Burnt Fly Bog

Last updated

The Burnt Fly Bog Superfund Site is located in Marlboro Township in Monmouth County, New Jersey. Contamination began in the 1950s and 1960s. It was used as a dumping ground for hazardous chemicals and oils. This site was used to reprocess or recycle oil, and it was also used as a landfill during the 1950s. The contamination affected the surface water and soil. The EPA got involved in the 1980s and addressed the situation. Human health concerns were a main part of the EPA getting involved because residents lived only about 1,000 to 2,000 feet around the site. Major components of the remedy included excavation and off-site disposal of contaminated soil from Northerly Wetlands, Tar Patch Area. The back filling of the areas addressed, monitoring of the surface water and sediments, and biological sampling in the Westerly Wetlands. The current status of the site is complete. The remedial stages were completed in the late 1990s and a five-year monitoring of the surface water was completed around 2004. [1] [2] [3]

Contents

Origins

Burnt Fly Bog is a rural area covering about 1700 acres of Marlboro Township, Monmouth County. Some part of the land extends to Middlesex County. Burnt Fly Bog consists of an Uplands Area and Westerly Wetlands where most of the waste was dumped. It also includes four lagoons: Asphalt Area, the Tar Patch Area, Northerly Wetlands and the Westerly Wetlands.

Town history

Marlboro is a rural area consisting of dairy, tomato, and potato farms. Before World War II, the township was the nation’s largest grower of potatoes. Around the 1950s and 1960s the population grew tremendously. After the war the state began to improve and build transportation infrastructure in the township. Developments of housing and buildings began to replace the farm and rural areas of the town, and it became a growing suburb for people that were working in New York and in the large corporations near the town.

Company history

The company Ace-Manzo Inc was the one involved in the waste and chemical dumping in Burnt Fly Bog. Ace-Manzo Inc. is a privately owned company based in Matawan, New Jersey. The owners are Dominick and Carmella Manzo. The company handles water, sewer and utility lines within construction and contractor sectors. The company was founded by Dominick Manzo in 1958. Current estimates show this company has an annual revenue of 19 million dollars. The EPA also blamed Champion Chemical, Imperial Oil and Emil Stevens. The EPA implicated Champion Chemical, Imperial Oil, and Emil Stevens, but they were never successful in proving that they were responsible, although they dumped the oil. The EPA did win a case against Ace-Manzo making them the main cause for the creation of the Superfund site. The state recovered about $1.9 million from a federal lawsuit which held Dominick and Carmella Manzo responsible for the dumping of hazardous materials and waste in Burnt Fly Bog, however, it was purchased with the contamination.

Superfund designation

The site was addressed in four stages, one immediate action and three long-term remedial phases which were to focus on clean-up of the Uplands Area and Westerly Wetlands. Immediate actions started in 1982. The immediate action focused on installing a security fence around the lagoons that contained the oils and sludge to hold back any contents. This prevents any contaminated liquids from drifting from the site. The next two stages focused on two sections of the site. They excavated contaminated soil and disposed of the waste and hazardous materials. The last stage focused on 3 sections of the site. They dug up and disposed of PCB- and lead-contaminated soil. They restored the ground with new soil and started construction on the site. The clean-up process continued until 1998 and the EPA began a five-year review of the site. Every five years, the EPA will inspect the condition of the site.

State and national intervention

The EPA got involved around the 1980s, almost 20 years after the initial dumping at the site began. The EPA began the restoration process to complete the performance measures, which includes human exposure, groundwater migration, construction completion (physical cleanup for entire site) and anticipated use. The EPA got involved because the waste and chemicals that were present affected the ground water. This affected the residents' drinking water and main water source. The chemicals also affected the fish and other animals around the site. Health issues were another main concern prompting the EPA to get involved. The chemicals that flooded the lagoons and land caused health issues for the people surrounding the area. Chemicals like lead, PCBs, and methylene chloride had serious effects on people like lung/kidney irritation, rashes, fatigue, GI discomfort and even cancer, which is hard to prove because of the many causes of cancer.

Health & Environmental Hazards

Lagoons were made for storage of waste oil and other aqueous wastes. It was also used as a landfill and dump location. These reprocessed oils and other types of waste entered surface waters and also contaminated the soil.

