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Superfund Program Implements the Recovery Act
Vineland Chemical Company
Vineland, New JerseySite Description
The site of the former Vineland Chemical Company’s operations is in a mixed industrial and residential setting. From 1950 until it abandoned the plant in 1994, the company manufactured arsenic-based herbicides at the site. Because of improper storage and handling of arsenic-based salts, the plant property (54 acres), nearby marsh/wetland sediments, area ground water and sediments of the Blackwater Branch, Maurice River and Union Lake are contaminated; arsenic is the major contaminant of concern.
Cleanup Activities to Date
EPA listed the site on the National Priorities List in 1984 and has been addressing it in two stages -- immediate actions and four long-term cleanup phases. Through these long-term actions, EPA’s efforts are focused on source control, contaminant migration management and the cleanup of marsh/river and lake sediments. To date, EPA has demolished and removed contaminated buildings on the plant site property, and removed and disposed of hazardous chemicals stored/abandoned on the site. EPA also constructed a ground water extraction and treatment system, which has been operating since 2000, to control the off-site migration of ground water contamination. Through use of a state-of-the-art soil washing system, EPA has processed over 400,000 tons of arsenic-contaminated soil/sediments and returned 95 percent of the material to the site as clean backfill. Finally, EPA has completed cleanup of the first of three sections of the Blackwater Branch through a combination of soil washing and off-site disposal.
Recovery Act Project Activity
EPA will use the $10-25 million in Recovery Act funds allocated to this site to speed up the cleanup of the remaining stretches of Blackwater Branch. The associated contaminated sediments are the major remaining source of arsenic contamination to the Maurice River (designated as a scenic river) and Union Lake (the second largest lake in NJ). EPA anticipates that speeding up the cleanup of the Blackwater Branch will reduce the overall cleanup of the site by approximately two years.
To find out more about:
- This Superfund site, go to: http://www.epa.gov/region02/superfund/npl/vineland/.
- The Recovery Act and:
- Superfund, go to: http://www.epa.gov/superfund/eparecovery/index.html;
- EPA, go to: http://www.epa.gov/recovery; and
- the United States, go to: http://www.recovery.gov.