A History: the Chem-Dyne Superfund Site

Items

• Chem-Dyne’s Chemical Legacy: Contaminants In Ground Water
  10 Jun 1984 Page: 4 Sources: EPA, Bruce Will (Principle investigator), Ronald Schimdt (Geology Professor Wright State), Quotes: “”The bottom line is that a lot is known about the geology and the hydrology of the aquifer, but little is known about the organics that potentially could be in the system and the movement of the plumes.” he said.”
• Chem-Dyne Cleanup: 13 Men And Thousands Of Problems
  05 Apr 1980 Page: 21 Sources: Jack Zettler (Butler County Judge), Robert L. Marrs (Common Pleas Judge), John Hall (Chem-Dyne’s Chief Chemist), Quotes: “Although Chem-Dyne was founded to recycle waste as fuels. Hall and Zettler have discovered that most of the inventory is solid or semi-solid (sludge) chemical waste.” ““People ask, “When will you have the site cleaned up?” What’s going to happen six months from now?” That’s a thousand problems away.”
• Federal Officials Suing Chem-Dyne, Its Officers
  Dec 20 1979 Page: 1 Sources: USEPA, Justice Department in U.S. District Court, OEPA, ODNR, Jack Kirsch (Hamilton City Manager), William Kovacs (President of Chem-Dyne) Quotes: “The federal action criticizes the state consent decree. Among the criticisms: The decree does not prohibit the shipment to Chem-Dyne of hazardous wastes, nor their mixture, and does not provide for sound handling, storage and operational practices.”
• Chem-Dyne Apparently Has More, Not Less, Waste
  07 Dec 1979 Page: 30 Sources: OEPA, Joseph W. Connolly (OEPA Director), MSD, William Kovacs (Chem-Dyne President), ODNR, James Marsh (President of the State Controlling Board), Richard Vanderhood (Metropolitan Sewer District) Quotes: “”We’ll probably take another shipment (from Chem-Dyne) toward the end of next week,” he said. And Next week, MSD might begin burning the Chem-Dyne waste, he said.” “MSD Director Richard Vanderhood admitted MSD didn’t begin operating as soon as originally anticipated.”
• Fire Report By EPA Due Friday
  September 6 1979 Page: 27 Sources: OEPA, Jennifer Tiell (OEPA Staff), Ken Schultz and Ken Harsh (OEPA Emergency Response Team), Quotes: “The companies were sued by OEPA and the Ohio Department of Natural Resources (ODNR) after a massive fish kill in the Great Miami River and Hamilton Hydraulic Canal in 1976.” “Chem-Dyne officials said they were satisfied by the out-of-court settlement, but maintained the company was innocent of the fish kills.”
• Judge Issues Restraining Order In Chem-Dyne Suit
  19 Jun 1979 Page: 26 Headline: Judge Issues Restraining Order In Chem-Dyne Suit Sources: Herbert A. Middendorff. Robert G. Robson, Cindoco Products (Suit Filers), Ray White (7th Step Foundation nonprofit vocational training program for former convicts) Quotes: “Most of the time no one is doing even that much to clear out the mess.” “In the suit, the property owners said they have reason to believe that Chem-Dyne will be leaving Butler County soon and may ignore customer agreements and leave the chemicals and other substances on the property behind.”
• Chem-Dyne May End Operation; Wastes To MSD
  18 Apr 1979 Page: 1 Headline: Chem-Dyne May End Operation; Wastes To MSD Sources: OEPA, ODNR, William L. Kovacs (Chem-Dyne President), Richard A. Vanderhoof (Hamilton City Metropolitan Sewer Department) Quotes: “This waste is equivalent to dirty fuel oil and its use will save them money, saide M&D Director Richard A. Vanderhoof.”
• Solvent Shortage
  2 Dec 1973 Page: 11 Headline: Solvent Shortage Sources: William L. Kovacs (Spray-Dyne president) Quotes: “The energy crisis stems from a lack of petroleum feedstocks,”
• EPA Claims It Raised Enough Clean Money
  06 Mar 1983 Page: 1 / 4 Headline: EPA Claims It Raised Enough Clean Money Sources: EPA, U.S. Corps of Engineers, Dennis Muchnicki (chief of Ohio attorney general environmental law section. Michael Fox (R-Hamilton) Quotes: ““I am so frustrated at all these so-called experts. Every time we have left these people alone, they’ve screwed it up.” said Fox.””
