HomeMy WebLinkAboutNCD980602163_19900116_Warren County PCB Landfill_SERB C_EPA correspondence re approval, 1979 and 1981-OCR'Jifttl 11 'o -
4APT-PT
Mr. William Meyer
Director
REGION IV
345 COURTLAND STREET. N .E.
ATLANTA. GEORGIA 30365
North Carolina Solid Waste Management Division
P.O. Box 27687
Raleigh, North Carolina 27611-7687
Dear Mz:_,. Meyer:
Please find enclosed a copy of the December 14, 1981, letter
sent to the State of North Carolina from the Environmental
Protection Agency {EPA), Region !V's, former Administrator,
Charles R. Jeter. This letter served as the final EPA approval
for the Warren County, North Carolina chemical waste landfill.
A review of the "Final Approval Conditions" section indicates
that this permit document needs to be updated to present stan-
dards. A permit revision process will be initiated by our
Toxics Section to ensure that the landfill approval is in con-
junction with all current PCB landfill regulations. These
standards are found in the Code of Federal Regulations, Title
40, Section 761.75.
At this time, we expect to have an updated permit issued for the
Warren County site by the end of this fiscal year. If you have
any questions or comments on this matter, please contact Carin
DeBenedictis at (404) 347-3864.
Sincerely,
Richard D. Stonebraker
Chief, Pesticides & Toxic Substances Branch
Enclosure
.. _
.• . -. -·· uJ~Co
-DEC 14 1981
Honorable Jaires b. Hunt
Governor of oorth Carolina ,
State Capital
l<a..leigh, North Carolina 27611
tear Governor Hunt:
On June 4, 197S, Re<;icn IV gave conceptual approval, with certain
ccnaitions, to the \\arren County, North Carol.in.ii, site as a chemical w-c:.Ste
landfill c:.s authorizea in 40 CFR, .Part 761. OnE! of t:t.e conciticns was that
the Sta~e $ci:lr~t final plans and si:,ecificaticns to this office for approval,
in writing, prier t.e the initiation of construction. These F,,lans ar..c
sf,'ECifications have been sutmi.tteci ana are .hereby a_pproved subject to the
enclose:i conditions.
rfE corrmeoo you ant the many im..'Olved fer your dedication to reaching a final
solution to this envir~ntal problem baseo on the tecnnclogy as it E:Xists
tod.:(f. I:t: we can be ot further assistance, please let rne knew.
Sincerely you.rs,
/s/ Charles R. Jeter
Re.gionat Administra~0r
Olar les R. Jeter
.i.tegional Administrator
.l:.nclosurE:
cc: t-lr. burley B. M1tcht:il, Jr., ~retary,
l-.orth Carolina Le_partnent
of Crime Control and Putlic Saiety
Raleigh, North Carolina.
O.W. Sc.ricklana, Bea<::
~lid & Hazaraous Waste Z.:.anageI!'ent Branch
f.nviror.:mental i:l.€-alth Section
Der-c.runtnt of. human .k.esources
Division of heuth Services
Raleish, North Carolina
Dr. Sara furrow
Lepartrrent of Human ~sources
Livision of health Services
Raleigh, l.orth Carolina
. -.-.
Final Approval Conditions for PCB Q1emical Waste Landfill in Warren County,
North Carolina, owned and to be operated, closed and post closure cared for
by the State of North Carolina on property formerly owned by Carter C. Pope
and Linda w. Pope, found in Deed Book 278, page 252.
I. Reference June 4, 1979 approval letter signed by John .C. White
A. General requirement numbers 1, 2, and 5 remain in effect.
B. Technical condition numbers 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 7, and 8 remain in
effect. Condition numbers 9 and 10 have been satisfied.
II. Additional conditions of this approval are:
A. Leachate collection will be monitored monthly and collected
leachate disposed of properly, if required (761.41 (b) (7)).
Records will be maintained on file at a designated State office.
B. The operation plan will be followed, as approved (761.41
(b) (8) (ii)).
C. Records will be maintained and submitted to the Regional
Administrator within 90 days of closure (761.41 (b) (8) (IV)).
D. The fence, gate, and access road shall be maintained in good
working order as long as post closure rroni~oring is required.
E. Report to EPA Region IV any instance of detection of PCB' s through
the monitoring program immediately.
F. Designate a State departmental person who will be responsible for
operation and for post closure rrontioring prior to initiation of
construction {761. 41 (c) (5)).
G. Notify EPA Region IV 30 days prior to transferring responsibility
for operation or any change in ownership (761. 41 (c) (7)).
