EPA Dispels Fears About Station Park Contamination at Sparta Township Council

SPARTA, NJ – Concerns about health risks related to Station Park were put to rest at the township council meeting on Tuesday, September 24. Sparta Mayor Neill Clark invited two Environmental Protection Agency representatives Rich Puvogel and David Montoya and Peter Hansen principal of Ecolsciences to attend the meeting to make a presentation and field questions about lingering effects from the AO Polymer superfund site.

“Lots of strip malls in New Jersey are worse than this site,” Hansen said.

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Hansen had reviewed all of the history, documents and EPA reports and said he “concurred with their approach.”

“The plume is shrinking. When they take the source out that plume is not going to move beyond its limits,” Hansen said.

History of the site remediation

The site was remediated beginning in 1995 and ran for 23 years until 2018 “removing the source of volatile chemicals to groundwater.” A series of extraction wells were installed to remove the highest concentrations of volatile chemicals out of the groundwater and capture them in a treatment system.

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The groundwater pump and treatment system was set up in 1998 and ran for 22 years.

The source of the contamination was a “disposal lagoon” in which AO Polymer dumped the chemicals that then leached into the groundwater.

“Poor waste management practices resulted in the release of volatile chemicals into the soil which migrated into the groundwater,” said Montoya, the Remedial Project Manager, Superfund and Emergency Management Division of the EPA.

Montoya shared maps that showed the initial volatile chemical plume and one with more recent test results after the mitigation.

Montoya explained the EPA measures the levels of VOCs in groundwater in “parts per billion.” He illustrated 1 PPB is equivalent to a drop of water in a 10,000 gallon swimming pool.

The concern for council members was twofold; groundwater contamination and vapor. Montoya explained the VOCs in the groundwater may volatize and migrate into the dry soil above the groundwater and have the potential to enter buildings.

The building in the Station Park was recently expanded. Montoya said the levels were already low in the area of the building but a vapor barrier was included in the construction of the addition to mitigate any future vapor intrusion.

“Considering the reduction of VOCs in groundwater, vapor intrusion is not expected to be a concern, however, we will continue to monitor this area and evaluate if conditions change,” Montoya said.

Councilman Josh Hertzberg questioned the characterization of the building in Station Park as primarily a storage shed. He said township employees work there and in bad weather may spend the night. He said they “hand out equipment to kids” from that building. Puvogel said the thresholds for a commercial facility, with the exposure assumption that people will be in there on a continuous basis for eight hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year and levels are lower than that.

“Looking at these levels today for this building we are well below the thresholds and concentrations in groundwater are declining overtime,” Puvogel said. The levels in the area of the building are even below the residential thresholds which is a much greater exposure, he said.

When there is the potential for children to be exposed, the EPA’s process is to scrutinize the levels using the most conservative measures and the levels they found are “way below” even the residential thresholds, according to Puvogell.

Additional testing or remediation

“There is only so much you can do to clean up a site actively and at a certain point you have to let nature run its course and allow the contaminate levels to degrade over time,” Hansen said. He indicated 300 PPB was the threshold for active mitigation and the AO Polymer site is below those levels.

Councilwoman Christine Quinn wanted to know about “spikes” in the levels revealed in the test results.
Central NJ Remediation Section Superfund and Emergency Management Division USEPA Region 2 Section Chief Puvogel explained levels will change over time but they are still below the threshold levels where there is concern for health safety.

Quinn asked to have more wells be tested. Later she asked to have the soil tested “out of abundance of caution” or because “it’s been 24 years.”

Puvogel said they could make a request for additional testing of IBM, the entity that has taken responsibility for the site but they would require a “good rationale” with “good data” and that the request could “not be arbitrary and capricious because of someone’s fears,” it has to be “well grounded in the science.”

Hertzberg asked about testing the air in the building. Puvogel gave a detailed explanation of the tiered testing process, explaining it is not called for at this time given the current measurements and vapor barrier in place.

Clark asked about the efficacy of the testing results. Puvogel explained the methods have been rigorously tested, reviewed, subject to public comment period and have held up in court for many years.

Clark asked if, in their review of the test results of the entire site, they had detected “any presence of VOC either through vapor intrusion, groundwater or soil that exceeded a limit by which you would say that additional remedial measures or additional testing is required.”

Montoya said no.

Clark pointed out the results of the well closest to the building in Station Park are 0.9 PPB of Trichloroethylene or TCE where the threshold that would trigger additional action is 7.4 ppb or “five to six times less.” Further, the test results for PCE show “none detected” and level of 1,1,1- Trychloroethane are “0.68 ppb and the applicable standard is 31,000 ppb.”

Despite all the testimony and explanations, Quinn asked again at the end of the discussion to have additional soil testing.

Puvogel said he did not see the need for that. “The concentrations are too low.”

Health Risk?

“From what I’m told there’s a lot of cancer in that area,” Hertzberg said.

When asked by TAPinto Sparta to expand on his statement about “a lot of cancers,” Hertzberg said they were the “ones brought up” by James Castimore and ones known by Quinn.

Also responding to questions from TAPinto Sparta, Quinn said there were “some numbers of people” who live in proximity to Station Road where there was contaminated water, “three of which that I know of were ill,” but said did not want to draw the conclusion that it was from the Station Park AO Polymer pollution.

The recent alarm was raised by Casitmore who said he was moved to look into the reports after learning at his 50th class reunion that three women in his graduating class had died over the years and two others were “very sick” with “kidney cancer, this that and everything else.”

He brought his concerns to the township council. Sparta hired Ecolsciences to review the reports generated by the EPA to check for efficacy and safety.

Moving Plume ?

After hearing council members’ questions, the public was invited to speak.

