Geiger (C & M Oil)

• Site Profile
• Administrative Record Index (All PDF): ROD Amend. (1 pp., 34K), ROD Amend. 2 (1 pp., 34K)
• Additional Site Documents including Five Year Reviews, Records of Decisions (ROD) and Explanation of Significant Differences (ESD).
• For documents not available on the website, please contact the Region 4 Freedom of Information Office (http://www.epa.gov/region4/foiapgs/submit.htm).

Site Background:
The Geiger (C & M Oil) site is located in Charleston County, South Carolina, and is an approximately 1.5 acre site. Approximately eight unlined lagoons were used for storage of waste oil, which was later incinerated. The company operated between the years of 1969 to 1974, though the State had ordered the facility to no longer incinerate waste oil in 1971. EPA began collecting samples in 1980 and estimated that the volume of waste on site, in the lagoons, was about 149,600 gallons. This waste consisted of organic and metal contaminants, such as benzo(a)Anthracene, and other similar compounds, PCBs, trichloroethylene, lead, and chromium. Groundwater at the time also was contaminated with organics and metals such as benzene, toluene, 1,1-Dichloroethane, and lead. Nearby residents utilize private wells for potable water. The initial Record of Decision was signed on 06/01/87. It was later amended during the final remedial design to simplify the soil treatment technology to solidification/fixation. The original Record of Decision also required groundwater pump & treat to recover aqueous contamination.

Cleanup Progress: Construction Completed
Currently, no viable potentially responsible parties have been identified. EPA began the remedial design and completed it, through the Corps of Engineers, in March 1993. The remedial action, stabilization/solidification of contaminated soil, began in October 1993 and was completed in April 1994. The Record of Decision (ROD) stated that the groundwater would be remediated utilizing pump and treat. However, subsequent groundwater sampling events since the remedial investigation (RI), have not detected the same contamination that was detected during the RI. Only two monitoring wells out of approximately thirty continues to show lead contamination. Consequently, EPA and SCDHEC re-evaluated the need for a pump and treat system and concluded, in a September 1998 ROD amendment, that monitored natural attenuation of residual groundwater contamination was an acceptable remedy for the site.

EPA, since the signing of the ROD has conducted additional field investigations to better characterize and define the extent of ground water contamination.  As a result of these investigations it was determined that Lead has been the only inorganic COC consistently detected above drinking water standards and in only two of the monitoring wells. Also, the level of lead has been decreasing in one of the two wells (MW – 6S), and is near drinking water standards. The other monitoring well (MW – 2S), which is located in a relatively undeveloped area, has indicated an increase in concentration.

On September 27, 2004 the Science and Ecological Support Division (SESD), with the Environmental Science Assistant Team (ESAT) contractor support traveled to the Geiger site for the purpose of  installing and sampling temporary wells to determine if aquifer contamination exist at the two wells with elevated lead levels. Work also included  abandonment and decommissioning of wells indicating ground water levels below EPA Maximum Contaminant Levels (MCLs). 

Temporary and permanent monitoring wells located between the site and (MW -2S , 6S)  did not show any detection of lead indicating that there is not a definable groundwater plume, but a very localized area of contamination.

With the exception of Monitoring wells (2S and 6S), the well decommissioning plan was successfully implemented with the removal of the remaining 29 wells. The remedy at the site is expected to be or is protective of human health and the environment.  All threats at the site have been addressed through stabilization and capping of the contaminated soil and sediments and there have been no changes in the physical conditions of the site that would affect the protectiveness of the remedy. The remaining two wells will be evaluated to determine if they can be decommissioned. The Third Five Year Review for the Geiger Superfund Site was signed by the EPA on April 22, 2009.