Nease Chemical

Site Information

Salem , OH (Mahoning County)
EPA ID# OHD980610018
NPL Site Narrative
NPL Factsheet
Superfund Site Progress Profile
Alias(es): Ruetgers Nease Chemical Company/Salem Plant

Contact Information

Community Involvement Coordinator
Susan Pastor (pastor.susan@epa.gov)
312-353-1325 or 800-621-8431, ext. 31325

Remedial Project Manager
Dion Novak (novak.dion@epa.gov)
312-886-4737 or 800-621-8431, ext. 64737

Repositories

(where to view written records)

Lepper Library
303 E. Lincoln Way
Lisbon, Ohio

Salem Public Library
821 E. State. St.
Salem, Ohio

Links

EPA Superfund Home Page
Region 5 Superfund

Agency for Toxic Substances & Disease Registry

Background

The Nease Chemical Superfund site consists of 44 acres along state Route 14 two and a half miles northwest of Salem on the Columbiana-Mahoning county line.

Between 1961 and 1973, Nease Chemical produced various household cleaning compounds, fire retardants and pesticides—some of which included an uncommon chemical called mirex. The company used unlined ponds to treat waste from its manufacturing process. Hazardous substances seeped into the soil and ground water from these ponds as well as from buried drums that eventually leaked. (more...)

Technical Assistance Grant (TAG) and Community Advisory Group (CAG) are two ways the community can get involved. Learn more about CAGs and TAGs

Site Updates | Latest Update | News Releases | Fact Sheets || Technical Documents || Legal Agreements || Public Meetings

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Site Updates

Latest Update - April 2010

Middle Fork of Little Beaver Creek

EPA signed a document in 2008 called a Record of Decision (PDF) (139pp, 12MB)which details the cleanup for soil and sediment (mud) in the creek. EPA is working with Rutgers to ensure that plans are developed and the creeks are cleaned up. Before the cleanup can start, sediment and soil will be sampled this summer. Workers will be along the shore and in the creek using hand-held devices to collect the soil and creek sediment. The cleanup will be designed in 2011 using this year’s sampling results.

The cleanup scheduled to begin in 2012 will entail:

Removal of the most contaminated sediment in the Middle Fork of Little Beaver Creek.
Removal of Feeder Creek sediment.
Removal of the most contaminated floodplain surface soil.
Disposal of soil and sediment at the old Nease plant, where it will be covered with clean soil.

When the sediment is moved to the Nease site, it will be dried out and placed with contaminated soil from Nease. It will be covered with clean soil and monitored to ensure that it doesn't move or leak. Contaminated soil currently on the Nease property will be handled in a similar way, according to a 2005 cleanup decision (Record of Decision for Operable Unit 2 (PDF) (144pp, 10.5MB)). Dealing with environmental matters (such as contaminated soil and sediment) locally is a more responsible approach than sending it someplace else where it becomes another community's problem.

New samples of fish, sediment (mud) and water were taken from the creek in late 2005 and from fish tissue in 2005 and 2009. Floodplains were sampled in 2006. This information was used to develop the 2008 cleanup decision. Fish tissue samples will be taken again this year. The results will be used to help design a long-term monitoring strategy.

On the legal side, an agreement called a consent order (Administrative Settlement Agreement and Order on Consent for Remedial Design, June 30, 2009(PDF)(48pp, 3.4MB) June 30, 2009) was signed in 2009 so site owner Rutgers Organics Corp. could take this year’s creek samples and engineer its cleanup. Another legal agreement, called a consent decree, will complete negotiations with the company. While the 2009 agreement only required Rutgers to design the cleanup, this consent decree will cover the actual cleanup. Consent decrees require the U.S. Department of Justice to act on EPA’s behalf. We expect the consent decree to be negotiated later this year and then “lodged” in federal court early next year. At that time, DOJ will announce a public comment period in the Federal Register because all comments must be sent to DOJ. Later in 2011, DOJ will review and respond to the comments before “entering” the consent decree in federal court where it will be deemed “final.” The final document will be available on this Web page and at the public libraries in Salem and Lisbon.

Nease Property

Site owner Rutgers Organics Corp. started a $19 million cleanup on the Nease property in 2006. Treatment with "nanoscale zero-valent iron," or NZVI, began in one of the most contaminated spots in the ground water. NZVI is an innovative technology that injects microscopic particles of specially treated iron into the ground water. These tiny particles will chemically clean deep ground water. This innovative technology will allow the particles to flow with the ground water while cleaning the underground aquifer as they reach into the smallest cracks in the bedrock under the site. In 2007, Rutgers removed heavy contaminated liquids from the ground water that had sunk to the bottom of the aquifer. The company also provided treatment systems to some nearby homes to prevent potentially harmful vapors from entering the basements.

Pilot testing for ground-water treatment was done in 2008. This will provide information for the ground water extraction and treatment system design required by the 2005 Record of Decision. Additional soil sampling was also done to help to further define where the location of the soil contamination. A report on this work will be available later this year.

The rest of the site will be cleaned up using a combination of methods. Areas know as Ponds 1 and 2 will be cleaned up with a device that has rotating metal blades that will be sunk beneath the surface of the ponds to churn up chemicals and bring them to the surface to be captured, treated and disposed of before they can evaporate into the air. When most of the contamination is removed, the device will be used to mix a cement-like substance into the ground to prevent any remaining contamination from spreading.

Other ponds, as well as soil, will be covered with thick plastic sheets and a layer of clean soil. The cover will prevent rain from soaking through and further spreading contamination. Other areas will be covered with only clean soil.

A trench will be installed on the eastern and southern sides of the site to collect shallow ground water, pump it above ground and treat it to remove contamination.

Based on what was learned from the pilot tests and sampling over the past two years, EPA plans to modify its 2005 cleanup decision. The changes will be outlined in a document called an explanation of significant differences. We will provide details on the changes as they become available. When completed, the document will be available on this Web page and at the public libraries in Salem and Lisbon.

Plans to design this portion of the cleanup began in 2006 after a legal agreement called a consent order (Administrative Settlement Agreement and Order on Consent for Remedial Design (PDF) (55pp, 2.9MB) May 2006) was signed by Rutgers and EPA. Under this agreement, the company has been doing the design and paying for it according to a work plan which EPA and Ohio EPA are overseeing.

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