• Neighbors Of Chem-Dyne Firm Ask For Company’s Shutdown
  06 Sep 1979 Page: 27 Headline: Neighbors Of Chem-Dyne Firm Ask For Company’s Shutdown Sources: Rober Weigel (Hamilton Vice Mayor), James McAvoy (OEPA Director), Jack Hamblin (North End Civic Association), Bill Kovacs (Chem-Dyne President) Quotes: “Many residents carried signs into the auditorium bearing slogans such as “Down with Chem-Dyne,""Should Children Have to Breathe Unknown Chemicals,""Will the EPA Stop Chem-Dyne?” and “Has the City or State Got the Right to Keep Them Open?
• Judge Names Chem-Dyne Receiver
  05 Feb 1980 Page: 1 Headline: Judge Names Chem-Dyne Receiver Sources: Jack A. Zettler ( New Chem-Dyne Corp. receiver), Robert L. Marrs (Butler County Common Pleas Judge), Dennis Muchnickci (Assistant Attorney General), William Lee Kovacs (Chem-Dyne President) Quotes: “The environmentalists now have the ability to take over a company and operate it.” (Kovacs)
• Federal Officials Suing Chem-Dyne, Its Officers
• EPA Five Year Review
  This is the cover page of the EPA's fifth Five Year Review, a 97-page document that summarizes the EPA's involvement in cleaning up Chem-Dyne and its future plans for action.
• Chem-Dyne Site Polluting Water, Official Says
  March 29 1983 Page: 12 Sources: EPA, Robert Indian (Ohio Department of Health, Division of Epidemiology), Don Bruce (Head of site cleanup), Peter McCumiskey (Centers for Disease Control) Quotes: “Most cancers of this type (from chemical exposure) have latent periods which are 20 to 30 years down the road. Leukemia is an exception,” McCumiskey said.”
• Rubin To Send Inspectors To Chem-Dyne Plant
  Dec 29 1979 Page: 38 Quotes: “Kovacs called the consent decree “a lie” because he said it was his understanding he could begin recording the waste reduction when he made arrangements to ship some of the waste to incinerators in Ohio, Kentucky, and Indiana.” “You can only be so many feet to a residential home and they have made a nearby battlefield a major recreation center.” (Kovacs on nearby local neighborhoods surrounding Chem-Dyne) Sources: Judge Carl B. Rubin (U.S. District Judge), EPA, OEPA, John Hall (Operations Supervisor Chem-Dyne), Hugh Holbrock (Chem-Dyne Lawyer), William Lee Kovacs (Chem-Dyne President)
• EPA Faults Chem-Dyne Cleanup
  Nov 30 1979 Page 1 Important Quotes: “It appears the owner is not reducing it according to the decree.” (Chemicals) “The MSD originally intended to burn about 850,000 thousand gallons of material but has taken on 30,000 gallons to date, he explained.” “There are suspicions material from Chem-Dyne …is being illegally dumped by parties unknown.”
• Hamilton JournalNews Citations
• No Trespassing
  This short film was shot on site at the Chem-Dyne Superfund site and nearby neighborhood area. The film is titled after the repeated motif of "no trespassing," which is meant to suggest a connection between private property and what happens to land when it is polluted. The video incorporates clippings from the Hamilton JournalNews archive in order to weave together the past and present of the Chem-Dyne site.
• Hamilton JournalNews Archive Introduction
• Crossing
  June 4th, 2023 Page A11 Important Quotes: “’Everyone’s already struggling, working every day to even put food on the table because of the prices of everything… You can’t even financially breathe. I would hate to see anyone not be able to afford (to live in the neighborhood).”
• Chem-Dyne (2022)
  February 1st, 2022 Page A5 Important Quotes: “Despite the pollution… Hamilton would have little liability in purchasing it.”
• Hamilton to buy part of Chem-Dyne site
  February 1st, 2022 Page 1 Important Quotes: “City officials have said they can use the property for either a park or playfields, or a parking lot. Housing will not be allowed on it because of pollution there.”
• Chem-Dyne
  December 11th, 2021 Page A3 Important Quotes: “The property’s location was especially concerning because it sits above the Great Miami Aquifer, a giant source of groundwater that holds 1.5 trillion gallons of water and provides drinking water for 3 million consumers.”
• Hamilton may buy Superfund site
  December 11th, 2021 Page A1 Important Quotes: “why would Hamilton city government, which battled in court for a cleanup, now want to buy part of the site? To make sure someone else doesn’t buy it and do something irresponsible, City Manager Joshua Smith said in an interview.”
• Spending
  August 13th, 2021 Page B4 Important Quotes: “He proposed putting $7 million toward North Hamilton Crossing, the proposed bridge across the Great Miami River near the Black Street Bridge that would also cross the CSX railroad tracks near the polluted former Chem Dyne property.”