Lead

Lead was one of the chemicals that were discovered in tested soil samples. Lead is a heavy, blue-gray metal commonly found in pigments/paints, pipes, cable covers, and storage batteries. Lead exposure can cause weakness in joints and muscles, and it can severely damage the brain and kidneys in either children or adults. It can cause miscarriages in pregnant women and can damage the reproductive system in males. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has classified lead as a probable human carcinogen.

PCBs

Polychlorinated Biphenyls are synthetic chemicals that have no known sources in the environment. They are oily, colorless or light yellow and can either be solid or liquid. PCBs have no smell. When exposed to the chemical, rashes and acne can be present. It can also cause irritation of the respiratory and digestive systems, induce fatigue, and cause harm to the blood and liver.

Cleanup

The cleanup process of the Superfund Site has been completed. The contaminated soil and sludge from the Uplands Area has been replaced. About 90,000 tons of contaminated soil which contained high levels of PCBs was removed and disposed. In Westerly Wetlands about 6,000 tons of PCB-contaminated soil was dug up. In 1996, the site was considered completed, and the EPA continued to monitor for five more years.

Initial cleanup

The initial cleanup started in 1982 where the EPA repaired an earth mound to hold back the contents of the lagoons. A fence was put in place around the site for removal of the contaminated soil and sludge in the Uplands Area. This was done for to prevent contact with hazardous materials and to prevent the sludge from moving anywhere else. EPA conducted a plan for the cleanup which included removing hazardous materials in the asphalt area, tar patch area and drummed waste area, and removing soil and sludge that contained high levels of PBCS, then replanting and restoring the area. After the cleanup has been completed the EPA designed a five-year program to monitor the groundwater. This plan was in place for two contaminated areas of Burnt Fly Bog; the Uplands Area and the Westerly Wetlands.

Current status

The site investigation started around July 1982 and the remedy action did not start until 1983 because the EPA was selecting the proper remedy for the site. The final remedial stages of the site were completed in September 1998. The final completion of the final construction of the site was not completed until September 2004.

EPA also continues to review the site for inspection and the most recent review was done in June 2016.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Solutia</span> American manufacturer of materials and specialty chemicals

Solutia Inc. was an American manufacturer of materials and specialty chemicals including polyvinyl butyral (PVB), ethylene vinyl acetate (EVA), and thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU) interlayers for laminated glass, aftermarket window films, protective barrier and conductive films, and rubber processing chemicals. The company was formed on September 1, 1997, as a divestiture of the Monsanto Company chemical business. In July 2012, the company was acquired by Eastman Chemical Company.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Berry's Creek</span> River known for its pollution in northeastern New Jersey, United States

Berry's Creek is a tributary of the Hackensack River in the New Jersey Meadowlands in Bergen County, New Jersey. The creek watershed contains a diverse array of wetlands, marshes, and wildlife. The creek runs through a densely populated region and has been subject to extensive industrial pollution during the 19th and 20th centuries. Several companies discharged toxic chemicals into the creek in the 20th century, and these chemicals have remained in the sediment. The creek has the highest concentrations of methyl mercury of any fresh-water sediment in the world. Portions of the creek watershed are Superfund sites and cleanup projects began in the late 20th century.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Munisport</span>

Munisport Landfill is a closed landfill located in North Miami, Florida adjacent to a low-income community, a regional campus of Florida International University, Oleta River State Park, and estuarine Biscayne Bay.

The Edison Wetlands Association was founded by noted activist Robert Spiegel in 1989 as a nonprofit environmental organization devoted to the cleanup of hazardous waste sites and the preservation of open space in densely populated central New Jersey.

Havertown Superfund is a 13-acre polluted groundwater site in Havertown, Pennsylvania contaminated by the dumping of industrial waste by National Wood Preservers from 1947 to 1991. The state first became aware of the pollution in 1962 and initiated legal action against the owners in 1973 to force them to cleanup the site. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) ranked the site the eighth worst cleanup project in the United States. The site was added to the National Priorities List in 1983 and designated as a Superfund cleanup site in the early 1990s. Remediation and monitoring efforts are ongoing and the EPA transferred control of the site to the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection in 2013.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kalamazoo Superfund Site</span>

In 1990, the Allied Paper, Inc./Portage Creek/Kalamazoo River in southwestern Michigan was declared by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to be a Superfund site – in other words, an abandoned industrial site containing significant amounts of toxic waste. The EPA and companies responsible for the waste in this area, which includes a three-mile section of Portage Creek as well as part of the Kalamazoo River, into which it flows, are currently involved in an effort to reduce the amount of toxic waste at the site, which is contaminated by PCBs from paper mills and other factories.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wade Dump</span> Superfund site in Pennsylvania

Wade Dump was a rubber recycling facility and illegal industrial waste storage and disposal facility in Chester, Pennsylvania. It was located at 1 Flower Street on the western bank of the Delaware River just north of the Commodore Barry Bridge.

