Investigation and Design
Diamond Match Company Superfund Site, Chico, California
 VESTRA staff were responsible for conducting the preliminary investigation, Remedial Investigation/Feasibility Study, endangerment assessment, remedial design, construction inspection, and ongoing monitoring for this state-led Superfund site. The Diamond Match Company operated a large milling and match manufacturing facility in southwest Chico. In July 1991, the California Department of Toxic Substances Control issued an Imminent and Substantial Endangerment Determination and Order for the site. The facility was deemed a State Superfund Site due to pentachlorophenol contamination in soils and groundwater. VESTRA staff were responsible for completing emergency removal actions at eight locations, involving excavation and transporation of more than 10,000 cubic yards of contaminated soil to a Class I landfill facility. Staff members argued successfully that the contaminated soil was exempt from Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) site, thereby allowing it to be disposed of as a California Hazardous Waste and not as an RCRA Hazardous Waste, resulting in considerable savings to Louisiana-Pacific (LP). VESTRA staff also completed a feasibility study that addressed pentachlorophenol and arsenic contamination in onsite railroad ballast. Staff successfully argued that the site was not a source of volatile organic compound contamination associated with a separate plume in the vicinity of the site. The feasibility study included abandonment of a number of onsite monitoring wells to reduce future cost. VESTRA staff members provided expert witness testimony and legal support on behalf of LP during CERCLA cost recovery litigation.Following a lengthy trial in Federal District Court, a favorable settlement was negotiated. In addition to the emergency removal action, remedial action at the site included abandonment of four industrial supply wells, removal of more than 40,000 cubic yards of arsenic-contaminated soil, placement of the soil in a capped cell onsite, a groundwater pump and treatment system for two separate aquifers that used carbon filtration to remove pentachlorophenol, followed by an innovative onsite recharge system for clean groundwater. VESTRA staff provided construction inspection for the movement of the soil and installation of the groundwater extraction system.  |
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