Efforts to combat contamination aired in Hopewell

Focus of Sept. 21 session was on the Rockwell/Kooltronic plant, 57 Hamilton Ave., Hopewell Borough

By Aleen Crispino
   Emotions ran high Sept. 21 as Hopewell area residents expressed concern about their health and property values at an information meeting held to discuss cleanup efforts on Somerset and Lafayette streets in the area surrounding the former Rockwell/Kooltronic plant at 57 Hamilton Ave. in Hopewell Borough.
   A soil decontamination project was completed in 2000 at the former manufacturing facility, currently in use as an office building, The Hopewell Center, followed by soil cleanup in 2002 on a 1.16 acre "vacant parcel" owned by Rockwell Automation at the east end of Somerset Street in Hopewell Township, and "limited soil cleanup" at the Valley Oil property on 54 Somerset St., adjacent to the vacant lot.
   Rockwell has been named "responsible party" by the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (NJDEP) for releasing volatile organic compounds (VOCs), primarily trichloroethene or TCE, into the soil and groundwater at the two sites, during the course of its manufacturing operations between the early 1900s and 1975, said Ray Pinkstone, NJDEP case manager. The building at 57 Hamilton Ave. is also the former site of Kooltronic, Inc., which operated there from 1975 until 1999, before moving to its present location in Hopewell Township.
   Hopewell Borough requested the public information meeting, held by BBL Environmental Services (BBLES) of Cranbury. The environmental engineering firm was hired by Rockwell Automation, of Milwaukee, Wis., to investigate and treat soil, groundwater and indoor air contamination in the area, which extends from Somerset Street south to Lafayette Street in Hopewell Borough, and from Hamilton Avenue east into Hopewell Township, including 16 homes in The King’s Path development there.
   There are plans to extend ground water monitoring to homes on the north side of Elm Street in Hopewell Borough, said Jennifer Elder Brady, BBLES project manager, who conducted the meeting along with John Persico, BBLES associate.
   Mayor David Nettles, Council President David Knights and Councilmen David Mackie and Schuyler Morehouse sat in the audience at Hopewell Elementary School, as Mr. Persico and Ms. Elder gave a brief history of the investigation and cleanup efforts conducted by BBLES since 1999, when the firm was hired by Rockwell to help it comply with orders from NJDEP to remediate the site.
   They went on to discuss current activities, which include ground water monitoring and indoor air quality testing and mitigation, and future plans to build a recovery well and treatment facility at 19 and 21 Somerset St.
   Mr. Pinkstone also took questions from the public. The NJDEP is overseeing the cleanup efforts by BBLES to see that its guidelines are met.
   Brenda Goeke was one of the first residents to speak. She and her late husband raised a son, now 41, at 29 Somerset St., adjacent to the proposed treatment facility, and she said she is now worried about his health as well as her own, recalling that the tap water smelled bad when she moved there in 1971.
   BBLES tested the air quality in her home for vapor intrusion, which, according to an NJDEP fact sheet, "occurs when fumes from the contaminated soil or ground water seep through cracks and holes in foundations or slabs of buildings and accumulate in basements, crawl spaces or living areas."
   BBLES found unacceptably high levels of TCE, an industrial solvent once used to degrease metals, in the air in her basement and living areas, as well as in water in a basement sump. It covered and sealed the sump and installed a sub-surface depressurization system, which creates a vacuum beneath the building and vents hazardous vapors out through an external pipe up to the roof. Ms. Goeke said she received a letter from BBLES on May 12 stating that the vapor intrusion had been mitigated, pending NJDEP approval.
   Ms. Goeke has attempted to sell her home, listing it with Weidel Realtors in Hopewell Borough. She said she had three interested buyers who dropped out after she disclosed the vapor mitigation system.
   "I’m a widow. Where am I going to be moneywise — in the poorhouse? Does Rockwell care?" asked Ms. Goeke. She said she had requested that Rockwell buy her property, but that her offer was refused.
   "We’re waiting for the ‘no further action’ notice," from NJDEP, said Mary Warshefski, agent at Weidel Realtors. "Will there be deed restrictions?"
   Mr. Pinkstone said a deed notice was not needed for a vapor intrusion mitigation system but that "full disclosure is required."
   "We’re trying to protect human health and we’re having these other effects. I don’t know what to tell you," said Mr. Pinkstone.
   "I have an old well in my basement that has 72 times the allowable limit of TCE, according to a letter from BBL," said Harry Agin of 37 Somerset St. Mr. Agin is the zoning officer for Hopewell Borough and formerly served as a member of the borough Planning Board.
   "I’ve been breathing this air for 21 years," said Mr. Agin. "What I’m experiencing from Rockwell is a Band-Aid fix," he said.
   "Some of us are willing to work with Rockwell and (accept) the assessed value" of their homes, said Mr. Agin, adding that he, too, presented a buyout plan to BBLES, formerly BBL, which was rejected.
   "You didn’t give us enough time to evaluate your plan," said Mr. Persico.
   "I would like to discuss the spill fund with residents," said Mindy Mumford, community relations officer for NJDEP Division of Remediation Support. She offered to find out more information about the fund, which she said might offer payments to eligible homeowners to "help with property diminution issues."
