Westinghouse Electric Corporation (Sharon Plant)

Current Site Information

Site Progress Profile

Administrative Record

Federal Register

• 07/19/2006: DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE. Notice of Lodging of Consent Decree Under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act

Fact Sheets

• June 1999
• December 1996

Pennsylvania Fish & Boat Commission Public Health Advisory for Fish Consumption (PDF) (4 pp, 257K, About PDF)
The Pennsylvania Fish & Boat Commission has a 2011 Public Health Advisory of: Do Not Eat for Muskellunge and Carp, and 1 meal per month for Largemouth and Smallmouth Bass, Walleye, Bluegill, Crappie, Sunfish, Channel Catfish, and all Suckers for the Shenango River from the Shenango Lake Dam to mouth of the River.

Record of Decision

Site Actions

2010 Fish Tissue Results Report (PDF) (4 pp, 257K, About PDF)
The Site's Second Five-Year Review found all the fish caught by the PRP during the latest (October 2010) sampling event on the Shenango River had PCB concentrations exceeding the fish ingestion value of 0.05 ppm used as a trigger by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania for restricting fish consumption. The fish were caught on October 5, 2010 on the Shenango River between the Clark Street and the dam adjacent to the Aqua America water plant, When EPA applies Superfund human health risk assessment assumptions and methodologies to the PCB concentrations in the fish tissue results for the channel catfish and smallmouth bass samples, an unacceptable risk is present even for the Pennsylvania Fish & Boat Commission Public Health Advisory consumption rates of one meal per month. The one half-pound meal per month referenced in the Pennsylvania Fish & Boat Commission Public Health Advisory would still yield an Superfund cancer risk above 1E-4, using the upper-confidence limit concentrations of 3.6 mg/kg for charnel catfish and 4 mg/kg for smallmouth bass. Additionally, the carp, at 9.3 mg/kg, also exceeds the Superfund cancer risk of 1E-4, but is already listed in the Pennsylvania Fish & Boat Commission Public Health Advisory as "Do Not Eat.". It is important to note that US EPA Superfund risk assessment and the Pennsylvania Fish & Boat Commission Public Health Advisory utilize different assumptions and methodologies to arrive at their individual determinations. Fish consumers of fish caught from the Shenango River should be aware of these determinations.

Superfund Risk Assumptions
The Site's Second Five-Year Review found all the fish caught by the PRP during the latest (October 2010) sampling event on the Shenango River had PCB concentrations exceeding the fish ingestion value of 0.05 ppm used as a trigger by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania for restricting fish consumption. The fish were caught on October 5, 2010 on the Shenango River between the Clark Street and the dam adjacent to the Aqua America water plant, When EPA applies Superfund human health risk assessment assumptions and methodologies to the PCB concentrations in the fish tissue results for the channel catfish and smallmouth bass samples, an unacceptable risk is present even for the Pennsylvania Fish & Boat Commission Public Health Advisory consumption rates of one meal per month. The one half-pound meal per month referenced in the Pennsylvania Fish & Boat Commission Public Health Advisory would still yield an Superfund cancer risk above 1E-4, using the upper-confidence limit concentrations of 3.6 mg/kg for charnel catfish and 4 mg/kg for smallmouth bass. Additionally, the carp, at 9.3 mg/kg, also exceeds the Superfund cancer risk of 1E-4, but is already listed in the Pennsylvania Fish & Boat Commission Public Health Advisory as "Do Not Eat.". It is important to note that US EPA Superfund risk assessment and the Pennsylvania Fish & Boat Commission Public Health Advisory utilize different assumptions and methodologies to arrive at their individual determinations. Fish consumers of fish caught from the Shenango River should be aware of these determinations.

Superfund Redevelopment:
Returning Sites to Productive Use

• Success Stories

Fish Tissue Sampling Photos - October 2010