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EPA Selects Cleanup Plan for Groundwater Contamination Problem at Industrial Park in Hicksville, Long Island

Release Date: 10/04/2000
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(#00178B) NEW YORK -- The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has selected a final cleanup plan for a complex groundwater contamination problem associated with the Hooker Chemical/Ruco Polymer Federal Superfund site, an active chemical manufacturing facility located in an industrial section of Hicksville, Long Island. Past waste disposal practices at the Hooker/Ruco facility and two other adjacent facilities, Northrop/Grumman and the Naval Weapons Industrial Reserve Plant (NWIRP), have contaminated area groundwater with volatile organic compounds (VOC). The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (NYSDEC) is overseeing interim groundwater cleanups underway at the two adjacent hazardous waste sites. Groundwater contamination from the three sites, which consists of commingling chemical plumes associated with the different facilities, had reached several public water supply wells in the Bethpage Water District. Since then, Northrop/Grumman and NWIRP have provided chemical treatment systems for the affected wells, and, as a result, the local public water distribution system continues to meet all New York State and Federal safe drinking water standards. EPA Regional Administrator Jeanne M. Fox explained, " This cleanup action will complement the other cleanup systems operating in the area to remove chemical contamination from the groundwater." EPA’s cleanup of the active Hooker/Ruco facility will remediate a plume of groundwater contaminated with vinyl chloride, the primary contaminant at the site, using an innovative treatment technology called "biosparging." Biosparging is a form of bioremediation that involves the introduction of air/oxygen into the aquifer to enhance the natural breakdown of the vinyl chloride in the groundwater. This treatment system would operate in addition to the interim groundwater treatment systems that are already operating under NYSDEC authority to effectively remove a mix of VOCs emanating from the sites. NYSDEC has reviewed the cleanup plan for the Hooker/Ruco site and agrees with it. EPA intends to pursue private parties responsible for the contamination to carry out and pay for the $3.8 million cleanup plan selected for the Hooker/Ruco site, thereby sparing the public any expense in the cleanup of the groundwater. From 1989 to the present, EPA has conducted numerous activities at the Hooker/Ruco site, including the removal of more than 3,300 tons of polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB)-contaminated soil, which eliminated the most immediate threat to human health at the site. Site Background Operations at the Hooker/Ruco Superfund site began in 1945 and have continued to the present day under a number of different owners and names, beginning with the Rubber Corporation of America from 1945 until 1956, when a polyvinyl chloride plant was operated on the site under the name of Insular Chemical Corporation. In 1965, the company was purchased by the Hooker Chemical Company, which has undergone several name changes over the years, with the current name being Occidental Chemical Company. In 1982, the employees bought the company from Occidental, and it became known as the Ruco Polymer Corporation. In 1998, Sybron Chemicals Inc. acquired Ruco Polymer. The facility has been used for the production of various polymers since 1946 and is currently manufacturing such products as polyester, polyols and powder coating resins. During site operations over the years, industrial wastewater from the facility was discharged to six on-site recharge basins or sumps. This wastewater contained, among other things, vinyl chloride, trichloroethylene, barium and cadmium soap, and vinyl acetate. As a result of these releases, groundwater beneath and downgradient from the site has been contaminated. The site was placed on EPA's National Priorities List (NPL) in 1984, making it eligible for cleanup under Superfund.