Hazardous Waste Cleanup: Sunoco Incorporated - R&M Eagle Point Refinery in Westville, New Jersey
On this page:
- Cleanup Status
- Site Description
- Contaminants at this Facility
- Site Responsibility
Cleanup Status
Formerly known Coastal Eagle Point Oil Company has done the following cleanup at the site:
- Installed trenches to recover contaminated groundwater, which is then sent to the facility's wastewater treatment plant.
- Installed a "microbial fence," which is a gravel-filled trench into which oxygen is introduced to promote bio-remediation of dissolved organic contaminants in the underground tank area.
- Installed a phased recovery system in which contaminated groundwater is extracted, recovered and treated to address underground pipe leaks.
- Removed petroleum products that had leaked from a number of locations.
- Capped the landfarm, which received hazardous waste, so that rainwater will not seep into it and contaminate the groundwater.
- Installed soil vapor extraction for soil remediation of hydrocarbons at several contaminated areas.
- Conducted bio-remediation efforts of the landfarm, a Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) regulated unit used to treat waste.
The company must further delineate the contamination at each area of concern, develop cleanup strategies and a long-term groundwater monitoring program and implement them. The land use and groundwater use at the site and surrounding area will be restricted where contamination exceeds residential standards.
Site Description
Sunoco, Inc. - R&M Eagle Point Refinery is located on Route 295 & 130 in Westville, West Deptford Township, New Jersey. The site is a 1,000-acre oil refinery on the Delaware River, 550 acres of which is an active production area. The property was once a tomato-processing factory, but became a U.S. Army munitions depot during World Wars I and II. Texaco acquired the property from the U.S. government in 1948 and began petroleum refining operations there in 1949. Coastal Oil purchased the refinery in May 1985. In January 2004 Sunoco, Inc. (R&M) purchased the refinery. However, in February 2010 Sunoco announced the permanent shutdown of the Eagle Point Refinery.
EPA and New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (NJDEP) permits, issued in 1992, impose cleanup requirements on Coastal Eagle Point Oil Company.
Contaminants at this Facility
The environmental threats at the site include soil and groundwater that are contaminated with metals (arsenic, lead, and chromium) and organics (petroleum hydrocarbons, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, benzene, xylene and toluene) associated with petroleum refining.
The main sources responsible for the contamination include the landfill, gasoline storage tanks, unlined disposal areas, roll-off storage area, drum storage area, underground product line leaks, lagoon area, tank-farm drainage, four unlined trenches that received petroleum residues, and the landfarm, which received hazardous waste and is subject to Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) closure requirements. A landfarm, or land-treatment unit is an area where waste is incorporated into the surface soil in a controlled manner for the purpose of biological treatment.
Site Responsibility at this Facility
Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) Corrective Action activities at this facility have been conducted under the direction of EPA Region 2.