Imperial Oil is a current Superfund site located off Orchard Place near Route 79 in Morganville, Marlboro Township, Monmouth County, New Jersey. This site is one of 114 Superfund sites in New Jersey. It is in the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Region 2 Superfund area of control and organization. The 15-acre (61,000 m2) Imperial Oil Co./Champion Chemicals site consisted of six production, storage, and maintenance buildings and 56 above-ground storage tanks.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Krejci Dump</span>

The Krejci Dump was a privately owned dump occupying 47 acres (19 ha) on several sites along Hines Hill Road near Boston Heights, Summit County, Ohio. After the area was converted into part of the then-Cuyahoga Valley National Recreation Area, the National Park Service discovered that the property, part of one of the most-heavily used parks in the country, was also one of the most contaminated sites in the United States Environmental Protection Agency's Region V. The dump subsequently became a Superfund cleanup site.

The Oakdale Dump is an Environmental Protection Agency Superfund site located in Oakdale, Minnesota, and comprises three non-contiguous properties that were used for dumping from the late 1940s until the 1950s by the 3M corporation. The properties are named the Abresch, Brockman, and Eberle sites for their respective property owners at the time of disposal activities. The Abresch site is the largest of the three properties at about 55 acres. The Brockman site is located immediately southwest of the Abresch site and encompasses 5 acres. The Eberle site is located roughly 2,500 feet north of the Abresch site and encompasses 2 acres.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Shpack Landfill</span> Hazardous waste site in Massachusetts

Shpack Landfill is a hazardous waste site in Norton, Massachusetts. After assessment by the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) it was added to the National Priorities List in October 1986 for long-term remedial action. The site cleanup is directed by the federal Superfund program. The Superfund site covers 9.4 acres, mostly within Norton, with 3.4 acres in the adjoining city of Attleboro. The Norton site was operated as a landfill dump accepting domestic and industrial wastes, including low-level radioactive waste, between 1946 and 1965. The source of most of the radioactive waste, consisting of uranium and radium, was Metals and Controls Inc. which made enriched uranium fuel elements for the U.S. Navy under contract with the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission. Metals and Controls merged with Texas Instruments in 1959. The Shpack landfill operation was shut down by a court order in 1965.

Halaco Engineering Co. operated a scrap metal recycling facility at 6200 Perkins Road, Oxnard, Ventura County, California from 1965 to 2004. The state placed the facility on the California Hazardous Waste Priority List in 2007. The facility includes a smelter area west and the Waste Management Unit (WMU) east of the Oxnard Industrial Drain (OID). Attention was brought to the Halaco site through illegal waste disposal without permits. Further investigation yielded a discovery of harmful contaminants. Remediation of surrounding contaminated areas including the wetlands was completed in 2007. Restoration of the wetlands and management of the WMU are ongoing.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Koppers Co., Inc. (KCI) Superfund Site</span>

The Koppers Co., Inc. (KCI) Superfund Site is one of three Superfund sites in Oroville, California, along with Louisiana Pacific Sawmill and Western Pacific Railyard. The KCI Superfund Site is a 200-acre site which served as a wood treatment plant for 50 years. Wood was treated with many chemicals to prevent wood deterioration. The accumulation of these chemicals from spills, fires, and uses has caused this site to be contaminated with the hazardous waste material. Due to soil and groundwater contamination, the site was placed on the National Priorities List in 1984 for remedial action plans to clean up the site to protect surrounding residential areas concerning environmental and human health risks.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Waste Disposal Inc. Superfund site</span> Waste disposal

The Waste Disposal Inc. Superfund site is an oil-related contaminated site in the highly industrialized city of Santa Fe Springs in Los Angeles County, California. It is approximately 38 acres (15 ha), with St Paul's high school immediately adjacent to the northeast corner of the site. Approximately 15,000 residents of Santa Fe Springs obtain drinking water from wells within three miles (4.8 km) of the site.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Moyer's Landfill</span>