H. Monitoring Program
1. General
The parameters for ground and surface water monitoring for
this program are found at 40 CFR (761.41 (b) (6) (iii) (A), (B)
and (C)). Samples should be collected and analyzed in
accordance with EPA approved procedures.
2. Ground Water
a. Background -Each well must be sampled at least three
times and the data submitted to Region IV prior to any
disposal. A minimum of one week should elapse between
sampling. At each sampling a minimum of t\-.0 replicate
measurements for each value or concentration should be-
made.
/U
..
b. During Operation -During operation or for a period of
one year, whichever is shorter, all wells must be
sampled rronthly.
c. Post Closure -Each well must be sampled on a semiannual
basis.
3. Surface Water
4.
a. Background -EPA Region IV will designate surface water
sampling locations. These locations will include, at a
minimum, two (2) sampling points per surface water bcdy
(one upstream and one downstream). Each of these points
will be sampled each time the background samples are
taken for ground water quality.
b. During Operation -Each of the designated surface water
sampling points will be sampled rronthly during operation
of the facility.
c. Post Closure -Each of the designated surface water
sampling points will be sampled on a semiannual basis
during the post closure period.
Changes in Program
Upon a determination by the State or EPA that containment has
failed, the sampling frequency of either ground or surface
water sampling may be rrodified. EPA may also require the
installation of additional rronitoring· wells and an expansion
of the list of rronitoring parameters.
5. Well location and screened elevations shall be coordinated
with EPA Region IV in the field or by telephone as
appropriate.
I. Undisturbed samples of the soil liner will be taken and the
laboratory permeability determined and submitted to EPA Region IV
prior to any disposal (1 sample per 25,000 square feet of liner).
{/
'4, -••• ;: ,-... -.:.-t,
United States
Environmental Protection
Agency
June 4, 1979
4AH-RM
Region J
345 Courtland Street NE
Atlanta GA 30308
Honorable James B. Hunt
Governor of Horth Carolina
State Capitol
Raleigh, North Carolina 27611
Dear Governor Hunt:
Alabama. Georgia. Florida.
Mississippi, North Carolina.
South Carolina, Tennessee.
Kentucky
On February 17, 1978, the United States Envi ronmenta 1 Protection
Agency (EPA) published final regulations in the Federal Register
(43 FR 7150-7164) on Polychlorinated Biphenyls (PCBs), Disposal
and Marking. These regulations were amended by the Federal Register
.(43 FR 33918-33920) on August 2, 1978. These regulations prohibit
the disposal of PCBs at any site not approved by the EPA after
April 18, 1978, and these regulations require that the owner and/or
operator of a chemical waste landfill used for the disposal of PCBs
submit information in accordance with Section 761~41, Chemical Waste
Landfill~, to the Regional Administrator for revi~w. ·
In accordance i..;ith the above referenced regulations, a formal appl i-
cation was filed with this office dated December 12, 1978, requesting
approval of a site in Harren County, North Carolina·which will be
ovmed and operated by the State of North Carolina and used for the
disposal of PCB contaminated soil from the highway shoulders in the
State and from the Fort Bragg military reservation. A public hearing
was held in Harrenton, North Carolina on January 4, 1979, for public
input. The hearing record was held open until January 12, 1979, for
additional written public input into the decision process.
The result of EPA's review is that the proposed site will meet all the
technical requirements for a chemical waste landfill as required in
Section 761.~l(b), when constructed in accordance with the enclosed
conditions to this approval except for the fellowing:
( l ) 7 G l. 111 ( b ) (I ) ( v i ) " [\ rt if i c i 2 1 l i:: u-h i c L '.7 :: :; s 3 0 mi l. •J!'
~Jr'.:i1 Ler."
(2) 76l.41(b)(2) "The site shall be at least fifty feet from the
nea,re$t_ ground1·1ater.11
(3) 761.4l(b)(5)(iii)(d) 11 Chlorinated Organics."
These three requirements are hereby waived for the reasons given in
the enclosed technical review. Your re~uest to waive the leachate
collection system underneath the liner is denied for the reasons
stated in the enclosed technical review.
