Mid-Atlantic Corrective Action

Kimberly Clark Pennsylvania LLC

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• Status
• Background
• Contaminants and Risks
• Institutional Controls
• Documents and Reports
• Photos, Maps and Diagrams
• Reuse Information
• Questions

EPA ID: PAD002274991
Location:
Front St & Ave of the State
Chester, PA 19013
Property Area: 74 Acres
Congressional District:
Other Names:
LAST UPDATE: October 2012

Contacts

Bulletin Board

Status

On October 21, 2010, an Environmental Indicator meeting was held at the Facility. Based upon the existing data, it is concluded more information is needed to make determinations for both indicators -- the Current Human Exposure and Migration of Contaminated Groundwater -- at the site. Also, Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (PADEP) determined that more information is needed to determine whether the Subsurface Vapor Intrusion to Indoor Air Pathway is complete.

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Background

The facility is situated between State Route 291 and the Delaware River at the intersection of
Front Street and Avenue of the States in Chester, Pennsylvania.  The facility’s operating area consists of 74 acres that has a variety of buildings including process areas, plant offices, and final product storage and distribution warehouses, as well as a raw water filter plant, a cogeneration plant (power plant), and an outdoor coal pile storage and handling area. The majority of the operating area is covered with impermeable surfaces (i.e., buildings and asphalt-paved or concrete roads/parking lots); however, there are relatively small localized gravel areas throughout the property. These areas are located directly north of the mill building (Mill Area UST Removal Area), in the vicinity of the raw water filter plant (No. 2 Fuel Oil Area), and along the banks of the Delaware River. In the coal handling and storage area (Penn Steel Area), the western half of the surface consists of asphalt paving. The eastern half of the property is compacted gravel and coal, and the coal storage and handling structures. Topography at the site slopes gently toward the Delaware River with approximately six to 10 feet of relief from Front Street to the Delaware River. Access to the property is limited. A chain link fence surrounds the entire property. The
facility is secured by a 24-hour guard service.
 
The area is an “enterprise zone” designated by the City of Chester planning commission.

Kimberly-Clark operates a non-integrated paper mill along the Delaware River in Chester,
Pennsylvania, converting pulp into sanitary paper products such as tissues, towels, and napkins.
Raw paper fiber is received at the facility via rail car or truck where paper machines press,
decorate, and process these products.

The facility obtains its process water directly from the Delaware River via its raw water intake.
The raw water is piped from the intake, through the wet well and into the raw water filter plant,
where it is treated in three of four clarifiers. The raw river water is mixed with a polymer. The
mixture is then gravity settled in sand filters. Clean water is then held in the mill water silo prior to use.

The facility currently operates as a small quantity generator (SQG), generating minor quantities
of solvents and paint related wastes (brushes, rollers, empty paint cans, etc.). The facility also
generates nonhazardous wastes including oil from machine maintenance, waste water-based
polymers (glue), fluorescent/sodium vapor light bulbs and ballasts, baghouse wastes, wood
wastes, refractory brick, and ash. The facility routinely submits biennial residual waste reports
identifying these nonhazardous waste streams.

The facility operates a permit-by-rule (PBR) wastewater elementary neutralization system that
treats spent sulfuric acid and sodium hydroxide from the demineralizer bed regeneration process
in the raw water filter plant. The demineralizer system treats mill supply water (raw water drawn
from the Delaware River and/or city water) prior to use as boiler feed water. Treated wastewater (including water removed from the clarifiers during cleaning) generated at the facility is
discharged into the Delaware County Regional Water Quality Control Authority (DELCORA)
system under permit.

There have been major investigations and remedial activities completed at three areas of the
facility: (1) the No. 2 Fuel Oil Area located within the mill area, (2) the Mill Area UST Removal
Area, and (3) the Penn Steel Area. Contaminated soil and groundwater were identified in each of
the three areas.

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