The facility is located at 30 Kellogg Road, City of Cortland, Cortland County, New York, 13045. The property is approximately 50 acres in size and contains a large main production building, interconnected with several smaller production buildings, an office building and several support buildings, including a flammable storage building and a hazardous waste storage garage. The size of the facility buildings are estimated at 367,000 ft2.
The Buckbee-Mears facility was purchased by International Electron Devices (IED) on October 26, 2004. IED operated the facility until May, 2005, when they closed due to a lack of funding. A large number of the bulk chemicals used in production and the chemical wastes from past operations were abandoned on Site. These materials included: strong acids and caustics in large tanks, drums, process piping and numerous small containers throughout the facility. Approximately 7 cylinders of chlorine gas were also abandoned on Site.
During the Summer of 2006, the Cortland Police Department responded to a report of vandalism and became concerned when they discovered the large amount of chemicals which had been abandoned at the Site. The Cortland Police subsequently notified the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (NYSDEC) of their findings. On July 27, 2006, representatives from the NYSDEC, the Cortland Police and Fire Departments and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) conducted a Site visit. The visit confirmed the presence of numerous hazardous substances in drums, tanks and cylinders throughout the facility. The potential for a chemical release was deemed serious because the facility was idle with no security and all utilities had been terminated. On August 1, 2006, the NYSDEC formally requested the EPA to conduct a removal action under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act (CERCLA) at this Site.
Negotiations with the PRP to perform the required clean up actions resulted in EPA issuing an Administrative Order on September 29, 2006. The PRP initially complied with the Order, but ceased correspondence with EPA in early November, 2006. Following several acts of vandalism at the facility, EPA initiated a Removal Action on January 10, 2007.
Reporting Period: May 7th through June 15th, 2007
Week of May 7th:- Sulfuric lines were flushed and the resultant waste were containerized in 55-gallon drums. In addition, an external sulfuric tank's contents were drained and containerized in 55-gallon drums.
- On May 9th, real-estate agent representing the owners of the facility toured the site with potential purchasers.
- On May 10th, Cortland Fire Department inspected fire extinguishers gathered from the facility for possible reuse.
- Process line tracing and dismantling continued
- Approximately 2,500 gallons of hazardous substances were shipped off-site for disposal
- Approximately 9,500 pounds of hazardous substances were shipped off-site for disposal
- Approximately 7 cubic yards of hazardous substance were shipped off-site for disposal
Week of May 14th:
- ERRS shipped non-RCRA hazardous waste and ferric chloride(RCRA hazardous waste) off-site for disposal.
- Process line tracing and dismantling continued
- Approximately 8,300 gallons of hazardous substances were shipped off-site for disposal
- Approximately 1,400 pounds of hazardous substances were shipped off-site for disposal
Week of May 21st:
- ERRS continued off-site shipment of ferric chloride as well as other RCRA hazardous waste
- ERRS initiated the pumping of wastewater from sumps. The pumped wastewater was transferred to the on-site wastewater treatment plant.
Week of May 28th:
- Off-site disposal of corrosive liquids continued
- Transfer of wastewater from sumps to the onsite wastewater plant continued
- Waste Management representatives removed two of their power units associated with their compactors from the building.
- Approximately 5,600 gallons of hazardous substances were shipped off-site for disposal
Week of June 4th:
- Wastewater transfer from sumps to on-site wastewater treatment plant continued.
Week of June 11th:
- Approval was granted by the POTW to discharge the wastewater from one of the clarifiers to the POTW at a fee of $0.05/gallon. The maximum flow rate allowable is one million gallons/day; however due to elevated iron content, the contents of this clarifier is to be drained over a minimum of three days.
- Wastewater transfer from sumps to on-site wastewater treatment plant continued.
Continue transfer of wastewater from sumps to on-site wastewater treatment plant.
Pumping of residual sludge in sumps to roll-offs and solidification of the sludge using a silica oxide based material.
Continued tracing and dismantling of process lines
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