   "There is a time limit. I believe it’s a year," after being informed of the contamination, said Ms. Mumford.
   "We are now cleaning up the sins of our grandfathers," said Ulrike Williams, corporate director for environmental matters at Rockwell Automation in Tustin, Calif., who attended the meeting. "But I can tell you that Rockwell is committed" to the remediation efforts, she added.
   "I’ve been with Rockwell for over 20 years and have worked on this project since 1998," added Ms. Williams after the meeting. "I feel good that we have done as much as is possible. People think that things can move fast, but there is bureaucracy. We’ve never stood still," she said.
   BBLES began digging ground water monitoring wells in 1999. Mr. Persico showed a diagram of a monitoring well, a 2-inch-diameter PVC pipe with slots that allow ground water to flow in. It is sunk vertically into the ground and surrounded by layers of fine and course sand.
   Similar wells 6 inches in diameter are used to pump out and treat the contaminated ground water, said Mr. Persico. BBLES currently operates two recovery wells in the area — one on the vacant parcel on Somerset Street and the other on Lafayette Street.
   The company would like to construct a third recovery well at 21 Somerset St. and a 40-by-60-foot treatment building adjacent to it at 19 Somerset, the site of two houses recently purchased by Rockwell and presently unoccupied.
   The company plans to submit a site plan and an application for a change-of-use variance to the Hopewell Borough Planning Board this fall, said Mr. Persico in a phone interview Monday. Construction is expected to begin in early 2007, according to a fact sheet from Rockwell hand-delivered to area residents in September.
   At a Planning Board meeting in July, Mr. Persico described a plan for pumping out the groundwater from the three wells at a total rate of 50 gallons per minute, sending it through an underground pipe to the treatment building, where an air stripper removes contaminants, and discharging the decontaminated groundwater into a small stream from which it would flow into Beden Brook.
   There will be an ongoing need for groundwater decontamination. "It would be for many decades that we would have to do this," said Mr. Persico in July.
   Monitoring wells throughout the area show areas of shallow groundwater contamination by TCE as well as other areas of deeper penetration, said Mr. Persico. It is the shallow groundwater that poses a threat of vapor intrusion into indoor air, said Mr. Persico.
   Houses in The Kings Path development have deeper groundwater and are not at risk of vapor intrusion, added Mr. Pinkstone.
   The Vapor Intrusion Standard for TCE allowed by NJDEP is three micrograms per cubic meter, said Ms. Brady. "Some readings have been eight, 10, or in the 40s and 50s," in area homes with shallow groundwater, she said.
   Indoor air quality monitoring and mitigation began in 2001, said Mr. Persico. However, the NJDEP issued new vapor intrusion guidelines in October 2005, after which Rockwell contacted more homeowners for permission to monitor the air quality in their homes.
   A "Revised Indoor Air Remedial Action Report" (RAR) submitted by BBLES to NJDEP in May 2006 reports on "the activities performed to date to evaluate indoor air quality at the properties known as 18 Somerset Street in Hopewell Township, 19, 21, and 29, Somerset Street and 39, 41, 43, 45, 47, and 49 Lafayette Street in the Borough of Hopewell, New Jersey." A copy is on file at Hopewell Public Library.
   "One of the concerns that’s been expressed to us is that the monitoring is ongoing," said Councilman Mackie. "People ask, ‘What about my house?’" he said. "I would urge you as soon as you possibly can to reach the limits of this and define the area."
   He also requested that Mr. Persico provide the borough and its residents with periodic updates. "I just want to make sure that information is flowing. The more that you can do to make information available and easily accessible, the better," said Councilman Mackie.
   Two research scientists, Tariq Ahmed and Somia Aluwalla, from the state Department of Health and Senior Services also attended the meeting. They will soon begin a "public health assessment" of the available data on levels of TCE and other contaminants measured in soil, groundwater and air in the area and the effect on public health, said Dr. Ahmed. Asked for an estimate of when the study would be completed, Dr. Ahmed said "four to six months," but possibly longer, depending on how long it takes the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and NJDEP to review the document.
   In the meantime, the Department of Health will hold an "availability session," probably within the next month or so, said Dr. Aluwalla. This will be a public meeting where concerned residents may speak to one of a group of research scientists one-on-one and ask health-related questions. The session will be publicized in advance, she said.
   
For further information, residents may contact John Persico, BBLES Associate, (609) 860-0590, ext. 206; Raymond Pinkstone, NJDEP Case Manager, (609) 292-4447; Mindy Mumford, NJDEP Division of Remediation Support, Community Relations Officer, (609) 984-1795; and Tariq Ahmed, Research Scientist, Consumer and Environmental Health, NJ Department of Health and Senior Services, (609) 584-5367.
   A fact sheet on possible health effects of trichloroethene may by obtained on the CDC Web site at www.atsdr.cdc.gov/tfacts19.html.