NCD980602163_19950720_Warren County PCB Landfill_SERB C_Henry Lancaster letter to Senator David Hyde-OCR

State of North Carolina
Department of Environment,
Health and Natural Resources
Legislative & Intergovernmental Affairs
James B. Hunt, Jr., Governor
Jonathan B. Howes, Secretary
Henry M. Lancaster II , Director
20 July 1995
The Honorable Senator David Hoyle
North Carolina Senate
Room 300
Legislative Office Building
Raleigh, NC 27601-2808
Dear Senator Hoyle:
NA
D E H N -R
I am writing at the request of Senator Frank Ballance. He asked that I provide you with a brief
explanation and history on the status of the PCB landfill in Warren County, North Carolina.
Please do not hesitate to contact me or Bill Meyer, Director for the Division of Solid Waste
Management for further detail.
In 1978, PCB's were illegally dumped on more that 200 miles of roadside in 13 North Carolina
counties. The State removed approximately 40,000 cubic yards of PCB contaminated soil from
those roadsides in 1982 & 1983. The soils were placed in a federally permitted landfill in Warren
County. A commitment was made by then Governor Jim Hunt to monitor the site to ensure its
integrity and to detoxify the contents of the landfill when feasible. In 1984, a joint Warren County
and state working group determined that no technology for detoxification was feasible at that
time.
Secretary Jonathan Howes in April 1993 upon learning that the landfill which had been designed
for dry containment of PCB contaminated soils contained 1.2million gallons of water organized a
joint State/ Warren County citizens working group to investigate detoxification options. The
group's work has revealed that low levels of dioxins in addition to PCB's are in the landfill. On
January 20, 1994, members of the working group made a presentation to the Environmental
Review Commission and requested funding for detoxification.
The working group has initiated a process identify and select a technology for detoxification.
That process includes choosing at least three technologies for which pilot projects should be
conducted to determine if a satisfactory level of contaminant detoxification can be achieved.
Vendors would be solicited via a bid process to perform the pilot studies. If one of the
technologies does in fact work, then a separate bid process would be initiated to select a vendor
to perform full remediation of the site.
P.O. Box 27687, Raleigh, North Carolina 27611-7687 Telephone [phone]
An Equal Opportunity Affirmative Action Employer 50% recycled/ 10% post-consumer paper
The Honorable Senator David Hoyle
July 20, 1995
Page Two
The pilot process will talce about seven months to complete. If successful, it will result in the
calculation of an amount to detoxify the landfill. Please note that there will be expenses to the
Department for infrastructure and operational requirements associated with the pilot process.
There will be a need to run a power line to the site, probably a small water line, installation of
two additional ground water monitoring wells and maybe a small building to store some soils and
equipment.
Once again, please do not hesitate to contact me or Bill Meyer for further assistance or
clarification.
Henry M. Lancaster II