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EPA OKs $3.6 MILLION CLEANUP OF BURGESS BROTHERS LANDFILL: CAP ALMOST DONE AT BENNINGTON LANDFILL

Release Date: 09/20/1998
Contact Information: Alice Kaufman, EPA Community Affairs Office, (617) 918-1064

BOSTON-- The United States Environmental Protection Agency announced today a $3.6 million plan to cap and cleanup the 3-acre Burgess Brothers Landfill Superfund Site located on Burgess Road in the towns of Bennington and Woodford, Vermont. EPA projects cleanup to be complete within seven (7) years. The agency also detailed progress at the Bennington Municipal Landfill and expects construction to be complete next month.

BURGESS BROTHERS LANDFILL

The cleanup plan, which will be paid for by the parties EPA has identified as responsible for the contamination, calls for:

• Capping the landfill by constructing a multi-barrier impervious permanent cap over contaminated soils. The cap layers include an impermeable plastic liner, a drainage layer, and a vegetative cover;
• Capping nearby marsh area soils by constructing a cap over contaminated soils. The cap layers include a soil cover, a drainage layer, and a vegetative cover;
• Treating two VOC-contaminated hot spots near a former disposal lagoon using a soil vapor extraction (SVE) and air sparging treatment system which extracts VOCs from the soil and channels the contaminated vapor into carbon filters;
• Using natural processes such as biodegradation to reduce contaminants in the groundwater.
• Replicating wetlands for an estimated ½ acre of wetlands that will be impacted by cap construction activities.
• Implementing what are called institutional controls which may include deed restrictions to limit future use of the site and fencing the site perimeter to limit public access.
• Long term monitoring of the site's groundwater, surface water, and sediments to ensure that contaminants are being reduced through natural processes.
• Inspecting the site every five years to ensure that the cleanup remedy is effective.

The Burgess Brothers landfill operated as a dump the 1950's to mid 1970's. Starting in the 1960's, Union Carbide's Bennington Plant disposed of an unknown quantity of wastes from its battery manufacturing facility. These wastes, which include lead sludge, were dumped into and buried in unlined settling lagoons. The soils, groundwater, and surface water on and down gradient of the site are contaminated with VOC's and heavy metals. The site was listed on the Superfund National Priorities List in 1989.

The cleanup plan was approved following a public hearing in June and 30-day public comment period. The parties identified as having contributed to contamination will pay for the cleanup with the EPA providing close technical oversight to the work.

BENNINGTON MUNICIPAL LANDFILL

Construction of a multi layer cap over the 15-acre Bennington Municipal Landfill that began last May is expected to be complete this November. The cap consists of six protective layers including a six inch top soil layer that will be seeded with grass to control erosion.

Site investigations conducted in the early 1990's revealed soils contaminated with polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs).

In July 1997, EPA reached an $8 million agreement with the town of Bennington and 18 other parties to construct the cap and a waste water collection and treatment system. The wastewater system has been operating since December 1997.

In September, EPA signed a no further cleanup action decision for the groundwater portion of the Bennington Landfill. In making this determination, EPA took into account the substantial cleanup activities already performed at the site, and that groundwater is not used as a drinking water source, that local water supplies were not affected by the landfill, and that the groundwater does would not adversely impact aquatic species