Castimore continued to press the experts about a “moving plume” asking about changing levels of contaminants.

“You’re talking about the concentration gradient within the plume. You’re getting transport within the plume at a decreasing rate.” Puvogel said.

Hanson explained the plumes do not move, “they grow and they shrink.”

He said, “They don’t move horizontally away from the source area. You have to have a source area to continue to feed the plume for that plume to be growing.

“What the EPA did years ago through soil removal, thermal treatment which is essentially the ‘gold standard’ of remediation, soil vapor extraction, lots of treatment things; they took care of the source area. When you take the source out you can’t keep feeding the plume. So what happens is the plume will shrink over time. The concentrations go down and when they get to a point where the soil extraction system can’t extract any more vapors, the concentration is too low, for it to extract – 300 PPB. You can’t get that out by doing further treatment. It just doesn’t work.”

He said this is a common occurrence around the state.

Initially, approximately 40 testing wells were made to establish the actual area of the plume. Some testing wells were taken offline as they did not detect any toxins over a number of testing cycles, allowing resources to be concentrated in the areas needed, Montoya said. As the toxins are being attenuated, different levels can be found in different areas. The changes could be related to water table levels and proximity to the Wallkill River.

“Plumes need something to feed it to grow,” Hanson said.

Montoya reiterated, while groundwater testing levels show 170 PPB it is far below the 300 PPB where intervention is no longer effective and natural attenuation has to take over.

Hansen said the soil standard is 1500 PPB and the current levels in Station Park are 170 PPB.

“The natural process is in the aquifer degrading the residual contamination,” Montoya said.

Puvogel explained the toxin levels are lower closer to the Wallkill River.

Ella Maloney asked why her property on Station Road had not been tested. Puvogel said “in early 2000, IBMs consultant Omega reached out to Mr. Malone to put a well on the property to determine if there were VOCs but he denied access. They made a second request to sample water beneath his property and they got no response. Despite that, Puvogel said he would forward her request to IBM and shared his contact information with her.

Sparta resident Robert Otto congratulated Quinn on her written statements; “acknowledging the responsibility of protecting, knowing there is an aquifer close by that could potentially be at risk and knowing that thousands of residents and visitors use the facilities, it is our responsibility to do everything within our power to be sure beyond any doubt, that it’s safe. Whatever the cost to have the testing done, it’s far less than the cost to any member of our community that becomes ill, or God forbid, loses their life.”

He said, “We’re looking at a half century of ‘I wish we’d done stuff differently’.” Otto reminded them he had “provided guidelines about building a mega warehouse over a shallow rapid recharge aquifer,” though nothing was done. He also shared similar guidelines about artificial turf.

Otto pointed out the township is seeking remuneration from PFAS producers to filter PFAS from the drinking water while simultaneously adding “artificial turf which is strongly correlated with high levels of PFAS.”

“Isn’t it ‘our responsibility to do everything within our power to be sure beyond any doubt that its safe.’ I urge town council to keep close the lessons of AO Polymer and Mohawk Industries that are obviously plaguing this town over a half century later,” Otto said. “If we don’t learn from this history that we’re here talking about, we’re doomed to repeat it…Use this as a lesson and apply it to future development.”

Is Station Park Safe?

TAPinto Sparta asked the experts if it is safe to play at Station Park.
After explaining “safe” is a term they do not use, Puvogel said they speak about acceptable versus unacceptable risk.

“From an exposure standpoint, we don’t have exposure to folks who use Station Park, at unacceptable levels,” Puvogel said. “We have levels of acceptable risk for people who use Station Park.”

TAPinto Sparta asked, “Do we expect at these levels to find high levels of cancer or increased levels of cancer, especially for children who play there or people who work in that maintenance building.”

“Not at these levels,” Puvogel said.

History of AO Polymer- EPA Report:

AO Polymer was located at 44 Station Road. From the 1960s to 1993 that facility manufactured resin, plastics, paper coatings and specialty polymers. The poor waste handling practices led to VOCs contaminating the soil and water.

When area residents reported odors in the air and their well water the site was scrutinized by the state beginning in the early 1970s. They were cited twice for improperly discharging plant wastewater and 13 times for air quality violations. In 1978 the Sparta Health Department and the state VOCs were found in three wells on adjoining properties.

Because of this, the private wells were abandoned and the residents, park and high school were connected to “city water.”

Remediation of the site included removing stockpiled drums and contaminated soil from the “disposal lagoon” from the site. In 1982 the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protections removed 3,152 tons of contaminated soil, 900 drums and 120 cubic yards of debris from the disposal pit area.

In September 1983 the EPA placed the site on the Superfund Program’s National Priorities List or NPL.

AO Polymer stopped operations in 1993 and abandoned the contaminated site with unsecured hazardous waste in 1994.

In April 1994, the EPA became involved to address the health risks. They removed 17 tons of hazardous waste, 18.8 tons of non-hazardous waste, 3,491 gallons of bulked hazardous liquids, 91 cubic yards of asbestos containing materials and 121 cubic yards of contaminated soil.

Soil vapor extraction systems were installed to remove soil contamination from below the disposal lagoon in 1995. A groundwater pump and treatment system was installed in August 1998 to remove contamination from the groundwater.

The EPA removed the facility area of the superfund site from the NPL. In 2009 the site was sold and redeveloped.

Beginning in 2018 through April 2019 the EPA used thermal radiation resulting in approximately 99% mass removal of TCE across the site. Because of the success of the heat treatment, the groundwater pump and treatment system was shut down in 2020.

The remediation has been completed and natural attenuation must complete the job of removing all the toxins. Groundwater sampling wells around Station Park continue to be monitored.

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