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HomeMy WebLinkAboutNCD980602163_19961029_Warren County PCB Landfill_SERB C_US-EPA response to Bill Meyer's latter of 29 Aug 1996-OCRUNITED STATES ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY REGION 4 4APT-TS Mr. William L. Meyer Director ATLANTA FEDERAL CENTER 100 ALABAMA STREET, S.W. ATLANTA, GEORGIA 30303-3104 tGCT 2 g \996 Division of Solid Waste Management State of North Carolina Department of Health and Natural Resources P. 0. Box 27687 Raleigh, North Carolina 27611-7687 Dear Mr. Meyer: This is in response to your letter dated August 29, 1996, requesting information on the process and time frames for obtaining U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) approval(s) to conduct Research and Development (R&D) studies on detoxification of Polychlorinated Biphenyl(PCB) contaminated soil buried in the Warren County PCB Landfill. You also asked for the EPA's opinion on the State's plans for temporary storage of PCB contaminated soils excavated from the landfill. As explained in your letter, North Carolina plans to acquire the requisite quantity of soil for the R&D studies by using standard or modified well drilling methods. Two to three bore holes will be drilled through the existing landfill cover to the desired depth. The bore holes are to be constructed and completed in a manner that will maintain the integrity of the landfill cover and liner systems. You wanted to know what administrative process EPA would use to authorize this work and approximately how long it would take for EPA to issue approval for this work. EPA believes the best way to administratively handle the Warren County PCB Landfill detoxification project is to approach it in two stages~ Stage one will cover the R&D studies. Stage two will cover the post-R&D period, which may involve a full scale treatment process to detoxify the contents of the Warren County PCB Landfill; or repairs and improvements to the monitoring and containment systems at the existing landfill. EPA envisions a relatively simple and short approval process for stage one . Once the State has submitted detailed plans for soil excavation to EPA, we will review the plans and prepare a letter of approval to modify the December 14, 1981, PCB disposal approval for the Warren County PCB landfill. The approval letter will stipulate conditions under which the State may remove and manage a limited quantity of soil for the R&D PCB detoxification studies. Depending on the extent of landfill cover system damage Recycled/Recyclable• Printed with Vegetable Oil Based Inks on 100% Recycled Paper (40% Postconsumer) 2 during soil removal work, EPA may also stipulate interim cover requirements. We estimate that it would take no more than 30 days to issue the approval letter after we receive a detailed description of North Carolina's soil excavation plans. Stage two covers the post-R&D studies period. There is no way to define the scope of and schedule for the stage two permitting or approval process until North Carolina makes a decision on the future disposition of the Warren County PCB Landfill following completion of the R&D studies. Issue number two raised in your letter concerned the State's plans for storage of the excavated soil while awaiting shipment to the facility or facilities where the R&D studies will be conducted. The soil removed from the landfill would be placed in 55-gallon containers and these containers in turn would be placed in 85-gallon over pack drums. The containers would be stored within a secure area of the landfill site for no more than 30 days before shipment to a PCB commercial storage facility. EPA concurs with North Carolina's proposal for storing the PCB contaminated soil. In your third and final question, you wanted to know how long it would take to issue a permit or an approval for the following three types of PCB disposal methods: 1. Alternative disposal methods which are mobile or are of identical design to be used in more than one EPA Region. 2. Research and development methods disposing of > 500 lb PCB-containing material. 3. Research and development methods disposing of~ 500 lb PCB-containing material. The disposal method described in number 1 is a full scale commercial unit. Multi-Regional or mobile PCB disposal operations are approved by EPA Headquarters. The approval process for a full scale alternative disposal method may be lengthy and complex. This is due to the need to conduct extensive testing at pilot and/or full scale to demonstrate that the level of PCB destruction achieved by the proposed alternative method is equivalent to that achieved by incineration. R&D approvals for methods for disposal involving~ 500 pounds of PCBs are generally issued by EPA Headquarters. Time required for processing approvals in this category varies depending on several factors not the least of which is the current work load of the staff member assigned the project. Our best estimate is that approval would take three months to a year. Regional EPA offices handle the third category of disposal approvals. If the application was complete and involved a familiar disposal method, 3 it might take Region 4 between 30 and 90 days to issue a R&D approval, assuming all other work assigned to the Region 4 permit writer was of lower priority. If you have any questions about this response or would like to discuss some of the details of the projects, please do not hesitate to call Craig Brown of my staff at (404) 562-8990. Sincerely yours, (L~~~ [~]~a. Toxic Substances Section