Mid-Atlantic Superfund

EPA Region 3 (Mid-Atlantic)

Pennsylvania
Philadelphia
next to the Delaware River

EPA ID# PAD046557096

13th Congressional District

Last Update: March 2009

Other Names

Cottman Avenue Site

Current Site Status

After nearly 25 years of litigation, settlements have been reached with the parties responsible for the cleanup of the Metal Bank Site. The U.S. Department of Justice, on behalf of the U.S. EPA, entered three Consent Decrees on March 14, 2006. The final remedy for the site includes certain modifications from the Record of Decision issued in 1997. These changes are detailed in a "Revised Remedial Plan" attached to one of the Consent Decrees. Under the terms and conditions of that Consent Decree, a revised remedial design was submitted to EPA for approval. The revised final design was approved on February 28, 2008. Cleanup activities at the Site began in July 2008 and ceased in January 2009 for the winter. Due to a moratorium for work in the river, cleanup activities are expected to resume in May 2009.

Site Description

The Metal Bank site occupies approximately ten acres along the Delaware River in an industrial section of northeast Philadelphia. From 1968 to 1972, Metal Bank of America, Inc. drained oil from used transformers to reclaim copper parts. Metal Bank's recycling operations released oil in various locations on the property with the majority of the contamination in the vicinity of an underground storage tank (UST) which was used to store the used transformer oil. In 1972, the U.S. Coast Guard documented a UST rupture and a release of oil to the Delaware River. The U.S. Coast Guard traced periodic oil slicks in the river to the site in 1972, and the company performed a limited cleanup to prevent further releases. However, oil continued to seep from the Site.

In 1977, new testing procedures detected polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), in the oil. PCBs are used as insulation in electrical transformers, and are probable human carcinogens. A 1978 study by the Coast Guard estimated 20,000 gallons of PCB-contaminated oil still remained in groundwater and would eventually leak into the Delaware River. In the early 1980's, the owner of the property installed and operated an oil recovery system to remove the PCB contaminated oil from the groundwater. The recovery system was operational until early 1989. PCB contaminated oil is still present at the Site today in the subsurface soil, groundwater and river sediments.

A public water intake is located 2.2 miles upstream from the Site, on the Delaware River. Two million people, including the eastern half of Philadelphia, are supplied with drinking water from the Delaware River. The Site is located next to a daycare center, which operates out of St. Vincent’s School, approximately 200 feet away.

Site Responsibility

Cleanup of this site is the responsibility of Federal and State governments, and parties potentially responsible for site contamination. This site is being addressed through Federal and potentially responsible parties' actions.

NPL Listing History

Our country's most serious, uncontrolled, or abandoned hazardous waste sites can be cleaned using federal money. To be eligible for federal cleanup money, a site must be put on the National Priorities List (NPL). This site was proposed to the NPL on December 30, 1982, and formally added to the list on September 8, 1983.

Threats and Contaminants

PCBs and various other hazardous substances have been detected in the surface and subsurface soils onsite and in Delaware River sediment. There is also the presence of oil on the surface of the groundwater, in subsurface soils, and mudflat sediments. The PCB-contaminated oil has moved into the Delaware River as a result of groundwater and tidal wave movements underneath the Site. PCB-contaminated sediments have been detected along the shoreline immediately adjacent to the property line. Recreational fishermen may be at risk from eating contaminated fish. Future construction workers may be at risk from the PCBs in the oil beneath the Site. Fish and animals feeding on grounds next to the Site may also be affected.

Contaminant descriptions and associated risk factors are available at: (ATSDR web site).

Cleanup Progress

In 1980, EPA sued the owners to clean up the Site. In 1983, the site owners agreed to construct an oil recovery system to pump out the groundwater and remove the oil. In 1989, the Site owners petitioned the court to stop the oil recovery operation because they believed all the oil had been recovered. While EPA believed that more cleanup work was needed, the Site owner was allowed to remove and dismantle the oil-recovery system. Although the oil recovery system was dismantled, EPA continued to pursue cleanup of the Site pursuant to the federal cleanup program, or "Superfund."

