Period Covered:	Planned Activities	Expected Off-Site Impact
December 19, 2008 to December 25, 2008	·         Place topsoil in and stabilize areas T and U.                 ·         Excavation and backfill of Areas M and J (front parking lot near guard trailer).           ·         Continue grinding tree stumps on-site.  The wood chips are then being used for stabilization purposes on the Site.      ·         Backfilling of the final secondary fissure located in the North Woods area        ·         Stabilization (erosion control material and straw placement) of excavated areas in the North Woods.     ·         Stabilization (straw and wood chip placement) of all disturbed areas on-site.     ·         Contaminated material in the Containment (cap) Area will be covered with clean soils.	·         This work will be very visible to the community and close to residential areas, so residents will see the equipment and hear the back up alarms and the sound of the equipment running.          ·         This work will be very visible to the community and close to residential areas, so residents will see the equipment and hear the back up alarms and the sound of the equipment running.       ·         Residents may hear the sound of the grinding machine.  This activity is noisy.       ·         Residents may see the equipment and hear the back up alarms and the sound of the equipment running.       ·         Residents may see the equipment and hear the back up alarms and the sound of the equipment running.       ·         Residents may see the equipment and hear the back up alarms and the sound of the equipment running.     ·         Residents may see the equipment and hear the back up alarms and the sound of the equipment running.

Construction Information

Here is some basic information that may answer some of your important questions on how construction will affect those of you living near the Marjol Site:
 

1) When will construction start and when will it end?  

The construction work began on May 12, 2008 and is expected to take until November 2009 to complete.
 
2) What about the traffic and the noise?

All reasonable effort is being made to keep the traffic on Throop Borough roads to a minimum; however as with any construction site, there will be trucks, workers' vehicles and the noise of the equipment on-site.  When we expect a period of high construction activity, with more than the usual amount of trucks and noise, we will tell people the expected dates on this page.

3) What will the working hours be?

Working hours will be from 7 AM to 5 PM Monday through Friday (with the possibility of working until 7 pm when needed) and on Saturday, when necessary. These days and times are consistent with Throop Borough ordinances.

Incident Report - Discharge of Muddy Water Into Sulphur Creek - July 28, 2008

On July 28, 2008, muddy water was discharged from the Marjol site into Sulphur Creek. The discharge lasted for about a half hour to forty minutes and was in violation of site procedures. Fortunately, the water that was discharged, although muddy, was from the new basin which is only collecting water from areas of the Site that are not contaminated. AGC collected two sediment samples at the location where the basin water discharges into Sulphur Creek. The two samples had lead readings that were below the detection limit of the instrument so there is no evidence of a release of lead-contaminated sediment into the river. A sample was taken in the river for confirmation following the protocols in the design but the results of the lead analysis have not been received yet. Throop Borough also tested the sediments in Sulphur Creek but those results aren’t available yet either.

Even though the discharge was from clean areas, the incident should not have occurred, and Throop Borough should have been contacted sooner. These are both significant errors that called for reconsideration of site procedures.

Gould voluntarily shut down construction operations at the Site on Wednesday, July 30, 2008, in order that the incident which occurred could be properly addressed. A meeting was held on Thursday, July 31, 2008, to discuss the incident and develop a set of procedures such that this type of incident does not happen again in the future. Representatives from Gould, AGC, SCE, PADEP, USEPA, Throop Borough, Representative Frank Andrews Shimkus, and members of the press were in attendance at the meeting.

At the meeting, AGC reviewed the measures that Gould, AGC and SCE proposed to prevent any such incident from happening again.
 

●    Directives to stop an activity will be given visually as well as orally using a handwritten “STOP”, flag or pre-determined signal.

●    Daily operational meetings will be held to discuss the next day’s work and develop contingency plans in the event that something unexpected happens.  

●    If an established procedure is modified, then a test run will be conducted to ensure that the modified procedure will accomplish the objectives.

Changes were made on SCE’s on-site personnel as well to improve internal communications and communications with AGC. Changes were also made in AGC staffing and procedures at the site to emphasize the need to inform Borough officials immediately of any unexpected event of possible public concern.

Both USEPA and PADEP stated that they did not have a problem with work resuming on Friday, August 1, 2008. PADEP required that a detailed report on the incident be provided to it, and they are conducting their own investigation. (Click here to review the NPDES non-compliance report on the incident.) Throop Borough has been provided a copy of the report. 

(Click the dates below to read the recent articles and an editorial from the Scranton Times.)

                                            -    Article, July 30, 2008

                                            -    Article, July 31, 2008

                                            -    Article, August 1, 2008

                                            -    Editorial, August 1, 2008

 

Incident Report - Communications Lapse and Above-Standard Dust Readings - August 4, 2008

On Monday, August 4, 2008, a communications lapse occurred when the contractor (SCE) did not notify AGC that excavation of topsoil over battery casings would occur. This excavation was performed to allow SCE to pump water from the existing basin as allowed in the 100% Design. Even though the action is something that is allowed, AGC needed to have air monitors set up prior to movement of contaminated soils, so that the effectiveness of the dust control measures could be monitored. The delay was very brief because AGC people onsite saw the excavation and set up the monitors within minutes. Nonetheless, this was the second communications lapse within a week, and shows that further work is still needed on site communications.

In the daily operations meeting later on Monday (as well as in earlier discussions after the excavation occurred), the importance of communicating these types of changes in site activities was stressed.

When the air monitors were set up, the excavation was already completed and the pumping of water was taking place. The air monitors recorded particulate matter (e.g., dust) slightly in excess of the relevant performance standard for excavation of battery casing material contained in the 100% Design. It was determined that no corrective action was necessary based on several factors:

· The above-standard readings were observed prior to when the instrument was fully stabilized, so they may not be representative of the actual conditions at the time.

· There was no visible dust.

· The excavation had occurred through wet soils, decreasing the chance of dust being released.

· The readings upwind of the excavation were also slightly elevated.

Review of the data at the end of the day indicated that there were some half hour averages that were above the standard that were measured when there was no excavation taking place, only pumping of water. The performance standard for when battery casings are excavated is extremely low. As in this case, the performance standard can sometimes be below the level of dust in upwind samples – that is, dust having nothing to do with site activities. So a brief reading that is over this standard is neither unexpected nor alarming and may not warrant a change in how work is being performed. It is a measure of the extreme care that will be taken when excavating these materials. We are continuing to review the standards as well as the equipment used to measure them and evaluating how the work is being performed in order to complete the excavations in a safe manner.

Throop Borough was notified of both the communications lapse and the above-standard dust readings.