EPA RCRA ID: PAD001604693
The Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) is the public law that creates the framework for the proper management of hazardous and non-hazardous solid waste. Corrective action is a requirement under RCRA that facilities that treat, store or dispose of hazardous wastes, or did so in the past, investigate and clean up hazardous releases into soil, groundwater, surface water and air. For more information, and for more information on RCRA-specific terms used on this page, please visit EPA’s umbrella RCRA web page or EPA’s RCRA Corrective Action page.
On this page:
- Cleanup Activities
- Facility Description
- Institutional/Engineering Controls
- Enforcement and Compliance
- Related Information and Publicly Available Electronic Records
- Contacts for this Facility
Cleanup Activities
Notice of Violations (NOV) was issued by the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (PADEP) to the facility in August, 2002. The NOV addressed discharges of petroleum into Tunungwant Creek adjacent to the facility.
The facility proposed to submit a cleanup proposal to PADEP under the Land Recycling Act and Clean Streams Law.
Clean-Up Background
In October 2004, the refinery presented a proposed schedule for submitting a revised Site Characterization Report (SCR). The submission was slated to be due in late summer 2005.
In July 2005, the refinery submitted the Site Characterization Report to PADEP for approval.
In October 2005, the refinery requested the 2005 Site Characterization Report be permitted to withdraw for revision.
In 2006, the Refinery submitted all of the required draft revisions to the revised SCR and Risk Assessment Report for PADEP approval.
In March 2007, PADEP provided written comments on the proposed revisions to the revised SCR and Risk Assessment Report. A final SCR and Risk Assessment Report were slated to be due in July 2007.
In October 2007, PADEP approved the SCR and Risk Assessment Report. A Remedial Action Plan (RAP) was scheduled to be due in January 2008.
In December 2007, ARG entered the EPA/PADEP One Cleanup Program.
In January 2008, ARG submitted the Site Cleanup Plan (SCP).
In February 2008, ARG submitted “Tunungwant Creek and Tributaries 2007 Benthic Marcoinvertebrate Survey” for the site.
In June 2008, ARG met with PADEP to discuss the SCP deficiencies that led to the disapproval.
In September 2008, ARG submitted PADEP a new and complete Remedial Action Plan (RAP).
The former owner, Chemtura Corporation (Crompton Corp), filed bankruptcy in 2009. Part of the bankruptcy involved a settlement offer by Crompton to pay $10,000,000.00 to ARG to put towards the cleanup. PADEP and ARG accepted. The money is in an escrow account held by ARG and a new Consent Order and Agreement was entered in to between ARG and PADEP in September 2010. ARG has taken the lead on implementing the cleanup plan. Remedial activities include groundwater monitoring, contaminated groundwater recovery, SPL (Petroleum Separate Phase Liquid) recovery, capping disposal areas, in-situ oxidation, air sparging and soil vapor extraction, excavation, SPL/contaminated groundwater treatment, daily creek inspection and off-site disposal.
The EPA determined in March 2016, there was no unacceptable risk to human health and/or the environment ongoing at the facility.
Cleanup Actions or environmental indicators characterizing the entire facility are shown below. This listing, and all the data on this page, come from EPA’s RCRAInfo and are refreshed nightly to this page. For this table, a blank in the Status column could mean the action either has not occurred or has not been reported in RCRAInfo.
Cleanup Activities Pertaining to the Entire Facility
| Action | Status | Date of Action |
|---|---|---|
| Human Exposure Under Control Human Exposure Under Control(CA725) | ||
| Groundwater Migration Under ControlGroundwater Migration Under Control (CA750) | ||
| Remedy DecisionRemedy Decision (CA400) | ||
| Remedy ConstructionRemedy Construction (CA550) | ||
| Ready for Anticipated Use Ready for Anticipated Use (CA800) | ||
| Performance Standards AttainedPerformance Standards Attained (CA900) | ||
| Corrective Action Process TerminatedCorrective Action Process Terminated (CA999) |
For definitions of the terms used, hover over or click on the term.
Cleanup Activities Pertaining to a Portion of the Facility
| Action | Area Name | Date of Action |
|---|
For definitions of the terms used, hover over or click on the term.
Facility Description
Link to a larger, interactive view of the map.
The Facility is located in Bradford and Foster Townships, McKean County, Pennsylvania. The facility property is approximately 45 acres in size. It has been operated by various owners as a refinery since at least 1890. It has been currently owned and occupied by American Refining Group (ARG) since 1997. Previous owners and operators of the Facility included Witco Corporation, Inc. (Witco) from 1966 through 1997. For 16 years prior to 1966, the site was operated as an oil refinery under Kendall Oil Company. Prior to 1950, the site was owned by the City of Bradford, which also operated an oil refinery on the premises. The City of Bradford purchased the site in the early 1900s from the Emery Oil Company. Emery built the Facility in 1881. Currently, the Facility is separated into two main areas to include: Foster Brook Area and Main Refinery.
Contaminants of concern are total petroleum hydrocarbons (TPH), Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs), Semi-Volatile Organic Compounds (SVOCs), and metals that were found at elevated concentrations.
Institutional and Engineering Controls at this Facility
The need for Institutional Controls has not yet been determined.
Institutional and Engineering Controls help ensure human exposure and groundwater migration are under control at a cleanup facility. Where control types have been reported by states and EPA in EPA’s RCRAInfo, they are shown below. Not all control types are needed at all facilities, and some facilities do not require any controls. Where there are blanks, the control types may not be needed, may not be in place, or may not be reported in RCRAInfo.
Are Controls in Place at this Facility?
|
Control(s) Type |
Control(s) in Place? |
Areas Subject to Control(s) |
|
|---|---|---|---|
|
Institutional ControlsNon-engineering controls used to restrict land use or land access in order to protect people and the environment from exposure to hazardous substances remaining in the site/or facility. (CA 772) |
Informational DevicesInformational Devices (ID) |
||
|
Governmental Controls (GC) |
|||
|
Enforcement and Permit Tools (EP) |
|||
| Proprietary ControlsProprietary Controls (PR) | |||
|
Engineering ControlsEngineering measures designed to minimize the potential for human exposure to contamination by either limiting direct contact with contaminated areas or controlling migration of contaminants. (CA 770) |
Groundwater ControlGroundwater Control (GW) |
||
|
Non-Groundwater |
|||
For definitions of the terms used, hover over or click on the term.
Enforcement and Compliance at this Facility
EPA’s Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance (OECA) provides detailed historical information about enforcement and compliance activities at each RCRA Corrective Action Site in their Enforcement and Compliance Historical Online (ECHO) system.
RCRA Enforcement and Compliance Reports from ECHO
Related Information and Publicly Available Electronic Records
For more information about this facility, see these other EPA links:
- RCRA information in EPA’s Envirofacts database
- Information about this facility submitted to EPA under different environmental programs as reported in EPA’s Facility Registry Services
- Alternative Names for this facility as reported by EPA programs in EPA’s Facility Registry Services
- Cleanups in My Community provides an interactive map to see EPA cleanups in context with additional data, and lists for downloading data
- Search RCRA Corrective Action Sites provides a search feature for Corrective Action Sites
Documents, Photos and Graphics
Contacts for this Facility
EPA Region implements and enforces the RCRA Corrective Action program for and federally recognized tribes.
For further information on this corrective action site, use the Contact Information for Corrective Action Hazardous Waste Clean Ups listings that are accessible through Corrective Action Programs around the Nation.