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Southern Maryland Wood Treating
Equipment Testing Successful!
On June 14, 1998, contractors completed testing on the thermal desorption units (TDUs) at the Southern Maryland Wood Treating Superfund Site. This work, called Proof-of-Performance (PoP) testing, involved processing contaminated soil through the two different types of TDUs at the site. The PoP testing was conducted to ensure that the units effectively remove and capture contaminants from the soil. Three tests were performed on both a batch TDU and a continuous TDU. During cleanup activities, the batch TDUs will treat wetter, more contaminated soil and the continuous TDUs will treat drier, less contaminated soil excavated from the site.
As part of the PoP testing, workers sampled untreated and treated soil, as well as the air and water generated from the treatment process. Sampling results indicate that the TDUs met EPA's cleanup levels for soil, and the air emissions were within the State of Maryland's air standards. Water collected from the thermal desorption process and treated in the onsite water treatment facility meets all State discharge standards except the standard for ammonia. The treated water is currently being recycled for use in the TDU's soil treatment process. No water from the water treatment facility will be discharged to the onsite stream until the ammonia issue is resolved. EPA anticipates placing a draft copy of the PoP Results Report in the site repository at the St. Mary's County Library by the end of September 1998. (See page 2 for the repository address.)
Cleanup Progress and Schedule
Contractors have operated all four TDUs at the site periodically since the
PoP tests were completed. During this time, some minor modifications were
made to the continuous TDUs to allow them to operate more efficiently. Currently,
all four units are operating on a routine basis and will continue to do so
until all contaminated soil has been treated. To date, approximately 10,000
tons of contaminated soil have been excavated from Pit 1 and treated in the
TDUs. (See site diagram below.) 
After treatment in the TDUs, the soil is stockpiled on-site and sampled. In addition, the excavated areas are sampled to ensure that no contaminated soil remains. When samples analyses verify that all contaminated soil has been removed, workers will backfill the excavated areas with the treated (clean) soil. Workers began backfilling operations at Pit 1 during the week of August 24, 1998. EPA expects that all soil treatment will be complete by the end of Summer 1999. EPA, the Maryland Department of the Environment and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) will continue to oversee all cleanup work at the site to ensure that cleanup levels and safety standards are achieved.
Contacting the Cleanup Team
If you have any questions regarding cleanup work at the Southern Maryland Wood Treating Site, you may contact one of the project officials listed below. USACE maintains a full-time presence at the site and oversees all day-to-day operations. If you call EPA's (800) number, please indicate that you are calling about the Southern Maryland Wood Treating Site. EPA will continue to produce regular community update fact sheets as work at the site progresses.
Carrie Deitzel (3HS43)
EPA Community Involvement Coordinator
(800) 553-2509 or (215) 814-5525
deitzel.carrie@epa.gov
Remedial Project Manager
Eric Newman
(215) 814-3237
newman.eric@epa.gov
Eric Brandt
USACE Project Manager
(301) 373-5471
EPA Has Moved! This summer, EPA moved the Region III offices to a new
location.
U.S. EPA Region III
1650 Arch Street
Philadelphia, PA 19103-2029
Site Information Files
EPA's local information repository contains all site-related documents and is available for public review during normal business hours at the location below.
St. Mary's County
Memorial Library
23250 Hollywood Road
Leonardtown, MD 20650
(301) 475-2846