All News Releases By Date

EPA and NH DES HOST PUBLIC INFORMATION MEETING FOR BEEDE WASTE OIL SUPERFUND SITE

Release Date: 11/21/2000
Contact Information: Alice Kaufman, EPA Community Affairs, 617-918-1064

BOSTON - The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the New Hampshire Department of Environmental Services will host a public information meeting on Wednesday, December 6th at 7 p.m. at the Vic Geary Center on Greenough Rd. in Plaistow, NH, to discuss findings from the three year environmental study of the Beede Waste Oil Superfund Site which will determine the final cleanup plan.

EPA and NH DES representatives will present the findings of the Remedial Investigation and discuss the ongoing Feasibility Study, which together will determine the complete and final cleanup plan for the site to be proposed for public review.

In addition, representatives will update the community on the progress of cleanup activities which are still underway at the site. EPA is removing floating oil as part of a $2.5 million interim cleanup called a non-time-critical removal action. The interim cleanup involves removing approximately 80,000 gallons of mobile oil which are floating on top of the groundwater table beneath the site where it acts as a continuing source of groundwater and surface water contamination at the site. The system has already removed more than 30,000 gallons of mobile oil during nine months of operation, and it is estimated that as much as another 50,000 gallons will be removed over the next year.

The Beede Waste Oil Superfund Site operated as a waste oil recycling, storage and distribution facility from 1926 to 1994. Many of the tanks were leaking and rusted, and contained volatile organic compounds, oil, polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and other hazardous materials. Contaminants from the tanks reached the groundwater, contaminating local residential wells.

In 1996 the site was added to EPA's National Priorities (Superfund) List making it eligible for federal cleanup funds. EPA, in partnership with NH DES, removed thousands of gallons of PCB-contaminated waste oil, sludge and antifreeze and removed more than 100 tanks and 800 drums from the site in 1997.