EPA RCRA ID: MDD062011796
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
Rockwood Pigments NA, Incorporated (Rockwood) entered the Facility Lead Program on August 19, 2005. RCRA Corrective Action activities at this facility are being conducted under the direction of EPA Region 3. In accordance with the Facility Lead Agreement, Rockwood submitted a Work Plan/Phase I Site Characterization Report on December 1, 2005. The Facility met with EPA and MDE in June 2006, to discuss site characterization work at the facility. EPA approved the work plan, and the investigation began in the summer of 2008. A report documenting the results of this investigation was submitted in October 2008.
EPA and the new owners met on May 19, 2016, to discuss further groundwater characterization. Rockwood submitted a work plan for the site on May 2016, which was approved by EPA in June 2016. During the rest of 2016 and 2017, Rockwood was performing site investigation work to better characterize the site and nearby properties. The groundwater contamination plume is now delineated. Rockwood investigated soil and groundwater contamination under the facility buildings in 2019 and 2020.
On April 29.2019, the EPA conducted a Long Term Stewardship assessment to assess whether the remedy was implemented and protective of human health and the environment. EPA determined that the remedy institutional and engineering controls have been fully implemented and no control deficiencies were identified.
A final decision remedy was issued on November 10, 2021 which consists of excavation and disposal of chromium impacted soil, compliance with an EPA-approved Corrective Measures Implementation Plan and Materials Management Plan, In situ treatment of groundwater, and long term groundwater monitoring of the plume. On June 3, 2020 an Environmental Covenant was executed for the site consisting of groundwater limitations, land use limitations, cap maintenance, and a groundwater well survey. On September 29, 2022 an Administrative Order on Consent was finalized outlining the Environmental Covenant restrictions as well as the requirements for the Corrective Measures Implementation plan.
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, formerly operating under the names Laporte Pigments, Mineral Pigments, and Rockwood Pigments operated a pigment manufacturing facility, located approximately two miles north of Beltsville, Maryland.
Rockwood Holdings was acquired in its entirety by Albemarle Corporation on January 13, 2015, and Albemarle is now 100% owner of the subsidiary Excalibur Realty. The site owner continues to be Excalibur Realty Company, a wholly owned subsidiary of Rockwood Holdings ("Rockwood"). Huntsman Pigments Americas LLC ("Huntsman") is the lessee of the site and has manufacturing operations there.
The site is bordered to the west by US Route 1 and the Chessie Railroad tracks; to the east by Conway Road; to the north by Muirkirk Road, and to the south by a light industrial park. Records indicate that the site has been used for industrial purposes since at least the 1940s. The earliest file records mentioning Mineral Pigments, however, date to 1972. The facility activities include the manufacturing of zinc phosphate and the milling and blending of iron oxides. Shallow groundwater at the site has been investigated since 1985 under MDE supervision. Two source areas were removed under MDE supervision in the 1980s and 1990s.
The primary contaminant of concern at the site is chromium in groundwater.
Institutional and Engineering Controls at this Facility
EPA’s Final Remedy includes the following activity and use restrictions:
- Groundwater at the Facility shall not be used for any purpose other than the operation, maintenance, and monitoring activities required by EPA;
- No new wells shall be installed on Facility property unless it is demonstrated to EPA that such wells are necessary to implement the Final Remedy;
- All earth-moving activities at the Facility property shall comply with an EPA approved Materials Management Plan;
- All impermeable barriers over the groundwater impact area at the Facility property shall be maintained and inspected annually in accordance with an EPA approved CMI plan and Materials Management Plan;
- The Facility property shall only be used for non-residential purposes;
By December 31st of every fifth year, Albemarle or the then-current Facility property owner shall conduct a well survey and notify EPA, the Prince George’s County Health Department, and all affected off-Facility property owners of current groundwater contamination conditions
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.