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September 23, 1993
.\JIegor
DEPARTMENT OF
ENVIRONMENTAL
Mr. Tom Alley, Plant Manager
GP Lebanite - Hardboard Plant
37680 River Road
Lebanon, OR 97355
QUALITY
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Re:
G-P Lebanite - Hardboard Plant
Lebanon, Oregon
Linn County
ECSI ID #1126
Dear Mr. Alley:
The Oregon Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) has completed
a Preliminary Assessment Equivalent (PAE) for the Georgia-Pacific Lebanite Hardboard site. A copy of the Strategy Recommendation is
enclosed.
Based on the PAE, the DEQ has determined that under the Oregon
Environmental Cleanup Law, ORS 465.200, no further action is required
.for this site at this time. We will update DEQ's Environmental Cleanup
Site Information (ECSI) database to reflect this decision.
If you have questions regarding this site, please contact me at (503)
378-8240.
Si.ncereIY'fl/
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Kerr! Nelson, Project Manager
Site Assessment Program
Willamette Valley Region
KN:m
SA\SM5403
Enclosure: Strategy Recommendation
cc:
Heather Schijf, Coordinator, Site Assessment Section
SAS file #1126
811 SW Sixth Avenue
Portland, OR 97204-13'
(503) 229-5696
TOO (503) 229-6993
DEQ-I
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oEPA
November 25, 1991
Reply to
Attn of:
HW-093
Thomas Alley, Plant Manager
Georgia-Pacific Lebanite Hardboard Plant
37680 River Road
Lebanon, Oregon 97355
Dear Mr. Alley:
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), through its
contractor, Ecology and Environment (E&E) , has completed the site
investigation (SI) of the Georgia-Pacific Lebanite Hardwood Plant
site. A copy of the report is enclosed.
Based on this SI and other pertinent information, EPA finds
it appropriate to refer to state authority for further
consideration. Accordingly, EPA does not anticipate further
investigation under the Federal Superfund Program.
E&E I S recommenda·tions, with which EPA concurs, are outlined
on the recommendation memorandum page of ·this report.
If you have any questions, I can be reached at (206)553-2722.
Sincerely,
S)?06VL~~~~O~
Deborah Flood
site Assessment Manager
Superfund Response & Investigations section'
Enclosure
cc:
Dan Hafley, ODEQ-ECD
Alan Goodman, EPA-OOO
Program Manager, Linn county Environmental Health
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DEQ SITE ASSESSMENT SECTION - STRATEGY RECOMMENDATION
site Name:
site CERCLIS Number:
DEQ ECSI Number:
site Address:
Recommendation By:
Approved By:
Georgia-Pacific - Lebanite Hardboard
987174570
1126
37680 River Road
Lebanon, OR 97355
Kevin Dana, Environmental specialist,
site Assessment Section
Mary Wahl, Acting Manager,
Environmental Cleanup Division
Mike Rosen, Manager,
Voluntary Cleanup section
Date:
June 7, 1993
Background:
This site is part of a larger site that was split in two in 1985.
operations began on the original site in 1940, when Evans Products
built a plywood mill. Cascade Plywood bought the property in 1945,
and added a battery separator plant. The battery separator plant
operated until 1953, when it was converted into a "custom ;;md
laminating plant"for use in plywood and hardboard finishing.
A
hardboard plant was also built in 1953, although it did not go into
operation until 1957. U.S. Plywood purchased the site in 1962, and
built a "special products" building in 1963.
A fly ash settling
pit waS added in 1965, replacing fly ash scrubbers.
By 1966, in
addition to the aforementioned facilities, the site also included
a 70-acre "log pond" (the adjacent Cheadle Lake), and a burning
pit.
U.s. Plywood merged' with Champion Papers in 1967 to form U.S.
Plywood-Champion Papers, Inc. The new organization applied for its
first waste discharge permit the following year. , Waste streams of
glue and cleanup water were proposed to be "treated" by dilution in
Cheadle Lake.
(The permit application was apparently accepted).
U.s. Plywood-Champion Papers, Inc. changed its name to Champion
International Corporation in 1972.
Several spills were recorded on~site in the early 1980's. During
a weekend in January 1980, approximately 4,000 gallons of 50%
liquid caustic leaked out of an above-ground storage tank into the
log pond. Once the leak was discovered, pH samples were taken of
the pond and its outfall until pH levels returned to normal about
two weeks later (the maximum recorded pH was ~.85).
