This Toyota Tacoma pickup was captured on surveillance camera entering the Polly Drummond Hill Road Yard Waste Site in Newark twice Sunday evening and illegally dumping material other than yard waste. DNREC’s Environmental Crimes Unit is seeking information about the identity of the truck’s driver. /DNREC photo.

NEWARK (July 31, 2019) – Natural Resources Police Officers with DNREC’s Environmental Crimes Unit are seeking the public’s help in identifying the driver of the red Toyota Tacoma pickup truck pictured above who was twice seen on surveillance cameras Sunday, July 28 illegally dumping solid waste at DNREC’s Polly Drummond Hill Road Yard Waste Site in Newark.

The Polly Drummond Hill Road Yard Waste Site, which is open from 8 a.m. to sunset Saturdays and Sundays, does not accept any materials other than yard waste. Yard waste is defined as plant material that comes from lawn maintenance and other gardening and landscaping activities. This includes grass clippings, leaves, prunings, brush, garden wastes, Christmas trees, and tree limbs up to four inches in diameter. Dumping other materials at the site is illegal.

DNREC’s Natural Resources Police Environmental Crimes Unit ask that anyone with information about this case to call 1-800-662-8802 or 302-739-9401.

Contact: Joanna Wilson, DNREC Public Affairs, 302-739-9902

Vol. 49, No. 206

DOVER – The US Air Force and Dover Air Force Base have notified Delaware’s Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control and Division of Public Health that four wells near the base sampled by the federal government for perfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), including perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS) and perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA), have returned elevated levels of PFOS and PFOA above the US Environmental Protection Agency’s health advisory for these substances of 70 parts per trillion (ppt).

Because of the elevated PFOS and PFOA levels, the owners of the four wells – which provide water to a shopping center with five businesses, two residences, and an office building – have been notified and provided with bottled water by Dover AFB. PFOS and PFOA are chemicals used in a variety of products that over time have become widely distributed in the environment – and have been found at Dover AFB and other air bases and airports in firefighting foam. The USAF and EPA have been working with DNREC and DPH to determine the impacts of PFOS and PFOA on private wells in proximity to the base.

A USAF fact sheet about the Dover AFB PFOS and PFOA sampling published in late spring said that groundwater samples collected in shallow monitoring wells on the base showed levels of PFOS and PFOA above EPA’s 70 ppt health advisory. “Based on these results, actions have been undertaken to ensure that drinking water at DAFB and the surrounding community is not impacted,” the fact sheet noted.

No PFOS or PFOA were detected in five nearby municipal water wells tested sampled in November 2014 by Dover AFB’s water supplier, Tidewater Utilities. Tidewater sampled four on-base municipal supply wells and the off-base municipal supply well nearest the base. All of these wells draw water from a deep, confined aquifer, and there were no PFOS or PFOA detections in any of them.

Representatives from the USAF this year then began contacting owners and users of private or commercial wells on properties near the northwest and east boundaries of Dover AFB, and asking permission to take drinking water samples. The four private wells that returned elevated levels of PFOS and PFOA on July 12 are located along those boundaries.

The primary step necessary to protect the public’s health from exposure to PFOS and PFOA in drinking water is to use an alternate water source until a permanent solution can be determined, which may consist of treatment, connecting to a new system, or other solution. DPH encourages the impacted businesses, office building, and dwellings in the affected area to use the bottled water provided by the DAFB until a permanent solution is in place. Anyone with specific health concerns or questions about potential health impacts is encouraged to contact their primary care provider. General questions about health effects from, and exposure to PFAS can call DPH at 302-744-4546.

For more information, please contact:
436th Airlift Wing, Public Affairs
Cell Phone: 302-363-9006 or 302-677-3372.
Email: 436AW.PA@us.af.mil

Vol. 49, No. 193

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Dover – Delaware’s Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control (DNREC) and Perdue AgriRecycle, LLC (Perdue) have entered into a settlement agreement that resolves environmental violations arising from operations under Composting Permit SW-18/03, DNREC Secretary Shawn M. Garvin announced today. Under this permit, Perdue operates a composting facility in Seaford using agricultural wastes and residues from their operations as feedstock for the company’s compost production.

Perdue’s permit requires quarterly reporting of analytical testing of compost batches to ensure that it is fit to be sold. Issues arose from lab reports being provided in a piecemeal manner to DNREC. Additionally, the reports were missing key data points, and DNREC’s Division of Waste & Hazardous Substances questioned the compost batch samples and their chain-of-custody. Chain-of-custody helps to make sure a sample is handled in such a way as to maintain quality control and prevents introducing potential contamination into the process of moving the sample from the field to the lab.

In addition to the piecemeal data reporting, there were other instances where incorrect data was provided to DNREC as part of Perdue’s quarterly reporting process. In these instances, subsequent review of data showed that the material in question exceeded allowable levels of chemicals including chromium VI and fecal bacteria.

The settlement agreement directs Perdue to change how they are reporting as well as to clarify how reports will be provided to DNREC. Additionally, it focuses on ensuring that the quality of finished product is high and conforms to the standards within Permit SW-18/03 and that “unfinished” product will no longer be distributed by Perdue AgriRecycle, LLC.