-2-
Accordingly, the Warren County, North Carolina site to be owned and operated
by the State of North Carolina for the disposal of PCB contaminated highway
shoulder soil is hereby approved subject to the enclosed conditions as a
chemical waste landfill as authorized in 40 CFR, Part 7610 It is understood
by EPA and the State of North Carolina that this approval is based on . the
conceptual design only and that the final construction plans and specifica-
tions (if any) must be approved in wr.iting by this office prior to
the initiation of constructiono
This approval is not to be .construed to be approval for incineration,
storage, marking or records and monitoringo We will continue to work
with you in any way we can to expedite a public health oriented and
environmentally sound solution to the PCB problem in North Carolina.
Sincerely yours, . -2~i?.M~ ohn.C. White
Regional Administrator
Enclosures
cc: Herbert L. Hyde, Secretary
~C Depto of Cri me Control
& Public Safety
t11rshai l Staton, Chief
Sanitary Engineering Section
Division of Health Services
NC Depto of Human Resources
Jerry Perkins, Head
Solid Waste & Vector Control
N.C. Depto of Human Resources &
Division of Health Services
..
Approval Conditions for the PCB Disposal Site Owned
And Operated by the State. of North Carolina in
Warren County, North Carolina on the Property Described
in Governor Hunt's December 12, 1978, Application as Owned
by Carter C. Pope and Linda W. Pope Found in Deed Book 278,
Page 252 ..
A. General Requirements (all reports should be sent to the Regional
Administrator, Attention: James H .. Scarbrough}:
l. Notify EPA at least two weeks in advance of the expected start of
construction ..
2. Notify EPA at least two weeks in advance of the initiation of disposal
of PCB waste at the site.
3. Send EPA the data which is required by 43 FR 761.4l(b)(5), monitoring
systems for baseline and on the frequencies specified.
4. Maintain.records as specified ·in 43 FR 76l .. 45(b)(3) as appropriate
and submit within 90 days after closure of the site to the Regional
A~mini stra tor.
5. Advise EPA irrrnediately of any changes, alterations or divergences
in the operational and managerial po1icies and procedures as out-
lined in the documents submitted in support of the application.
6. Report to EPA any instance of detection of PCBs through the monitor-
ing program immediately ..
B. Technical Conditions of Approval:
1. The one foot of cover to be placed only on the middle 20 feet to
30 feet of the first lift of waste to preclude shunting any infil-
tration to the side walls. ·
2 •. A soils engineering finn shall be employed to provide quality control
during the construction of the clay-silt liner.
3. Engineering expertise shall be provided by the State or a consulting
firm on-site during all operations to provide and assure conformance
with the final plans. Such assurance shal I be' fo,·i1i siied to t ;1:3
Rcgion.J.l Ad;;1i nistrator at the c cHi1 pletion o f th:: prnje:t \·lith c:1 copy
of "as bui It" plans,
4. A record shall be placed on the property deed \·thich stipulates
the particular boundary of the disposal area and waste contained
therein with the associated waste elevations.
5. The State shall maintain an "all weather" access road indefinitely
to pennit access to the site and to facilitate collection of samples
from monitoring wells.
6. Waste will be compacted as much as practicable with tracked equipment
to prevent settlement after closure.
7. Appropriate erosion control measures shall be applied during excava-
tion, filling and after closure to minimize erosion.
8. Trucks used for hauling the waste must be covered.
9. The final plans and specificati.ons (if any) shall be submitted to
the Regional Administrator (Attention: James H. Scarbrough) and
written approval received prior to the initiation of construction.
10. A leachate collection system with a sump and access which
will allow pumping out of any collected leachate is required
above and below the clay liner.
. .
. .
!
UNITED STATES ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY
CATE: June 4, 1979
suaJECT: Technical Review -Chemical Waste Landfill for
PCB SUbmitted by the State of North carolina
FROM: Chief, Residuals Management Branch
TO: John C. \mite
Region.al Adrn:1.nistrator
'lhe State of North carolina submitted an application for the approval
of a disposal. site in Warren County, North carolina on December-12,-1978.
'!he Technical review has been ~rfonned. The results ·or applying the
~riteria found in FR 761.41(b) to the application are as follows:
. -(b)(l) Soils -The site is not in a "thick,·relatively 1mpenneable
formation such as large-area clay pans." 'lherefore, the soils at'e evaluat.
on the following criteria:
Required Prooosed
(i) Soil 1.ir1er thiclmess 3 ft. (canpacted) 5 ft. ( canpacted) J , .
