Imperial Oil Company/Champion Chemicals
Morganville, New Jersey

Site Description

TThe 15-acre Imperial Oil Co./Champion Chemicals site consists of six production, storage, and maintenance buildings and 56 above-ground storage tanks. Imperial Oil Co. blends oil on the site, which is leased from Champion Chemicals. Several companies have operated at the site in the past. One, which reprocessed waste oil, may have discharged wastes to a nearby stream; another company produced arsenical pesticides. The site formerly contained a waste pile contaminated with polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs). The process area is surrounded by a fence. Surrounding the site are many areas that could be critically affected by the contaminants in the soil and water, including wetlands, wooded areas, streams, ponds and lakes. The soil at the site is contaminated with volatile organic compounds (VOCs), PCBs, metals, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), petroleum hydrocarbons, and phthalates, a plastics by-product. Off-site sediments were contaminated with arsenic, lead, phthalates, and PCBs. The surface soil is contaminated with heavy metals including chromium, lead, and arsenic, and PCBs. Surface water contained arsenic.

Current Site Status and Cleanup Actions to Date

• In 1991, EPA excavated (PDF) (2 pp, 530 K) and disposed of approximately 660 cubic yards of PCB-contaminated material from a waste filter clay pile located on-site. The contaminated soil beneath the former pile is covered with an impermeable material to prevent the infiltration of water and to prevent human contact.
• EPA installed extraction wells and an oil/water treatment system to remove the floating oil layer from the ground water. The New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (NJDEP) is currently using these wells to continue the removal of floating oil. To date, NJDEP has removed over 20,000 gallons of PCB-contaminated oil.
• In 1998, EPA excavated and disposed of 6,488 cubic yards of contaminated soil (roughly equivalent to 1 football field, covered 1 yard deep) from four nearby residences.
• NJDEP completed a study determining the full nature and extent of the contamination. The cleanup plan calls for the excavation and off-site disposal of contaminated soil and removal and off-site incineration (PDF) (2 pp, 521 K) of floating product; dismantling buildings and tank farms needed to complete the soil excavation; and restoring wetlands.
• In 2004, NJDEP excavated and disposed of 14,889 cubic yards of contaminated soil and sediment from the Birch Swamp Brook and adjacent properties.

Current Funding Status

• To date, EPA has obligated approximately $26.6 million to the site.

For more information on the projects at this site, please read the Imperial Oil Company/Champion Chemicals Fact Sheet (PDF) (3 pp, 35 K) on the Region 2 Superfund Web site.