EPA RCRA ID: PAD000798504
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
On April 16, 2024, EPA Region 3 issued a proposed remedy Statement of Basis for Corrective Action at the SJS Linde LP (Formerly Scott Paper Company Research Annex) Facility. EPA’s proposed remedy consists of natural attenuation for groundwater and implementation of both land and groundwater use restrictions through an enforceable mechanism, such as an Environmental Covenant, to control exposure to contaminated soil and groundwater. The public notice for the proposed remedy was published for a 30-day comment period beginning on April 16, 2024, and ended on May 16, 2024. The EPA did not receive any comments on the proposed remedy during the public comment period; therefore, the Final Remedy is unchanged from the proposed remedy. The Corrective Action Final Decision and Response to Comments was published on June 17, 2024.
Cleanup Background
In August 1980, Scott Paper Company filed a Notification of Hazardous Waste Activity Form with the EPA and re-filed in October 1980. In November 1980, Scott Paper Company submitted a Part A Hazardous Waste Permit Application (Part A) to the EPA. Based on the information provided by Scott Paper Company, the EPA determined that Scott Paper Company met the RCRA requirements for interim status and assigned EPA ID No. PAD000798504 to the Facility on December 22, 1980.
Timeline of Previous Site Investigations:
- July 1991: Environmental Priorities Initiative Preliminary Assessment
- February 1996: Phase I Environmental Investigation
- December 1996: Phase II Investigations
- September 1997: Phase III Investigation
- October 1997: Soil remediation performed - approximately 753 tons of impacted soil were excavated from two areas: a closed-in-place 1,000-gallon Underground Storage Tank (UST) located next to the former garage and a former storage shed area.
- June 1999: Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (PADEP) approved non-use aquifer status for the site.
- May 2000: PADEP approved the Act 2 Final Report.
- July through September 2023: additional site characterization to include reinstallation of seven monitoring wells and groundwater sampling.
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 situated on approximately 5.5 acres of land located in Essington, Delaware County, Pennsylvania. Land use in the surrounding area is mainly commercial and residential. At the Facility, there is a one-story building with a basement.
The Facility was originally owned by Linde Air Products from 1937 to 1967 for manufacturing bottle gasses and air products. From 1967 until 1972, Scott Paper Company (Scott) operated the Facility for research and development of paper and paper pulp technology. From 1972 until 1980, Scott operated the Facility for development of disposable diaper covers and disposable paper cups. From 1980 until 1984, the Facility was occupied by Scott’s environmental and industrial hygiene laboratories. From 1984 until 1997, Scott (which was renamed Kimberly Clark Tissue Company in 1996), operated the Facility for the development of “wet wipes”. In October 1997, the Facility was sold to Linde Associated LP, who owned the Facility from 1997 until 2000. During this time, Linde Associates LP made improvements to the on-site building and remediation work was completed. SJS Linde SP bought the Facility in July 2000. Currently the Facility is occupied by several office-type tenants.
Chlorinated volatile organic compounds were the primary contaminants of concern.
Institutional and Engineering Controls at this Facility
EPA’s Corrective Action Final Decision requires the compliance with and maintenance of land and groundwater use restrictions.
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) |
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Governmental Controls (GC) |
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Enforcement and Permit Tools (EP) |
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| Proprietary ControlsProprietary Controls (PR) | |||
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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) |
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Non-Groundwater |
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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.