Environmental program Essay

Superfund is an environmental course formed to address aban maked hazardous waste settles. It is also complete by the amended Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability put to work of 1980. The law was enacted in the height of the discovery of dumps of toxic wastes in the 1970. The law permits the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to clean up much(prenominal) hazardous locations and to require responsible companies/persons to do clean up or compensate the government for EPA-initiated cleanups. The Superfund cleanup procedure is intricate.It starts on the assessment of the sites and placing them on the subject field Priorities List, then conduct cleanups on them. Located at 4109 western United States Linebaugh Avenue in Tampa, Hillsborough County, Florida, the southern Solvents, Inc. served as a delivery and shift point for ethylene tetrachloride. The chemical, which is also known as perchloroethylene or PCE was stored in quaternary surface storag e tanks in the facility from 1977 to 1985. The facility distributed the chemicals for dry dry cleaners located within the area. From 1985 to 1989 the facility was leased to P.J. s Spa and belatedly leased to a commercial painting company. The whole property of Southern Solvents, Inc. is about 100 feet wide and 185 feet deep. When the company is still in operations, the aboveground tanks were individually filled from tanker tanks that brought the chemicals to the facility. One former tank had a capacity of 3,000 gallons while the size of the other three is still unknown. It is believed that leaks and spills of tetrachloroethylene happened while the tanks are being filled and emptied.The tetrachloroethylene that spilled and leaked was not contained and in conclusion goes down into the nearby sandy soil. In 1988, when the facilitys drunkenness water well and several private drinking wells nearby, it was dogmatic contamination of tetrachloroethylene and related compounds of trichlor oethylene and 1,2-dichloroethan. The Florida Department of Health and reconstructive Services advise instantaneously the residents within the area to stop using water from these wells and supplied bottled water to owners and tenants in the area.The Florida Cites Water Department and the northwesterly Hillsborough County Utilities have four wells that draw water from an aquifer within 4 miles of Southern Solvents facility. They provide water supply to more than 46,000 people in St. Petersburg, Hillsborough County, and nearby communities. As early as 1994, EPA conducted preliminary assessment of the site and its threat to the community. On July 27, 2000, Southern Solvents site was placed on the National Priorities List (NPL).Various studies then undergoes since the signing of the Superfund Contract that commits the State for 10 percent of the cost for the clean up. Until now, there are only initial steps of chemical oxidation studies and soil vapor extractions are done into the site .ReferenceEnvironmental Protection Agency, Florida. (2009, March 20). Southern Solvents. Retrieved March 24, 2009, from http//www. dep. state. fl. us/waste/quick_topics/publications/ wc/sites/summary/141. pdf Environmental Protection Agency, United States. (2009, January 30). Superfund. Retrieved March 24, 2009, from http//www. epa. gov/superfund/about. htm