U.S. EPA & Ohio EPA VAP Project and RCRA Landfill – Confidential Metals Facility – Steubenville, Ohio
As a result of extensive negotiation between the Metals Facility, Ohio EPA and the U.S. EPA, this site pursued corrective actions through both Ohio EPA’s Voluntary Action Program (VAP) and under an Order of Consent with US EPA’s RCRA corrective actions group. This site was largely responsible for the subsequent development of a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between U.S. EPA’s RCRA unit and Ohio EPA’s VAP group. The facility obtained approval from both agencies to utilize VAP incentives following the completion of the RCRA-based Consent Order. Site-wide assessment of soil, sediment, surface water, and groundwater had occurred over several years. U.S. EPA added the site to the perchlorate assessment program conducted by the agency for potential inclusion for regulation of potential impacts related to the manufacturing use of perchlorate compounds. The sampling and monitoring at the site is part of U.S. EPA’s policy regarding the inclusion of perchlorates as a compound of concern at applicable RCRA sites.
STONE completed an extensive assessment of potential pathways between on-site disposal areas, unsaturated soils, groundwater, and the Ohio River in an effort to develop the most cost-effective remedial action for this site. This required installing more than 40 monitoring wells and completing hundreds of soil borings in order to define areas where elevated concentrations of compounds of concern occur. STONE then conducted long-term monitoring of groundwater for quality, temperature, and level and has used that data to show the unique relationship between lock and dam operation on the Ohio River and the movement of groundwater at the site. In essence, groundwater movement through the highly permeable sands and gravel that underlie the site is nullified by the frequent adjustment of river level. STONE negotiated with U.S. EPA to use capping-in-place as the preferred closure remedy for on-site waste disposal areas. Capping was deemed necessary to prevent surface water infiltration through the wastes, which mobilized waste parameters to groundwater.
A RCRA Corrective Measures Study was filed with the Ohio EPA, and as part of the required corrective measures options, STONE completed preliminary designs and assessments of capping scenarios. The three capping options included; a soil cap, capping using clay as a hydraulic barrier, and using a synthetic membrane for a hydraulic barrier.