Moyer's Landfill was a privately owned landfill in Collegeville, Pennsylvania, United States. It was originally farmland outside the town. In the 1940s, the owner started accepting trash and municipal waste as a way to make additional money. The original landfill was 39 acres and did not have a liner to protect the land from contaminate. A liner was added to a new section in the late 1970s. Over time, the landfill accepted sewage, and industrial wastes which contained hazardous substances in addition to municipal waste. The site was closed by the EPA in 1981, and was one of the first "Superfund" sites added to the National Priorities List.

Kauffman & Minteer Inc. (K&M) was an industrial transportation company that operated from 1960 to 1981 in Burlington County, New Jersey. After cleaning their trucks, they dumped the waste water into a nearby lagoon that was not properly lined. The lagoon flooded and the waste water containing chemicals, migrated over to wetlands, causing damage to vegetation and seeping into underground drinking water. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) got involved in 1989 and conducted a few remediation attempts but the extent of the damage is hard to determine as the different underground pathways of water are unpredictable. The site is currently an active superfund site that is closely monitored by the EPA.

Emmell's Septic Landfill (ESL) is located at 128 Zurich Ave, Galloway Township, New Jersey and takes up about 38 acres of space. The landfill was in operation from 1967 until 1979. ESL disposed of liquid and solid waste including many chemicals such as volatile organic compounds (VOCs), Polychlorinated Biphenyls (PCBs), Trichloroethene and Vinyl chloride which all had their own effect on the environment and community. These chemicals affected the groundwater required millions of dollars to reconstruct the groundwater pathways and provide clean water to residents. The landfill holds a Hazardous Ranking Score of a 50/100, qualifying for the Superfund National Priority List. In August 1999, the state acknowledged the site's contamination and held town meetings and provided research upon the site such as groundwater samples. In July 1997, a sitewide investigation was called upon by the United States Environmental Protection Agency. In total the clean up was estimated to cost $5 million to fund this superfund site, and a grant of $3.9 million was given by the Federal Government under the Recovery Act Funding (Previti). Today, the project is still ongoing however, greatly improved since the landfill was discovered.

The Diamond Head Oil Refinery is a former oil reprocessing facility located in Kearny, New Jersey, United States, that was designated as a Superfund site by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). It opened up in 1946, but then stopped production in 1979 and has been inactive since then. The refinery was shut down in 1980 and the EPA designated it as a Superfund site in 1991 due to the discovery of toxic chemicals in the soil and the surface water. This created a dangerous work environment for the workers at the facility. The EPA proposed a clean up plan for the site, but it has yet to take effect. So far, the Diamond Head site is still in the process of being cleaned up. Although cleanup plans were discussed and finalized, the future of the Diamond Head Oil Refinery and its cleanup state is unknown.

Bog Creek Farm, located in Howell Township, New Jersey, is a designated Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Superfund site. Laying on 12 acres of land, Bog Creek Farm is home to several hazardous and life-threatening contamination beginning in 1973 and continuing for a year. Over a decade later, actions began to take place to clean and restore the contaminated soil and water. Bog Creek Farm is situated near several other farms that house horses, growing crops and flowers, and livestock. Less than a mile down the road lies Allaire State Park, a park used by golfers, hunters, and fisherman.

The G&H Industrial Landfill is a Superfund site located in Shelby Charter Township near Utica, Michigan. The 60-acre (24-hectare) landfill, with about 10 to 20 acres of adjacent property, operated as a waste oil recovery facility from 1955 to 1967. From 1955 to 1974 the site was used as an industrial and municipal landfill. Contaminated soil, surface water, and groundwater with hazardous chemicals have been left behind as a result of the disposal of waste solvents, waste oil and paint sludge. Operation and maintenance activities are ongoing following the cleanup.

References

  1. "Superfund Site Report: Burnt Fly Bog". Scorecard- Pollution Information Site. Retrieved October 4, 2017.
  2. "Burnt Fly Bog-Superfund Site". EPA. Environmental Protection Agency. Retrieved October 5, 2017.
  3. Aness, Kaitlyn. "State Recovers Cost of Hazardous Waste Dumping in Burnt Fly Bog". Patch.com. Retrieved October 6, 2017.