EPA RCRA ID: VAD000063669
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 Virginia Department of Environmental Quality (VDEQ) is the lead agency for managing cleanups at this facility.
The Virginia Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) prepared a Statement of Basis (SB) and Administrative Record (AR) in May 2010 proposing a Final Remedy for the Wheelabrator Landfill, USA Waste of Virginia Landfills, Inc. The Statement of Basis was noticed on July 18, 2010. The DEQ issued its Final Decision regarding the facility on September 22, 2010 via permit modification approval stating that Corrective Action was Complete with Controls.
The Final Remedy states that no further actions to remediate soil or groundwater are necessary to protect human health and the environment given current and reasonably anticipated future land use. The final remedy requires the facility to maintain certain property mechanisms known as Institutional Controls (ICs) and Engineering Controls (ECs) because waste with hazardous constituents will remain at the facility in the closed capped landfill. The ECs consist of maintenance of the landfill cap as well as groundwater monitoring, as required under the facility's existing Hazardous Waste Management Post-Closure Permit (Permit). Also, the facility is required to maintain as an IC the Deed Notice which is already in place with the Bedford County Circuit Clerk's Office, Deed Book 844, Page 767-768, identifying the location of the facility's closed landfill.
These controls provide assurance that the landfill cap, as currently known and anticipated, will not be disturbed without additional investigation or work and prior notification to the DEQ, and that groundwater monitoring will continue until the end of the post-closure care period at the landfill. DEQ's decision represents "Corrective Action Complete with Controls" as described in EPA's "Final Guidance on Completion of Corrective Action Activities at Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) Facilities", (68 FR 8757, February 25, 2003).
On May 2, 2016, the VDEQ conducted a Long Term Stewardship assessment to assess whether the remedy was implemented and protective of human health and the environment. VDEQ determined that the remedy institutional and engineering controls have been fully implemented and no control deficiencies were identified.
Cleanup Background
On August 16, 2003, the Permit renewal became effective with an expiration date of August 16, 2013. The current Permit requires post-closure care, groundwater monitoring, and RCRA Corrective Action (CA), as necessary, for the closed landfill. The post-closure care period and groundwater monitoring for this site is to continue until December 21, 2018. A Deed Notice is in place identifying the location of the closed hazardous waste landfill.
On April 20, 2004, the Solid Waste Management Unit (SWMU) Release Assessment Report was submitted identifying Pond #2 and Pond #3 as SWMUs. On September 26, 2006, the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) determined that no further action was required at Pond #2 and Pond #3.
On September 29, 2008, the compliance period for the regulated unit ended and a modified compliance monitoring program was installed. The groundwater will be monitored for the remainder of the post-closure period, which ends December 21, 2018.
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 |
|---|
For definitions of the terms used, hover over or click on the term.
Facility Description
Link to a larger, interactive view of the map.
USA Waste of Virginia Landfills, Inc., Wheelabrator Landfill (Wheelabrator) is a 2.7 acre landfill located on approximately 12.626 acres of land approximately two miles northwest of the Town of Bedford, Bedford County, Virginia. An unnamed stream, a tributary to Little Otter River, is located along the eastern portion of the landfill site.
Wheelabrator, currently owned by USA Waste of Virginia Landfills, Inc., was used for the disposal of furnace dust and furnace slag generated from secondary steel smelting operations conducted at the adjacent Wheelabrator Abrasives foundry. The foundry, located to the south of the landfill, melted scrap metal in an electric furnace to produce steel "shot". Furnace dust and furnace slag was disposed of in the landfill until 1985. The operational period for the Wheelabrator Landfill was from 1973 to 1985. The landfill, which operated for 16 years, was closed with waste in place on December 21, 1988.
Contaminants at this Facility
The primary contaminants of concern in the groundwater include arsenic, barium, cadmium, chromium, cyanide, lead, mercury, nickel, and silver.
Institutional and Engineering Controls at this Facility
Institutional Controls include maintains of closed landfill cap and groundwater monitoring.
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: |
|
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
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
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.