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A Series of Firsts
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Emergency Cleanup by New Superfund Program Bullitt County, Kentucky (1981) -- EPA responded under its newly established Superfund Program, to a waste disposal site discharging pollutants into a tributary of the Ohio River. After inspecting the site formerly owned by A.L. Taylor, EPA discovered that ground water, surface water, and soils were polluted with heavy metals, volatile organic compounds, and plastics from spills and approximately 4,000 deteriorating and leaking waste drums which had accumulated over a 10-year period. With an expenditure of $400,000 from the Superfund, EPA responded on behalf of approximately 100 residents, who lived within a one-mile radius of the site and were at risk of exposure. Through response actions and voluntary removal of wastes by known generators, the drums were removed and an interceptor trench installed, halting runoff into a nearby creek. In 1983, EPA added the Valley of the Drums to a newly-established list of sites needing priority attention. In 1987, EPA began a long-term cleanup, including installation of a clay cap, a perimeter drainage treatment system, and monitoring wells. Operation and maintenance of the remedy was turned over to the Kentucky Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Protection. In 1996, EPA removed the site from its priority list. |
Congress passed a Superfund statute, but it was up to EPA to create a Superfund program.
Because of national media attention on the problems at Love Canal, the Valley of the Drums, and other high profile sites, immediate and effective action was expected of EPA. Drums had to be collected and removed. Fires extinguished. Leaks from tanks and waste ponds stopped.
But responding to spills was not enough. EPA needed to clean up sites so they would continue to be safe in the future.
In order to make the Superfund program effective for the long-term, a large investment of resources was needed. EPA had to create a regulatory framework to carry out the mandate of Congress. This had to be done even though EPA faced a series of unknowns. The health effects of chemicals needed to be researched. Technologies had to be created to safely treat, store, and dispose of wastes. There was a general lack of data about specific sites -- coupled with a fledgling scientific understanding of waste migration. There also was a shortage of trained personnel, such as engineers, to address these problems.
Nothing like Superfund had ever existed before. Over time, a strong and effective program evolved to protect human health and the environment from the dangers of hazardous wastes.
