Final cleanup plan gets OK from EPA
Capping method selected for addressing BoRit asbestos site; work expected to wrap up this month
AMBLER » The EPA has issued its final decision on the BoRit Asbestos Superfund site, going with a capping option that will bring to an end this month remedial efforts at the site dating back nearly a decade.
The EPA issued its record of decision for the site July 28. The decision to go with a capping method, however, came as no surprise, as that had been the EPA’s proposed final cleanup plan, which was selected and presented to the public at the end of 2016.
The 38-acre site in question is bounded by the Wissahickon Creek and Butler and Maple avenues, with portions of the area falling in Ambler Borough and Upper Dublin and Whitpain townships. The site was used by the Keasbey & Mattison Co. as a disposal site for asbestos containing material for decades.
In April 2009, the EPA placed the BoRit site on its Superfund National Priorities List. That move launched federal remediation of the site, with the EPA starting efforts to remove any immediate risks to the surrounding community and keeping asbestos from traveling off site. Much of the removal action — so named because it removes the immediate threat of asbestos, not because it involved removal of asbestos from the site — consisted of capping the asbestos in place, similar to the final cleanup action. The immediate action at the site was followed by a multi-year remedial investigation/feasibility study process to explore potential methods for addressing the on-site asbestos.
Those efforts lead up to December 2016, when the EPA issued its proposed final cleanup plan and opened a public comment period.
That plan called for a capping method in which geotextile material would be placed over the asbestos, topped in most places by 2 feet of clean soil, topsoil and then a vegetative cover, EPA officials described during a Jan. 10 public meeting on the plan. In other spots, the asbestos would be covered with 10 to 15 inches of clean soil topped by concrete cable mats or with 2 to 10 feet of clean soil topped by a clay liner.
“The Selected Remedy will physically contain the asbestos and other COCs [Contaminants of Concern] to prevent migration from the Site and to prevent exposure to human and ecological receptors,” the EPA wrote in the record of decision.
The final option of capping was selected over four others that were examined, according to EPA officials. Those options were taking no action, excavating the asbestos containing material and disposing of it offsite, heating and solidifying the waste and creating a chemical treatment plant at the site.
“The Selected Remedy is protective of human health and the environment, complies with federal and state requirements that are applicable or relevant and appropriate to the Remedial Action, is cost-effective, and utilizes permanent solutions and alternative treatment technologies to the maximum extent practicable,” the EPA wrote in the record of decision.
The capping option comes with an estimated $27 million price tag — more than the $165,000 for no action but far less than the $257 million to $269 million for the other options, according to EPA officials. Of that $27 million, however, approximately $25 million had already been spent on the removal action.
“Because the Selected Remedy is a continuation/ completion of EPA’s Removal Action, the majority of the construction activities and funding allocations for the Selected Remedy are complete,” the EPA wrote in the record of decision.
Because of that, the remedial action is anticipated to wrap up in August, the EPA wrote.
Completed actions at the site include streambank stabilization, installation of cover, treatment of water at the on-site reservoir, regrading and relining of the reservoir and work at residences near the site, according to the record of decision. Work that still needs to be completed includes implementing institutional controls, sampling, long-term monitoring and five-year reviews.
“The Selected Remedy will result in hazardous substances, pollutants, or contaminants remaining on-site above levels that allow for unlimited use and unrestricted exposure. Therefore, an assessment of the Site will be conducted no less often than every five years after initiation of Remedial Action ... to ensure that the Selected Remedy continues to provide adequate protection of human health and the environment,” the EPA wrote in the record of decision.
Along with five-year reviews, long-term oversight of BoRit calls for quarterly site inspections, annual sampling, routine maintenance and extreme weather procedures, according to EPA officials.
At the January meeting, EPA officials said future use of the site would be limited to recreational/open space uses, with any potential redevelopment requiring permission of the EPA and Pennsylvania DEP.
Whitpain Township, which owns the Whitpain Park section of BoRit — one of three individual parcels — intends to eventually reopen the park. The other two parcels are owned by the Wissahickon Waterfowl Preserve and the former Kane Core company.