EPA RCRA ID: PAD067096370
On this page:
- Cleanup Status
- Facility Description
- Contaminants at this Facility
- Institutional/Engineer Controls
- Enforcement and Compliance
- Related Information
- Contacts for this Facility
Cleanup Status
Note: The EPA is the lead agency for managing cleanups at this facility.
An Environmental inspection was conducted in November 2009 to determine whether human exposures to contamination and the migration of contaminated groundwater were under control. EPA/Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (PADEP) is reviewing existing environmental information to determine if further investigation is required. EPA/State will focus first on the health and groundwater impacts, if any, presented by the facility.
Cn December 19, 2019, EPA determined that contamination in groundwater and human exposures risk from contaminants were under control
Cleanup Actions or environmental indicators characterizing the entire facility are shown below. It is not intended as an extensive list of milestones/activities. This listing, and all the data on this page, come from EPA’s RCRAInfo and are refreshed nightly to this page. For this table and the Cleanup Activities Pertaining to a Portion of the Facility table that follows, 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 |
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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 Lancaster branch of Hamilton Watch Company opened in 1850 as a manufacturer of watches. Potentially responsible parties documentation indicates that Adams and Perry Watch Company was the owner/operator from 1887 to 1892, and Hamilton Watch Company was the owner/operator from 1892 until 1971, at which time Hamilton Watch Company began operating under the name of HMW Industries, Inc. (HMW). HMW owned the Site until 1982. In March 1971, a subsidiary of Hamilton Watch Company (Hamilton Technology Inc. [HTI]) was formed. From 1972 through 1982, HTI leased 300,000 square feet of the Site from HMW. HTI operated under government contract from 1972 to 1980, designing and manufacturing fuses and arming devices. Documentation indicates that HTI operated an on‑site wastewater treatment plant, which discharged to the City of Lancaster Publicly Owned Treatment Works (POTW).
Sol Gillman purchased the Site from HMW on March 23, 1982. The Site was placed on the National Register of Historic Places on August 24, 1982. In April 1983, a partnership consisting of Clock Towers Association, Ltd. and Karsan Group, Inc. purchased the Site from Sol Gillman. The Facility was formally closed in 1983, and HMW became a subsidiary of Clabir Corporation (Clabir) along with Clabir’s other subsidiaries Flinchbaugh Products Division located in Red Lion, Pennsylvania and General Defense Corporation. Prior to the 1983 closure of the Columbia Avenue Facility, six of the buildings (Buildings 1 and 2, and 4 through 7) were converted into the Clock Tower Apartments (Appendix B, Photographs 2, 4, 5, 11, and 12). Some of the buildings, including the former WWTP (Building 3), the boiler house (Building 20), the oil solvent and storage house (Building 22), and the auto house (Building 23) were demolished during the 1983 renovations. This is confirmed in a September 1984 PADEP inspection report which states that “all structures that were utilized for hazardous waste treatment and/or storage have been razed and removed from the Site.
Buildings 9 and 11, previously used by HTI as warehouses for storage of raw materials such as 55-gallon drums of solvents, were converted into office space.
In 1984, HMW and Flinchbaugh Products (a subsidiary of Clabir) sold 85 percent of its interest in HTI to General Defense. In 1985, General Defense acquired the remaining 15 percent of HTI. In 1988, Olin acquired General Defense, which later became the Olin Ordnance and Aerospace Division (OAD). In 1989, Olin OAD sold the HTI subsidiary of General Defense to Bulova Systems and Instruments Corporation (Bulova) who was leasing 88,000 square feet of Buildings 9 and 11 for warehousing and intermittent operations. In 1997, Olin OAD spun off as a single publicly-traded company called Primex Technologies (Primex). In 2001, General Dynamics Inc. bought Primex; and in 2002, the propulsion section of General Dynamics Inc. was sold to Aerojet-General, a subsidiary of GenCorp. This sale did not include the former HTI section of General Dynamics Inc. Securities and Exchange Commission filings do not list Olin OAD as a subsidiary of General Dynamics. Currently, Buildings 9 and 11 are occupied by Eastern Alliance Insurance and are used as office space. The New School of Lancaster occupies Building 8, and Clock Tower Apartments occupies Buildings 1,2,4,5,6, and 7.
Research of the manufacturing processes conducted on-Site indicates that Hamilton Watch Company manufactured watches from 1850 through 1971. After 1971, HTI, a subsidiary of Hamilton Watch Company, continued the manufacturing operation at the Site until 1983 when the Facility was formally closed. The processes conducted on-Site included electroplating, coating, and polishing of metal parts.
Contaminants at this Facility
Process-related wastewater generated on-Site, which included electroplating sludge waste, reportedly was discharged directly to the City of Lancaster’s POTW under National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System permit number 1020. Waste solvents (primarily TCE) and oils from production were segregated in drums and shipped off-Site for disposal. The Facility also operated an air scrubber, which was operated under Air Quality Permit number 36318093 issued by PADEP in 1979. The permit apparently was not renewed after 1980. Several production-related treatment and storage tanks and a 20,000-gallon heating oil underground storage tank also were located on-Site.
Institutional and Engineering Controls at this Facility
Institutional controls, if required, will be determined at the time of remedy selection.
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) |
Documents available on-line: |
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|---|---|---|---|---|
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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
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.