The former Exide Technologies battery factories in Muhlenberg Township and Laureldale closed in 2013, but teams of workers remain within its walls.
their job?
To remove toxic lead, acids and other harmful chemicals from the plant that may endanger the health of nearby residents.
They are the waste removal team employed by the Environmental Protection Agency and have been onsite since the EPA began its urgent cleanup effort last year.
That operation is still underway, and EPA officials recently provided an update on the Exide plant’s efforts during a presentation attended by a small number of local residents and officials in the Muhlenberg High School auditorium.
The 40-acre lead-acid battery manufacturing and recycling site at 3000 Montrose Avenue began operations in the mid-1930s and was acquired by Exide in 1987.
The factory ceased battery production in 2010 and its lead recycling business in 2013. Nearby facilities he continued to recycle plastic through September 2020.
Exide dissolved after a bankruptcy settlement in October 2020, and the Laureldale plant was acquired by a trust fund on behalf of the EPA.
The Foundation received $2.5 million from the settlement to clean up sites found to contain large amounts of hazardous waste.
But that funding is not enough to cover immediate environmental threat removal and control at the site, which the EPA estimates will cost $15 million.
To address these threats, in March 2021, the EPA began waste removal work through the agency’s Superfund program.
According to the EPA, environmental contaminants are isolated within the facility and include high levels of lead in dust and degraded equipment throughout the building, on-site soil and drainage areas, and in sulfuric acid and acid water in the building’s plumbing. I’m here. Storage location.
If the site’s water treatment facility fails, or if a strong storm damages the site’s structures in poor condition, the threat is to Bernhardt Park, local tributaries, and residential areas within a quarter mile of the facility. It could spread, EPA officials said.
“Our concern is another Hurricane Andrew-like catastrophe,” said Khai Dao, the EPA corrective action project manager who oversaw the Exide plant site before Superfund was involved. There is lead dispersion. ”
Initiatives of Super Fund
Dao said the Superfund’s efforts are aimed at ensuring that toxic waste from the facility does not harm communities in the event of a weather disaster.
To do so, EPA workers set up a containment area around a portion of the facility, then vacuum harmful dust and debris, rinse and decontaminate structures, equipment, and pipes, and rinse. The wash water and vacuumed material is removed for processing, said the scene coordinator at the EPA on- Exide factory.
Since Superfund took over last year, EPA workers have removed lead dust from all of the site’s 15 bag houses, disposed of 63 1/2 tons of contaminated filters, and collected 240 gallons of acid from drains. did, Guzzetti said.
Current efforts include cleaning the site’s smelter and battery shredder areas, operating the site’s wastewater and stormwater treatment systems, and preventing the release of lead-contaminated water.
To ensure that community health is not impacted by the removal of lead dust, the EPA has placed air quality monitors around the site to keep airborne lead out of the area, Guzzetti said. Stated.
He said lead had not yet been detected in the air around the site.
Guzetti said decontamination is likely to last several months, but the EPA is considering including the site on its priority list of the most polluted sites in the nation, which would increase the level of urgency. Enables long-term efforts to manage low threats.
To become a priority site, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention or the Pennsylvania Department of Health must also conduct a public health assessment around the site, said Karl Markewicz, senior toxicologist at the CDC.
Another option is to sell the site to a commercial or industrial developer responsible for future containment efforts.
In February, Phoenix Investors, an industrial real estate firm in Madison, Wisconsin, expressed interest in purchasing the former Exide property and possibly redeveloping it into a distribution center with light industry.
The purchase has not been finalized, according to the EPA.
Dao said no residential development will be allowed on the site.
Neighborhoods surveyed for pollutants
Several residents commented.
A resident, who requested anonymity, said he was concerned about lead levels in the recently drained Lake Bernhard near the facility.
Dao said the EPA tested lead levels in currently exposed lakebeds and found them to be within safe limits at about 400 milligrams of lead per kilogram.
He said hazardous lead levels in recreational or residential areas were determined to be over 650 milligrams per kilogram.
Reverend Evelyn Morrison, a Reading resident and environmental safety advocate, asked whether lead contamination had affected off-site soil and groundwater.
As part of previous restoration work, 600 residential areas around the Exide site were extensively tested for soil and lead levels in 2001 and 2002, Dao said.
225 facilities were found to have elevated lead levels, and Exide worked with contractors to remove contaminated soil from residential areas. The work was completed in 2009.
Elevated lead levels were also found in the Bernhardt Park area, the Sacred Heart Convent grounds, and the Rosedale Grove Campground. Cleanups of these areas were completed in 2010, 2018 and 2019 respectively.
Dao also noted that the EPA tested the groundwater and found lead levels in wells around the site were within the range the state allows for potable water.
Additionally, an off-site evaluation found that the soil in the area was neutral, preventing lead from migrating into the groundwater, and that lead concentrations in the groundwater around residential areas were within safe levels.
“Drinking water is not a concern for the public,” Dao said. “We’ve done some testing and haven’t seen any significant[groundwater contamination]except in an isolated area of the Exide site.”
Dao also said part of the EPA’s previous testing involved collecting blood samples from 48 children aged 7 and under in the Exide site area.
“Two children were above (toxic lead levels),” Dao said of the test results. “And one was a visitor.”
Burks requested new research
Not featured in Wednesday’s EPA presentation was a 2020 letter from the Berks County Commissioner requesting a new risk assessment in light of recent science.
In a letter, the county’s environmental consultants argued that plans to improve lead levels were based on science and evaluations conducted decades ago and needed new evaluations.
The letter claimed that measurements of lead in children’s blood taken in the early 2000s were inadequate. Because the CDC has since lowered its standards for harmful blood lead levels, the standards for allowable levels of lead in Exide and its surrounding lands have been reworked based on updated CDC standards.
Berks County Planning Commission Executive Director David Hunter told EPA officials at the meeting, “If you would take the time to look at that letter, some of the responses to our survey in the letter will be addressed tonight. I don’t think so.
Alex Mandell, EPA Community Engagement Coordinator, said the EPA will consider the letter.
According to the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration, lead enters the body primarily through inhalation and ingestion, and not readily through the skin.
Markiewicz noted that lead can remain in the soil for centuries.
“It all depends on the type of soil, the amount of rainfall, whether there is flooding,” says Markiewicz.
