The EPA is digging out a toxic slag pile in Port Richmond that sat under a tarp for 26 years

Crews have started removing a four-acre pile of toxic metal-smelting waste in Port Richmond that has been covered by a tarp since 2000. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the Army Corps of Engineers and a cleanup contractor began excavating the Franklin Slag Pile Superfund site in early October, WHYY reported. Billy Penn's morning roundup also flagged the work.

For neighbors, the question is dust. Slag is a byproduct of smelting metals, and EPA sampling years ago found high levels of lead and other metals in the air near the pile.

What's there

According to WHYY:

• The site sits at Delaware and Castor avenues and holds about 68,000 cubic yards of slag, enough to fill more than 20 Olympic swimming pools.
• From 1950 to 1999, a company called MDC Industries processed slag there from the neighboring Franklin Smelting and Refining Corp. and sold it for sandblasting and construction.
• Before 2000, slag often blew or washed off the site onto sidewalks, roads and storm drains that empty into the Delaware River.
• The EPA got involved in 2000, and the site was added to the national Superfund list in 2002. The property is owned by a New Jersey company, Franco Realty.

How the cleanup works

The work began in July after years of design. Excavation started in early October. WHYY described the safety steps:

• Dust control. Water misters and blowers keep the slag damp while it is dug out.
• Air monitors. Four monitors surround the site, and a fifth sits in a lot next to the nearest home on Castor Avenue. If readings top 150 micrograms per cubic meter, work stops. Workers also wear personal monitors.
• Treatment and disposal. Slag comes out in 50-cubic-yard sections. It is treated with a chemical solution to reduce leaching, tested off-site by a third party, bagged, and trucked to a landfill.
• Runoff. Fabric tubes filled with wood chips line storm drains and fencing.
• Soil. EPA data show soil deeper than two feet is below the cleanup threshold. The agency will retest at that depth and remove more if needed.

The companies legally responsible for the site must pay for the cleanup, WHYY reported. It did not report a total cost. The contractor expects to finish in the fall of 2027, ahead of schedule.

WHYY's account spans 26 years from the EPA's first involvement to the start of digging, including years of design and planning. EPA remedial project manager Andrew Haneiko walked WHYY through the current plan.

What our records add

This is a federal Superfund cleanup paid for by the responsible companies, so it does not come before City Council. We checked our records for Council legislation naming the site and found none, and no Council hearing on it is on our calendar.

What's next

The EPA's next public meeting on the site is virtual, on Nov. 18, WHYY reported. The agency also posts updates online and runs an email list for Franklin Slag Pile updates. Residents with questions about air readings can raise them at that meeting.