Site history: Chronic releases of hazardous substances began
as early as 1902.
Location: Newport, Delaware.
Trustees:
Case status: On-site restoration in connection with hazardous
waste remediation, injury assessment, a Damage Assessment and Restoration Plan,
and an Environmental Assessment have been completed. A consent decree,
encompassing a final settlement of the natural resource damages attributable to
the site, became effective in February 2007.
Comments on an additional study by DuPont regarding potential impacts to
off-site depositional areas will be provided to assist EPA in determining if
additional study/remedial action is needed.
Overview: The site encompasses an approximately 120-acre
property in Newport Delaware, on the north and south banks of the Christina
River, a tributary to the Delaware River. Site operations included paint
pigment manufacturing (lithopone, titanium dioxide, phthalocyanine, and
quinacridone), production of chromium dioxide, high-purity silicon, and other
organic and inorganic pigments. Chromium dioxide operations at the site ended
in 2000, although pigment manufacturing continues.
Waste from plant operations were disposed of in two areas. The north landfill,
consisting of approximately 8 acres, received process wastes from 1902 to 1974.
The south landfill, an area of approximately 17 acres, was active from around
1902 to 1953. As a result, soil, groundwater, and nearby river and marsh
sediments are primarily contaminated with metals, pigment, and pigment sludge.
The site was placed on the Superfund National Priorities List in 1990. A
remedial investigation and feasibility study were conducted between 1988 and
1992. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Record of Decision for the
selected remedy was released in August 1993. Remedial actions began in 1996 and
were completed in 2002. On-site restoration was completed at the time of the
remedial action.
The Trustees’ natural resource damages claim is compensated by the on-site
restoration activities completed by DuPont and by additional off-site
restoration completed on the Mispillion River at what is known as the Pike
Property. The February 2007 consent
decree settlement, valued at $1.6 million, provided for an
environmental covenant to protect a 56-acre property, and funded activities at
the Pike site to restore natural resources and services equivalent to those
injured or lost at the Newport site. The consent decree also provides for the
trustees’ damage assessment costs. The Restoration included a shoreline
stabilization project that protects a 56 acre marsh on an old oxbow channel.
The Oxbow channel itself was dredged to allow greater fish passage and two
pools were created in the interior marsh to benefit resident spawning fish.