In 1983, the Site was placed on the National Priorities List (NPL) for federal cleanup, since the owners had ceased cleanup. In 1987, EPA identified another 10 potentially responsible parties (PRPs), all of which were utility companies. Under the leadership of one PRP company (PSE&G), the PRPs formed a steering committee and signed an agreement with EPA in 1991 on how to investigate the Site. The PRPs conducted an investigation of the property and evaluated different approaches of cleanup. The Site owners declined to join this group.

In 1995, EPA proposed a plan to clean up the Site by removing contaminated soils and collecting PCB-contaminated oil before it can be released into the river. Although favorable comments were received from the general public, EPA addressed 22 volumes of comments submitted on behalf on the Site owners, who argued against any cleanup.

EPA issued its formal decision (Record of Decision, or ROD) on how the Site should be cleaned up in December 1997. In addition, EPA made changes to the ROD by issuing two Explanation of Significant Differences (ESDs) in September and December 2000.

In 1998, EPA issued a unilateral order to 13 PRPs (ten utility companies and the Site owners) to begin design and construction work. The design work required by the order was completed by the utility companies in January 2003. Presently, all building and exterior grounds have been cleared of trash and debris. During the fall of 1999, the Site owners demolished all buildings onsite with the exception of one building.

However, in May 1998, the court lifted the stay on the original lawsuit, and EPA amended its complaint against the Site owners to add a claim to recover its response costs under CERCLA. The trial was phased as follows: Phase One would determine whether defendants were liable and whether response costs were incurred by the Government; Phase Two would determine whether the Government's response costs, if any, were reasonable and recoverable, as well as the scope of any further remedial action; and Phase Three would determine the liability, if any, of the third-party defendants.

On January 21, 2003, in an 84-page opinion in United States v. Union Corporation, et al., Civil Action No. 80-1589, U.S. District Judge James T. Giles ruled on Phase One of the trial that the former and current Site owners – Union Corporation, Metal Bank of America Inc., and former Metal Bank owners and officers Irving Schorsch and John Schorsch – are liable for EPA’s costs related to the cleanup of the Site, located at 7301 Milnor Street in Philadelphia. The trial for Phase II had been set for November 2004. The corporate defendants Union Corporation, Metal Bank of America, Inc., subsequently filed for bankruptcy in May 2003. EPA settled with the corporate defendants in the bankruptcy proceeding in November 2003. The November 2004 trial did not proceed as planned. Instead, the parties entered mediation in early 2004. Three consent decrees have been entered and finalized on March 13, 2006. One of the Consent Decrees require a group of utility companies to implement the remedy at the Site. Under the term and conditions of that Consent Decree, a revised final design that specified the details of the cleanup activites was approved with comments on February 28, 2008. The major components of the cleanup plan include:

1. Excavation of contaminated soils and placement of a soil cap in the northern portion of the site known as the "Courtyard Area" of the Site.
2. Power washing and surface coating Building 7 in the Courtyard Area.
3. Installation of a sheet pile wall along the southwest corner of the Metal Bank property adjacent to the Delaware River.
4. Removal of the underground storage tank at the southwest corner of the Site including the removal of associated PCB contaminated soil with concentrations of PCBs greater than 25 ppm and removal of any oil that is present.
5. Excavation of contaminated soil in several specified "hot spot" areas in the southern portion of the site and off-site disposal of those soils.
6. Excavation of near-shore sediments and capping of other sediments areas in the Delaware River in the immediate vicinity of the property that contain PCBs greater than 1 ppm.
7. Institutional Controls.
8. Long-term monitoring to insure the effectiveness of the remedy.

Construction of the remedy is on-going.

Contacts

Site Contacts

Administrative Record Locations