Fluoride Action Network

Trucking Firm to Finish Cleanup from I-80 Accident Pays $31,000 for Penalty and Cost Recovery to DEP

Source: NorthcentralPA.com | April 26th, 2011 | By Freda Tarbell
Industry type: Chemical Industry

MEADVILLE — A trucking company that transports hazardous waste has been ordered to complete a cleanup along Interstate 80 in Clinton Township, Venango County, where waste was spilled in an accident that occurred on Dec. 30, 2009.

The company, known as Eldredge, Inc., has entered into a consent order and agreement requiring them to pay a $20,000 civil penalty and $11,000 to cover DEP costs for responding to the spill and overseeing the cleanup.

The accident occurred when a tanker trailer leased by Eldredge was traveling westbound on I-80 just east of Exit 35 when the tanker failed and broke in half. Approximately 4,200 gallons of ammonium bifluoride spilled onto 1,000 feet of the highway surface before the driver could bring the truck to a halt. Waste flowed onto the highway median and catch basin.

The spill caused the interstate to be closed for more than 12 hours as cleanup crews applied 22,000 pounds of soda ash to neutralize the hazardous waste.

In March 2010, DEP issued an order that committed Eldredge to remediate the spill site in accordance with Pennsylvania’s Land Recycling Act. In April 2010, Eldredge appealed the order to the Environmental Hearing Board.

This consent order and agreement obligates Eldredge to a cleanup schedule and standard in accordance with the Land Recycling Act. Within 30 days, Eldredge is required to submit to DEP a notice of intent to remediate the spill site and a schedule for implementing the cleanup. Once DEP approves the remediation schedule, Eldredge will proceed with the cleanup.

The $20,000 penalty will be directed to the state’s Solid Waste Abatement Fund, which finances cleanups of illegal dumps and other hazards to public health.

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Note from FAN:

From the Hazardous Substances Data Bank (HSDB)

Major Uses for Ammonium bifluoride:

Manufacture of magnesium and magnesium alloys; in brightening of aluminum; for purifying and cleansing various parts of beer-dispensing apparatus, tubes, etc., sterilizing dairy and other food equipment; in glass and porcelain industries; as mordant for aluminum; as a “sour” in laundering cloth. In lab production of hydrogen fluoride.
[O’Neil, M.J. (ed.). The Merck Index – An Encyclopedia of Chemicals, Drugs, and Biologicals. 13th Edition, Whitehouse Station, NJ: Merck and Co., Inc., 2001., p. 88] **PEER REVIEWED**

Etching glass (white acid); electroplating; processing of beryllium
[Lewis, R.J. Sr.; Hawley’s Condensed Chemical Dictionary 14th Edition. John Wiley & Sons, Inc. New York, NY 2001., p. 60] **PEER REVIEWED**

Oil well acidizing; industrial chemical cleaning; fungicides
[CHEM MARK REP 225 (9): 29 (1984)] **PEER REVIEWED**

In magnesium fluoride synthesis
[Kirk-Othmer Encyclopedia of Chemical Technology. 3rd ed., Volumes 1-26. New York, NY: John Wiley and Sons, 1978-1984., p. V10: 760 (1980)] **PEER REVIEWED**

Used in acid dips for steel prior to phosphating and galvanizing, and for activation of metals before nickel plating; used in aluminum anodizing formulations; used in treatments to provide corrosion resistance on magnesium and its alloys

[Kirk-Othmer Encyclopedia of Chemical Technology. 3rd ed., Volumes 1-26. New York, NY: John Wiley and Sons, 1978-1984., p. V10: 677 (1980)] **PEER REVIEWED**

Fluoride solution /made on site near oil well bores, from ammonium bifluoride and ammonia mixed with methyl formate/ is used to acidize wells and in silicious rocks to regenerate oil.
[Kirk-Othmer Encyclopedia of Chemical Technology. 3rd ed., Volumes 1-26. New York, NY: John Wiley and Sons, 1978-1984., p. V10: 676 (1980)] **PEER REVIEWED**

… In special small-scale electrolysis cells for the fluorination of organic molecules and the deposition of conducting polyaniline coatings on electrodes.
[Ullmann’s Encyclopedia of Industrial Chemistry. 6th ed.Vol 1: Federal Republic of Germany: Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. 2003 to Present, p. V. 14 419 (2003)] **PEER REVIEWED**

Magnesium maufacture, wheel cleaner, herbicide enhancer
[Lelkin, J.B., Paloucek, F.P., Poisoning & Toxicology Compendium. LEXI-COMP Inc. & American Pharmaceutical Association, Hudson, OH 1998., p. 642] **PEER REVIEWED**

Also, it is a Nerve Agent Precursor