Region 5 Superfund (SF)

U.S. EPA REGION 5
GUERNSEY COUNTY
JACKSON TOWNSHIP

Congressional District # 18

FULTZ LANDFILL

EPA ID# OHD980794630
Last Updated: February, 2007

Site Description

The Fultz Landfill is a 22-acre privately-owned landfill located one-half mile northeast of the city of Byesville and three miles southeast of the city of Cambridge.  From 1954 to 1985, residential, commercial, and industrial solid wastes were disposed of at the site.  Beneath the landfill waste the shallow aquifer consists of alluvial sediment and mine spoils which overlie a flooded coal mine aquifer. The city of Byesville uses the coal mine aquifer as a drinking water source. Stream A runs toward the west along the north toe (base) of the landfill and discharges into Wills Creek. Wills Creek is a drinking water source for the city of Cambridge. Wetlands consisting of six ponds are also located along Stream A. During landfill operation, county and state officials cited the owner of the landfill for violations of the operating license, including inadequate control of leachate and accepting unauthorized drums of hazardous waste. The state contacted businesses generating the drums and requested them to stop sending drums to the landfill. In the early 1980's leachate seeping from the landfill contained unacceptable levels of metals and phenolic compounds.

Site Responsibility

This site is being addressed through federal, state and potentially responsible party (PRP) actions.

Threats and Contaminants

Records show that rollwash sludge, triblend, flammable waste paint and sludge (liquid and solid) containing hazardous metals, cyanide, chlorinated and non-chlorinated organic solvents, and phthalates were disposed of at the Fultz Landfill.  In 1991, the United States Environmental Protection Agency (U.S. EPA) completed a remedial investigation and feasibility study (RI/FS) which showed unacceptable metal contamination in the shallow aquifer (arsenic, barium, copper, lead, manganese, mercury, and vanadium).  Vinyl chloride and 1,2-dichloroethene contamination were found in the coal mine aquifer.

Cleanup Progress

A Record of Decision (ROD) was issued on September 30, 1991 that specified the remedy for the site. This included: construction of a 24-inch clay landfill cap; installation of subsurface structural supports for the mine voids; collection and treatment of contaminated leachate and groundwater; fencing; and institutional controls to reduce exposure to site contaminants. After the cleanup was designed, an Explanation of Significant Differences (ESD) was issued that deleted the requirements for on-site water treatment and structural support for the mine voids. Initial negotiations with PRPs to design and construct the remedy ended unsuccessfully in 1992. After U.S. EPA completed the design, negotiations were reestablished for construction of the remedy. These negotiations concluded successfully with a Consent Decree (CD) between U.S. EPA and some of the PRPs. The CD was entered in 1997 and required the eight PRPs to construct the remedy. Another CD, with one previously non-settling PRP for $6,000,000 in past costs, was signed by this PRP and U.S. EPA in December 1997 and entered in April 1998. Another CD, in which 11 settling defendants reached a final settlement, was entered in March 1999.

In August 1997, the PRPs' contractor began construction. Construction has been completed, which was documented in the Preliminary Close Out Report dated September 29, 1998.  Long-term monitoring of the site is continuing. The first five-year review report was issued in July 2002 and the report stated that the remedy was protective of human health and the environment in the short-term, but was not protective in the long-term because the institutional controls had not been implemented. Since that time, the institutional controls have been implemented.

Contacts

Remedial Project Manager, U.S. EPA
bernard schorle (schorle.bernard@epa.gov)
(312) 886-4746

Community Involvement Coordinator, U.S. EPA
bob paulson
(312) 886-0272

Aliases

FULTZ LDFL

 

Site Profile Information

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