Department of Environmental Protection (NJDEP).
In January 1997, the borough responded to a report of a sinkhole on East Camplain Road, with evidence of a black tar-like substance in the soil.
The site was turned over to the EPA from the NJDEP in 1998. Between 1998 and 1999, about 2,750 soil samples were taken from the former Federal Creosote grounds and surrounding area.
According to Pat Seppi, the community involvement coordinator for the EPA, the level of contamination present in the Claremont development behind the mall resulted in the project receiving approval in about six months.
A year and a half later, the EPA had a remedial action plan and Sevenson was awarded an $80 million contract to perform the cleanup. The government is footing the bill because the site lies in a residential area, although the EPA will attempt to recover its costs from the parties responsible for the cleanup.
Watching Mr. Novak, Mr. Talwar and Ms. Seppi talk with Dick McCurdy, owner of Towne Centre Hardware on South Main Street, it’s plain to see that they work closely to make sure the impact on his business is kept minimal. Mr. Novak has had to take extra measures to make sure customers and deliveries reach his store.
"They try to keep us informed and help with any problems we have with delivery," said Mr. McCurdy. "It (the contamination) is not a good situation, but it’s got to be fixed there’s no squeaky wheel here … jumping up and down gets nothing done."
On Monday and Tuesday, excavators tore up the sidewalk.
Rather than stay open while the work was being done, Mr. McCurdy talked about taking a trip to Atlantic City, sharing a joke about finding an "octogenarian sugar-mama" who just made millions at nickel slots.
As they walk through the neighborhoods, Mr. Talwar points out areas that need more work. They stop to talk to a retired resident on East Camplain Road who wants to be sure his property is properly restored following excavation.
Local union subcontractors hired by Sevenson watch from the front lawn as they discuss his concerns.
"It doesn’t always go as planned," said Mr. Novak. "Every property gets photographed and videotaped for cracks in the foundation and previous problems, because we have to make sure it looks the same when we’re done."
During the cleanup process, the excavation has been carried out in a manner to maintain the value of the properties affected, said Mr. Novak.
"You can’t just make Swiss cheese out of someone’s property," said Mr. Novak. "People have been buying and selling the whole time … property values have gone up at the same rate as everyone else."
At the rate the excavation is going now, the work is estimated to be completed by September 2007, barring major setbacks, followed by completion of paperwork and demobilization in 2008.
Redevelopment of the Rustic Mall is anticipated to begin after the EPA finishes the cleanup.