(ii) Penneability (cm/sec) mo-7 or 6.ano-8 or
(0.0000001) (0.000000068)
(i:µ) Percent Soil Passing .?_ 30 75 Aver--cge
No. 200 Sieve
(iv) Liquid Limit .?_ 30 51 Average
(v) Plasticity Index .?_ 15 18 Average
(vi) Artificial Liner 30 mil. None proposect!-1
1/ A h'3.iver was t'equested for this requirement. The prirnary justification
for the ·.-:2.i ve r v.-as that tl:e St .J.tc i•:ou.ld in3 t ead pl:,1.ce a 10 ::tll. pla s t ic
line r '\1rrb rel l .'1 n top en t he lar::1f1l 1 co1(~.:-'•c:-1 by t_;-,•10 !.\:·2t of: soil ·.;h l ch
would t•= s ,::,:-J:::·J \rl th i;r;.1.::;s an:~ slor,=i· '111:..: d:.::-3 1.:';n i·:,)it::I :r:.::1Lrnl::-:-c ,"':.2';/_
ra.im;2.ter 1.rl'LLt r·a t i on into t he l 2.11d:'1ll. ':.h is \·ru.1· .. -f:t' t'i:.'qt,;-::St s ::.):J.ld
be approved.
IPA l"o.-m 1J20·6 (R.-.. 3-76)
-2-
(2) Hydrology -The site is located on the crest of a ridge at lati-
tude 36° 20' 13", longitude 78° 09' 58" and is above the 100 year
flood level. This is verified by the U.S. Geological Survey (see
letter dated November-29, 1978, to Jerry C. Perkins). The bottan of
the waste will not be 50 feet above the groundwater. The min:1nrur:-i
distance will be held to 10 feet above the seasonal h1gh groundwater-
table. The State requested a waiver for this cclterion. In reviewing
the justification of the waiver, I have concluded that the clay liner
1n the bottan of the trench plus the liner on top of the waste hnich
~'ill act as an t.lIT'brella for infiltration prevention, plus th: leachate
collection system and su~p above and below the clay liner will
sufficiently protect public health and the environnent fran "unreasonable
risk of injury" as stipulated by paragraph 761.41(c)(4). Therefore,
this waiver should be approved as requested.
(3) Flood Protection -'Ihe application states that the diversion structures.
will be designed to divert the 24 hour, 25 year runoff' .fran the active
'pot't~on of the land.fill. j :
(4) Topography -The topography at the proposed site:is low to roderate.
'Ihe approval should -be conditioned to require all practical erosion
prevention rceasures to be used.
(5) (i) Viocltorir.g Sys tens
a. 'Ihe application states that baseline data will be collected
prior to final approval. The approval should be so conditioned • ...
' b. 'Ihe application states that the surface streams and the grcund-·
water will be sampled m:mthly during operation. The approval ·
sr.£iuld be so conditioned by ro--ferring to paragraph 761.41(b)(5).
-c. Bi-annual rronitoring will be done after closure.
(11) Groundv-,ater Monitoring Wells
'Ihe. application states that these vill be constructed and located
as required. EPA staff should verify t:ie l01~ation of these in
the field.
(111) Water Analysis
'Ihe analysis for chlorinated hydrocarbons is • requested to be
waived. The regulations were written for canrrercial facilities
which would be disfX)sing of many different wastes. Since PCB is
the only waste which will be dispJsed in this site, there is no
point to rronitoring for' other chlorinated organics. This waiver
should be aooroved.
-3-
(6) Leachate Collection
'Ihe proposed design does not show a leachate collection system unde~
the liner as required by the regulation. fucause of the groundwater
prox.1mity and the demonstrated public concern, I recanmend that a
leachate collection system and sump be installed under the soil liner
to monitor the integrity of the soil liner. In addition, the leachate
collection system above the soil liner soould be required with the
appropr-iate sump to provide the rrechanism to allow pumping out of any
leachate collected to pr-event any significant hydraulic head buildup
on the clay liner-. Therefore, this waiver should not be approved.
(7) Operations
The operations plan submitted is satisfactory with the exception of
the one foot of clean soil to be placed on top of first lift of waste.
This cleari soil is to be used to prevent the trucks fran taking out
contaminated soil on the wheels. This one foot should be restricted
to the middle 20 to 30 feet of the trench so as not to provide a
,shunt to the side walls should any infiltration occur. 'Ihis restric~
tion·wlll allow ariy infiltration to proceed down through the waste
to the leachate collection system h'hich would lead it to the sump
for pumping oJ.t. "'·
(8) Sup;x.:.;rtir..g Facilities -The sup.r:orting facilities are satisfactory
as described. No mention \•,-as ITE.de of long-term rraintenance of the
access road. Tne approval smuld be conditioned to insure that all-
weather access is rraintained.