In January 1981, an estimated 60 gallons of "Woodlife", a product
containing 5% pentachlorophenol, spilled when a sump overflowed
during a power failure.
The spill was thought to have flowed
across a paved area to an open drainage ditch and then to a swale.
Spilled material was sopped up with sawdust, and DEQ was notified.
Samples taken along the supposed spill path showed only trace
amounts (6-12 ppb) of penta. (A reading of 5 ppm was discounted as
inaccurate because "upstream"samples were orders of magnitude
lower).
Four barrels worth of sawdust were so contaminated that
they had to be disposed of at Arlington. The rest of the sawdust
was either burned or disposed of at the Newberg landfill.
In October 1981, an old transformer was accidently knocked over by
a forklift, causing some oil to leak out.
The spill was on an
asphalt surface, and was quickly soaked up with wood shavings.
Tests later revealed that the oil contained no detectable levels of
PCBs.
In May 1984, a "Woodlife" spill very similar to the Jan.
1981 spill occured.
About 70 gallons of Woodlife.were sopped up
with sawdust. The contaminated sawdust was placed in six drums and
disposed of at Arlington. The spill was apparently confined to the
building, as no samples were taken.
In 1985, Champion International sold the property in two pieces.
The larger southern portion of the site, containing the plywood
mill and the log 'pond, was sold to Freres Lumber company.
The
northern portion of the site, containing the hardboard mill and the
custom and coating plant, was sold to an organization calling
itself "U.S. Plywood" (it was actually a group of executives from
Champion) .
Freres Lumber leased· its portion of the site to a
series of companies: Lebanon Plywood, Inc., a subsidiary of Veneer
Services (from 1986 to 1988), White Plywood (1988-1990), and
Springfield Forest Products (1990 to present). "U. S. Plywood" sold
its portion of the site to Georgia-Pacific Corporation in 1987.
Georgia-Pacific currently produces "Lebanite"-brand dry process
hardboard at its site.
"Wax sizes" and phenol formaldehyde resin
are mixed with Douglas fir sawdust and shavings and pressed into
product. The resin is stored in above~ground storage tanks inside
a building.
The floor of the resin building is concrete and the
tanks are surrounded with concrete dikes one foot high. Wastewater
from the manUfacturing process is directed to two unlined "cinder
ponds" (which have replaced the previously mentioned fly ash
disposal pit).
Solids are allowed to settle, and the remaining
water is discharged to Cox Creek, which flows into the nearby
Santiam River. The discharge is regulated under an NPDES permit.
Approximately ten 55-gallon drums worth of sludge from the cinder
ponds are dredged up every year and disposed off~site.
Ecology and Environment (E&E) performed a PA on the Georgia-Pacific
portion of the site for EPA in 1990. The PA mentioned that there
were around 2,000 domestic wells within a four-mile radius of the
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site.
E&E was unaware of the previously· mentioned spills, but
nonetheless recommended a follow-up site Inspection (SI), because
of the possibility that hazardous materials could have been
released during the site's forty year history.
E&E.returned to perform a "Screening site Inspection" (SSI) for EPA
in 1991.
The SSI extensively reviewed the site history, and
focused on the hazardous materials that were suspected of being
used.
E&E got much of its information from a PA that DEQ had
performed on the Freres Lumber Company portion of the site for EPA
in 1987. DEQ had reviewed hazardous waste manifests from the site
to determine what type of wastes may have been disposed of on-site
in the past.
(See ECSI #828 for l1)Qre information on . the Freres
Lumber Company site).
E&E adopted'DEQ's rational, and like DEQ
recommended that an SI be performed on the FreresLumber cQmpany
site, because it was on that portion of the site that wastes were
most likely disposed of. E&E recommended no further action on the
Georgia-Pacific portion of the site.
Recommendation/Action:
The site Assessment Section has reviewed file information related
to this site. DRS Consultants, Inc. performed the S1. on the Freres
Lumber Company site for EPA in 1993.
Soil and sediment samples
from the landfill and Cheadle Lake found some heavy metals and
semivolatiles, but at levels that were below SOCLEAN. There is no
evidence that hazardous substances were disposed on the GeqrgiaPacific site. site Assessment recommends no further action for the
Georgia-Pacific site.
Referrals Within or outside DEQ:
This site has not been referred to another division of DEQ or an
outside regulatory agency.
other:
This site is currently listed on DEQ's ECSI database. The database
will be updated with information contained in this decision
document, and will reflect site Assessment's decision fo'r no
further action at the site.