Through the settlement agreement, DNREC Secretary Garvin issued an Administrative Penalty to Perdue AgriRecycle, LLC for the violations of Delaware’s Regulations Governing Solid Waste. The Settlement Agreement assesses a penalty of $179,429, which includes $4,429 from Perdue AgriRecycle, LLC for DNREC cost recovery. Perdue has accepted obligations set forth by DNREC and agreed to corrective actions required by the Department.

The settlement agreement can be found on the DNREC website at dnrec.alpha.delaware.gov/secretarys-orders/.

Media Contact: Michael Globetti, DNREC Public Affairs, 302-739-9902

DOVER – DNREC’s Division of Waste & Hazardous Substances is offering another opportunity under the Universal Recycling Grants and Low Interest Loan Program to help Delaware organizations support the state’s municipal solid waste (MSW) diversion goal of 60 percent diversion of MSW by Jan. 1, 2020. The most recent statistics from 2017 place Delaware at a 43.1 percent diversion rate, compared to the National Diversion Rate, which stands at 34.7 percent as of 2015.

“Statistics show that Delaware is already a national leader in recycling, but we know we still have room to grow under the Universal Recycling law, which guarantees access for recycling to all residents of the First State whether at home, work, school, or play,” said DNREC Secretary Shawn M. Garvin. “The goal of this grant program is to help organizations within Delaware increase diversion to meet and exceed our statewide goals. We encourage collaborative and creative solutions to help Delaware raise the bar and keep recycling moving in the right direction.”

DNREC, in collaboration with the Recycling Public Advisory Council (RPAC), is offering the following opportunities:

Open/Competitive Programs (total funding: $210,000): This category focuses on projects that promote five key areas identified by RPAC: leveraging data to increase recycling; identifying new or existing markets to accept Delaware’s diverted materials; identifying and measuring ways to educate and encourage recycling or waste reduction behavior change; establishing recycling and/or waste reduction programs within a school, district, or university; and establishing programs to support municipal or county-led waste diversion initiatives. In this category Projects that support the goals outlined in 7 Del. Code §6055 will be considered even if they fall outside of the above parameters.

Food Waste Reduction Initiatives Program (total funding: $100,000): Projects within this category must be directed at ways to help the food service/restaurant industry reduce the amount of food waste going to Delaware landfills.

School Field Trip Program (total funding: $80,000): Funding for school bus companies to take students/classes from a single grade level from every school in Delaware to the Delaware Solid Waste Authority (DSWA) Education Center located in New Castle. This program is open to any public or private school in Delaware.

Application forms and the guidance document are available at Delaware recycling grants and loans, or via Delaware’s recycling website at recycling.delaware.gov. Applicants are advised to read the guidance document prior to submitting their applications. Applications will be due to DNREC by the close of business Friday, July 12, 2019. Due to the limited amount of funding, partial grants might be awarded based on RPAC’s discretion. RPAC and DNREC emphasize that applicants for grants and low-interest loans do not need to be recycling experts to put forward a recycling grant proposal. DNREC highly encourages creative solutions and collaboration among applicants.

To learn more about Delaware Recycles, or for assistance with a grant application, call 302-739-9403 or email recycle@delaware.gov.

DOVER – The Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control (DNREC) has concluded that there was no increased risk to human health or safety from deluge water used to contain the Nov. 25, 2018 ethylene oxide (EO) release at Croda’s Atlas Point facility. DNREC’s conclusion was made from a soil and groundwater sampling report required of Croda by the Department as part of a settlement agreement with DNREC in the aftermath of the EO incident.

The full report, prepared by an environmental consultant on Croda’s behalf and reviewed by DNREC’s Site Investigation & Restoration Section, can be found on the DNREC website. The DNREC-Croda settlement agreement requiring the report from Croda assessed a penalty of $230,000 to Croda for air, hazardous waste and water quality violations stemming from the EO incident, and additional steps to be completed by Croda before the EO plant can resume operations.

Data in the soil and groundwater report was based on the amount of deluge water that exceeded a containment sump at Croda’s facility in New Castle. Terms of the settlement agreement required soil and groundwater sampling by Croda to determine if EO-contaminated deluge water had impacted the area west of Croda’s EO production unit. EO was not detected in any of the soil or groundwater samples from Croda, according to the report.

Another compound associated with Croda’s operations, 1,4-dioxane, considered a contaminant, was detected in two soil samples, as well as the groundwater sample from the company. For the site’s intended manufacturing use, the reported concentrations of 1,4-dioxane in the groundwater samples do not pose an unacceptable risk to health and safety. The reported concentrations of 1,4-dioxane, the locations of detections noted during sampling, and past detections of 1,4-dioxane by DNREC at the site led the Department to conclude that there is a very low probability that last year’s EO release was the source of the 1,4-dioxane concentrations sampled. Based on the levels and location, no further action is required to address this portion of the site.

A DNREC letter to Croda reiterated that the Nov. 25, 2018 EO release does not change remedial actions already required by DNREC in addressing site contamination at the Atlas Point facility and that are ongoing as directed by the Department.

Media contact: Michael Globetti, DNREC Public Affairs, 302-739-9902

Vol. 49, No. 90

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