New Castle Superfund site needs 'immediate, intense action'

A former industrial waste dump now called the Delaware Sand and Gravel Superfund Site has been targeted by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for 'immediate, intense action,' the government agency said.

The 27-acre Superfund site located about two miles from New Castle is among 22 Superfund sites – land that has been contaminated by hazardous waste and identified by the EPA as a candidate for cleanup because it poses a risk – the EPA says "can benefit from Administrator Scott Pruitt’s direct engagement and have identifiable actions to protect human health and the environment."

The Administrator’s Emphasis List update was in response to a July 2017 recommendation from a task force charged with creating ideas to streamline and improve the Superfund program.

The list is designed to spur action at sites where opportunities exist to act quickly and comprehensively. Pruitt will receive regular updates on each of the sites. There is no commitment of additional funding associated with a site’s inclusion on the list. 

“We are making tremendous progress expediting sites through the entire Superfund remediation process,” Pruitt said in a press release. “The updated Emphasis List reflects our commitment to addressing Superfund sites as quickly and safely as possible.”

The EPA says the immediate mission at Delaware Sand and Gravel is to "obtain input on enforcement strategy for quick implementation of the remedy by potentially responsible parties to address groundwater contamination before water supply wells impacted."

The Superfund site was once a sand and gravel quarry. In the 1950s, it was converted into an industrial waste landfill.

Now the landowner has been sued by the EPA over what it says is his refusal to comply with a legal order to protect one of Delaware's oldest Superfund sites.

Delaware Sand and Gravel sits near the southern banks of Army Creek and just a half-mile from an Artesian Resources water tap.

Between 1968 and 1976, the landfill accepted municipal and industrial wastes including drums containing organic and inorganic chemicals. Waste and leachate from the landfill contaminated soil and groundwater with hazardous chemicals.

The site was placed on the National Priorities List (NPL) on Sept. 8, 1983. Following several cleanup actions, operation and maintenance activities are ongoing. Additional cleanup actions are planned.

In 2016, the EPA proposed a new remediation plan to address "ongoing threats" from the Superfund site. While details are not publicly available, costs estimated at $43 million will be paid by the companies that had dumped waste at the site.

In December, the EPA issued a Record of Decision Amendment to a 1988 report at the Delaware Sand and Gravel Landfill Site to address the source material and groundwater contamination. 

The "selected remedy" in the report calls for the continuation of previous remedial actions at the site. But it recommends new components, including a groundwater monitoring program to ensure that the remedial action is meeting the short-term goal of plume containment and will meet the long-term goal of aquifer restoration within a reasonable time frame.

Institutional controls to prevent potential future exposure to site contaminants in indoor air were also suggested, as was the continued groundwater extraction at Artesian’s Llangollen well field with treatment utilizing existing systems for contaminant removal.

Artesian's well field in the Llangollen Estates neighborhood, about a half mile from the Delaware Sand and Gravel Superfund site, serves about 5,000 residential customers.

The estimated cost of the selected remedy is $46.1 million, according to the EPA report.

News Journal reporter Karl Baker contributed to this report.