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EPA to review cleanup progress at Ottati and Goss/Kingston Steel Drum Superfund site

Release Date: 08/15/2003
Contact Information: Alice Kaufman, EPA Community Involvement Office, 617-918-1064

Boston--The United States Environmental Protection Agency announced today that it is undertaking a review of the effectiveness of cleanup remedies in place at the Ottati and Goss / Kingston Steel Drum Superfund Site in Kingston, New Hampshire.

In 2002, EPA and the US Army Corps of Engineers completed the cleanup of soils and sediments at the site and restored a six acre wetland. Between August 2001 and June 2002 about 73,000 tons of material was excavated, treated using thermal desorption, and put back in the five acre upland area west of Route 125. In the six acre wetland area east of Route 125, more than 9,600 tons of contaminated sediment was excavated and properly disposed of at an approved waste facility. Following the excavation of contaminated soils, EPA restored the wetland with 20,000 cubic yards of new organic material and 1000 young trees and shrubs to recreate the marsh area that had been contaminated. Plantings included: Red Maple, Yellow Birch, Swamp White Oak, Silky Dogwood, Elderberry, Highbush blueberry, winterberry, Pussy Willow, Serviceberry and Red Chokeberry. EPA will continue to monitor the wetland.

EPA will begin designs this fall for treating contaminated groundwater at the site. Field activities expected next summer will include a pump test and a study to evaluate the best technology to treat the contaminated groundwater. The treated groundwater is expected to be discharged back into the ground to promote the flushing of contaminants which will then be captured by extraction wells located on the site.

This review, called a five-year review, is a comprehensive evaluation of the site remedy which will include: interviewing local officials and community members, collecting information from local officials, and assessing records and reports.

The review team will evaluate the information gathered and then make a determination as to whether the remedy is protective or not protective of public health and the environment. The five year review is anticipated to be completed by December 2003, at which time the team will publish a report explaining its findings and make the report available to the public.

The 35-acre Ottati and Goss / Kingston Steel Drum Site was placed on the EPA's National Priorities List in 1983, making it eligible for federal funding to address contamination at the site. Previous actions taken at the site include the removal of approximately 4,000 drums of waste in the early 1980's. The site is the former location of the Great Lakes Container Corporation which conducted a drum reconditioning operation from the late 1950's through July 1980. The 1987 cleanup plan set out to control the source of contamination and stop the migration of contamination from the site to the nearby wetlands and lake through the excavation and treatment of contaminated soils and through treating the groundwater. In addition, buried drums, underground tanks and miscellaneous building debris were removed from the site.

More information about the site may be found on the EPA New England web site at: www.epa.gov/region1/superfund/sites/o&g. EPA technical reports and documents are available for public review in the site information repository located in the Kingston Town Hall Selectmen’s Office, 163 Main Street, Kingston, NH.