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EPA to Review Cleanup Progress at Peterson/Puritan Superfund Site

Release Date: 05/16/2002
Contact Information: Alice Kaufman, EPA Community Affairs Office, 617-918-1064

Boston--The United States Environmental Protection Agency announced today that it is undertaking a review of the effectiveness of soil and groundwater treatment remedies in place at the Peterson/Puritan, Inc. Superfund Site in Cumberland, Rhode Island.

The study, called a five year review, is to ensure that the soil and groundwater treatment remedies employed in two principal contaminant source areas of the site are effectively protecting the public health and environment. Additionally, other portions of the site which remain as areas requiring further study along the river, between the Ashton and Pratt dams, and including the J.M. Mills Landfill, will also be reviewed.

In 1995, EPA signed a Consent Decree with the potentially responsible parties ("PRPs") to clean up a portion (called Operable Unit 1) of the Peterson/Puritan Superfund site which consists of two principal contaminant cleanup areas. The first cleanup area includes the former Peterson/Puritan, Inc. facility, which now is owned by CCL Custom Manufacturing. A tanker car spill in the 1970's released over 6000 gallons of hazardous solvent on that property. The second cleanup area involves the property owned by Pacific Anchor Chemical Corporation (PAC), formerly the Lonza and Universal Chemical Facility. The principal contaminants of concern in this second area include arsenic, chlorinated compounds and petroleum compounds in the groundwater. It is the CCL and PAC areas of the site where cleanup has been undertaken.

In the CCL area, EPA is looking at whether a soil vapor extraction system designed to clean soils surrounding a tank farm, pumping and treating a contaminated groundwater plume emanating from the tank farm, and pumping groundwater down gradient to the local sewer system are effective.

In the PAC area, EPA will examine the in-place oxidation system that is being used to reduce arsenic concentrations in groundwater. The remedy also calls for restrictive covenants and access easements on nineteen properties and continued groundwater monitoring. The implementation of these components is ongoing.

EPA's team is reviewing the reports prepared by the responsible parties and is additionally:

• interviewing site workers and local officials;
• collecting information from local officials (zoning changes);
• conducting sampling to ensure that cleanup levels are being met;
• checking the groundwater treatment equipment to ensure that it is operating properly; and
• assessing daily logs, records and reports.

The Peterson/Puritan, Inc. Superfund site was placed on the EPA=s National Priorities List in 1983 after site investigations revealed contamination of the groundwater. In 1959, the Peterson/Puritan plant began packaging aerosol products and the facility remains in operation today. The two mile site includes the former Peterson/Puritan plant and surrounding industrial park, the now inactive J. M. Mills Landfill, the Quinnville and Lenox Street municipal well fields and various land parcels along the Blackstone River between the Ashton and Pratt dams. Since being constructed in 1997, the CCL area soil vapor extraction and groundwater treatment systems have been successful in removing Volatile Organic Compounds from the impacted soils and groundwater. The PAC remedy was also successful in identifying and removing a number of sources. Groundwater concentrations for arsenic remain at levels above health-based standards or drinking water consumption; however groundwater at the site is not currently used for drinking water. EPA will need to decide how to address this issue as it relates to protectiveness over the long term.

More information about cleanup activities at the Peterson Puritan site may be found on the EPA New England web site at: www.epa.gov/region1/superfund. EPA technical reports and documents are available for public review in the site information repository located at the Cumberland and Lincoln Public Libraries.