EPA updates Superfund site cleanup

No immediate action needed for vapor from contaminants

The federal Environmental Protection Agency is looking for feedback on its current plan to address a local area of contamination.

EPA officials held a public feedback meeting Thursday to give the public an update on cleanup efforts at a Superfund site in Upper Gwynedd.

“The meeting was to present our PRAP, which is our Proposed Remedial Action Plan, for the North Penn Seven site, and it was addressing vapor intrusion,” said EPA Community Involvement Coordinator Amanda Miles.

According to Miles and EPA documents, the site area in question is located south of Sumneytown Pike, east of Broad Street, north of Garfield Avenue and Jones Avenue and west of West Point Pike, on a block now largely occupied by Merck facilities. EPA’s site profile says the site was formerly occupied by five industrial companies:

• Spra-Fin, Inc., a former metal manufacturing and finishing business;

• The former Ford Electronics and Refrigeration Corp., which made electrical auto parts.

• Teleflex, Inc., a former mechanical, electrical and pneumatic control manufacturer for aircraft.

• The former Leeds and Northrup, Inc., which made electronic instruments.

• The former Zenith Electronic, Corp., which made television picture tubes.

“Historical operations at these facilities contaminated groundwater primarily with volatile organic compounds, which were used in solvents or de-greasers. EPA added the site to the Superfund program’s National Priorities List (NPL) in 1989,” according to the EPA.

Contaminated groundwater has been the main concern, and in the years since the site was added to the Superfund list, EPA has removed nearly 3,900 tons of contaminated soil from an area near a deteriorated tank on the SpraFin site, and all five facilities agreed to finance the pumping and treatment of groundwater to remove volatile organic compounds.

EPA categorizes the site as four units for cleanup purposes, and a dedicated EPA website www.EPA.gov/ Superfund/NorthPenn7 lists the current status of cleanup efforts at each. A study of the entire site for vapor intrusion was completed in April 2011, with a second round done in 2012 and a third in 2013. According to EPA, volatile organic compounds in soil can migrate upward through soil into buildings, through cracks in floors or walls or foundation slabs, but EPA testing has found little evidence of that happening at this site.

“EPA has evaluated the data from vapor intrusion sampling and has determined that there is no unacceptable risk level, meaning no action is required,” says the EPA site status page.

“Based on our results that we got from that testing, we are recommending no action moving forward,” Miles said.

Draft groundwater sampling results are also listed on the site from five sites on Church Road, the former Leeds and Northrup site on Sumneytown Pike, and another on Wissahickon Avenue, along with sampling results from the Towamencin and Wissahickon Creeks, and Miles said that data was detailed to local residents during the July 26 public meeting.

“At the meeting, we did show some maps, and showed the residents in attendance where exactly we tested those homes,” she said.

Public comment on the proposed plan can be submitted online via the dedicated website for that site, or by postal mail or email to U.S. EPA Region 3 Remedial Project Manager Mark Conaron, 1650 Arch Street, Mailcode 3HS22, Philadelphia PA 19103, or by emailing conaron.mark@epa. gov. or to Miles at miles. amanda@epa.gov.