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Cleanup at Bucks County Superfund Site is 600th Nationwide

Release Date: 6/14/1999
Contact Information: Hollis Scoggin, (215) 814-3061

NOCKAMIXON TOWNSHIP, Pa. -- EPA Regional Administrator W. Michael McCabe and Representative James Greenwood met here today with township and state officials to commemorate the cleanup of the 600th Superfund hazardous waste site out of a total of 1,396 sites nationwide -- the Revere Chemical Company site.

"The completion of this cleanup marks a watershed in the Superfund process, which works faster and more efficiently than ever. Using several streamlining measures, the EPA has cleaned up twice as many sites in the last five years than during the previous 12 years," said McCabe.

The 113-acre Revere Chemical site was an acid, metal and plating waste processing operation where liquid wastes were stored on site in unlined lagoons. When a federal court ordered the plant to close in 1969 for contaminating a tributary of Rapp Creek, the company abandoned drums, waste lagoons and piles of solid waste at this Bucks County site.

Today, thanks to the Superfund cleanup process, the former waste processing area will become a home for native grasses and wildflowers, thus providing valuable habitat for migratory birds and other wildlife. Cleanup activities at the site included off-site disposal of solid waste, treatment and/or capping of contaminated soil, addition of a soil and vegetative layer in certain areas and future land re-use restrictions. Additionally, the surface water and sediments will be sampled for five years, and the groundwater will be monitored on an ongoing basis.

The Revere Chemical site is a prime example of the success of one of the many Superfund reforms -- reduced oversight -- which streamlines the cleanup process and reduces administrative costs for the EPA and the parties responsible for the cleanup

In the case of the Revere site, there was also a high level of cooperation among the parties responsible for the cleanup. The EPA worked closely with the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection and the Revere Steering Committee, a sub-group of companies responsible for the cleanup. The Revere Steering Committee is composed of the following companies: IBM Corp., Square D Corp. (on behalf of Yates Industries), Unisys Corp., General Electric Co., NCR, Carpenter Technologies and Lucent Technologies (for AT&T).

In Pennsylvania, cleanup is complete at 48 Superfund sites; and an additional 35 sites have cleanups underway; finally, 19 other sites have had emergency cleanups performed. The parties responsible for contamination are cleaning up 69 percent of the sites, saving taxpayers more than $1.15 billion to date in the state. (For fact sheets on other local sites, call above contact.)


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