This film was one of several created by the EPA in the early 1980s to show the problem of abandoned hazardous waste sites and the work of the newly created (December 1980) Superfund program to investigate and cleanup these sites. The site highlighted in this film was the Sand, Gravel and Stone Site, a former sand and gravel quarry, in Elkton in Cecil County, Maryland,. From the late 1960s to the mid-1970s, the Site was used for industrial waste disposal. The Site accepted distillation wastes from a local solvent recycler. The waste dumping prompted citizens to make complaints of bad odors, which eventually lead to a Site investigation by state officials and the end of disposal activities. Early studies showed that shallow groundwater was heavily contaminated with a variety of organic chemicals. The contaminants include benzene, chlorobenzene and vinyl chloride. All local residents relied on groundwater as a drinking water source. Two hundred thousand gallons of liquid waste were removed from the Site in 1974. These wastes were disposed of at the Kin Buc Landfill in Edison, New Jersey. Drums and sludge that remained after this work in 1974 were buried on-site in excavated pits. In May 1982, the EPA found contamination of surface water as well as localized contamination of ground water at the site. The Site’s interim remedies, selected after this film was made in 1985 and 1990, included placement of a fence around the Site, excavation and off-site disposal of buried drums, installation of a groundwater extraction and treatment system, and provision of an alternate water supply to affected residents. The final long-term remedy for the Site, selected in 2002, included excavation of contaminated soil, on-site treatment of excavated soil using low-temperature thermal desorption, backfilling of treated soil, and expansion and continued operation of the groundwater extraction and treatment system. It also calls for addition of natural substances to soil and groundwater to help break down hazardous substances. For more on this site and it cleanup under the Superfund Program, go to the site homepage at [ Ссылка ] . The need to better protect cleanup workers at sites like these and during emergency responses led to the promulgation of OSHA’s Hazardous Waste Operations and Emergency Response (Hazwoper) standard in 1ate 1986 ([ Ссылка ] ) and the creation of the NIEHS Worker trainer Program in 1988 ([ Ссылка ] ). This film, Toxic Waste Discovered in Cecil County, Maryland 1982, is from the US National Archive film collection in College Park, Maryland. Another film in this EPA series on the cleanup of abandoned hazardous waste sites, Denny Farm Hazardous Waste Site Cleanup 1980 US EPA, is posted to my YouTube channel.

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