Groundwater cleanup plan selected for Long Island Site
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has selected a final cleanup plan for a complex groundwater contamination problem associated with the Hooker Chemical/Ruco Polymer Federal Superfund site, an active chemical manufacturing facility located in an industrial section of Hicksville, Long Island. Past waste disposal practices at the Hooker/Ruco facility and two adjacent facilities, Northrop/Grumman and the Naval Weapons Industrial Reserve Plant (NWIRP), have contaminated area groundwater with volatile organic compounds (VOC).
The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (NYSDEC) is overseeing interim groundwater cleanups underway at the two adjacent hazardous waste sites. Groundwater contamination from the three sites, which consists of commingling chemical plumes associated with the different facilities, had reached several public water supply wells in the Bethpage Water District. Since then, Northrop/Grumman and NWIRP have provided chemical treatment systems for the affected wells, and, as a result, the local public water distribution system continues to meet all New York State and Federal safe drinking water standards.
Biosparging to focus on vinyl chloride remediation
EPA's cleanup of the active Hooker/Ruco facility will remediate a plume of groundwater contaminated with vinyl chloride, the primary contaminant at the site, using an innovative bioremediation technology called "biosparging." Biosparging involves the introduction of air/oxygen into the aquifer to enhance the natural breakdown of the vinyl chloride in the groundwater. This treatment system would operate in addition to the interim groundwater treatment systems already operating under NYSDEC authority to effectively remove a mix of VOCs emanating from the sites. NYSDEC has reviewed and agreed to the cleanup plan for the Hooker/Ruco site.
EPA intends to pursue private parties responsible for the contamination to carry out and pay for the $3.8 million cleanup plan selected for the Hooker/Ruco site, thereby sparing the public any expense in the cleanup of the groundwater.
Since 1989, EPA has conducted numerous activities at the Hooker/Ruco site, including the removal of over 3,300 tons of polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB)-contaminated soil, which eliminated the most immediate threat to human health at the site.
Site has been in use since 1945
Operations at the Hooker/Ruco Superfund site began in 1945 and have continued to the present day under several different owners and names, beginning with the Rubber corporation of America from 1945 until 1956, when a polyvinyl chloride plant was operated on the site under the name of Insular Chemical Corporation. In 1965, the company was purchased by the Hooker Chemical Company, which has undergone several name changes over the years, with the current name being Occidental Chemical Company. In 1982, the employees bought the company from Occidental, and it became known as the Ruco Polymer Corporation. In 1998, Sybron Chemicals Inc. acquired Ruco Polymer.
Since 1946, the facility has been used for the production of various polymers. It currently is manufacturing such products as polyester, polyols and powder coating resins. Over the years, industrial wastewater from the facility was discharged to six on-site recharge basins or sumps. This wastewater contained, among other things, vinyl chloride, trichloroethylene, barium and cadmium soap, and vinyl acetate. These releases have resulted in contamination of groundwater beneath and downgradient from the site. The site was placed on EPA's National Priorities List (NPL) in 1984, making it eligible for cleanup under Superfund.
Edited by Bob Arguero, Managing Editor, GovCon