EPA RCRA ID: MDD003067121
The Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) is the public law that creates the framework for the proper management of hazardous and non-hazardous solid waste. Corrective action is a requirement under RCRA that facilities that treat, store or dispose of hazardous wastes, or did so in the past, investigate and clean up hazardous releases into soil, groundwater, surface water and air. For more information, and for more information on RCRA-specific terms used on this page, please visit EPA’s umbrella RCRA web page or EPA’s RCRA Corrective Action page.
On this page:
- Cleanup Activities
- Facility Description
- Institutional/Engineering Controls
- Enforcement and Compliance
- Related Information and Publicly Available Electronic Records
- Contacts for this Facility
Cleanup Activities
On March 22, 2017, EPA issued a Statement of Basis (SB) in which it described the information gathered during environmental investigations (RFI) at the Facility and proposed a Final Remedy for the Facility. Concurrent with issuing the SB, EPA issued a draft Corrective Action Permit.
On May 26, 2017, EPA issued the Permit and Final Remedy for the Facility requiring the following:
- Long term groundwater and pore water monitoring
- Compliance with and maintenance of land and groundwater use restrictions
- Engineering controls
- Soil management including consolidation and capping
The Permit required the submittal of a Corrective Measures Implementation Workplan that provides the detailed tasks to be implemented as the Final Remedy.
Background
On August 23, 2005, the State of Maryland Department of the Environment (MDE) renewed and modified the ATK Controlled Hazardous Substances Storage and Treatment Facility Permit (Permit Number A-052). EPA’s corrective action permit issued to ATK was renewed on May 26, 2017, and required the implementation of the Final Remedy. The previous EPA CA permit (1989) required ATK to investigate and characterize environmental releases at the site.
A site-wide Corrective Measures Study (CMS) report was submitted in 2007 addressing five of seven SWMUs identified in the 1989 Permit including the following SWMUs: TCE Area, A-Area SWMU, Beryllium, Still Bottoms Area, C-Area, Sand Pit, and Pesticide Area. The two SWMUs excluded from the 2007 CMS were the C-Area SWMU that is addressed under the Maryland Permit, and the Pesticide Area SWMU, addressed in separate reports as a result of different operators.
EPA approved an RFI Addendum on March 30, 2015, concluding the investigation phase of the primary area of the Facility and requested the submission of a CMS Addendum to address revisions to the 2007 CMS Report.
A final Updated Technical Memorandum Remedial Action Objectives Pesticide Areas was submitted to EPA in July 2016, addressing the Pesticide Area SWMU. EPA approved the Technical Memorandum in a letter dated September 27, 2016, effectively concluding that site-wide RFI activities and Risk Assessments were completed. In December 2016, ATK submitted a Pesticide Area CMS evaluating remedies to mitigate risk. The two CMS reports were the basis for EPA’s Final Remedy decision in May 2017.
Cleanup Actions or environmental indicators characterizing the entire facility are shown below. This listing, and all the data on this page, come from EPA’s RCRAInfo and are refreshed nightly to this page. For this table, a blank in the Status column could mean the action either has not occurred or has not been reported in RCRAInfo.
Cleanup Activities Pertaining to the Entire Facility
| Action | Status | Date of Action |
|---|---|---|
| Human Exposure Under Control Human Exposure Under Control(CA725) | ||
| Groundwater Migration Under ControlGroundwater Migration Under Control (CA750) | ||
| Remedy DecisionRemedy Decision (CA400) | ||
| Remedy ConstructionRemedy Construction (CA550) | ||
| Ready for Anticipated Use Ready for Anticipated Use (CA800) | ||
| Performance Standards AttainedPerformance Standards Attained (CA900) | ||
| Corrective Action Process TerminatedCorrective Action Process Terminated (CA999) |
For definitions of the terms used, hover over or click on the term.
Cleanup Activities Pertaining to a Portion of the Facility
| Action | Area Name | Date of Action |
|---|
For definitions of the terms used, hover over or click on the term.
Facility Description
Link to a larger, interactive view of the map.
The ATK facility is located on approximately 550 acres in a mixed rural setting in Elkton, Maryland, Cecil County. The Facility is bounded on the south by U.S. Route 40, commercial properties, and residential areas; on the east by Little Elk Creek and Triumph Industrial Park; and on the north and west by agricultural areas. Industrial and commercial properties, including Triumph Industrial Park, Crouse Brothers, and a Young Men’s Christian Association (YMCA) facility, are located to the east. Agricultural areas, which are undergoing environmental cleanup and potential redevelopment, are located to the north and west. The Little Elk Creek flows through the center of property. Wetlands are located mostly along the creek and predominantly to the east in an undeveloped area.
Current land use includes active and inactive manufacturing operations, office space, warehousing, paved parking and service roads, rail lines, and undeveloped land serving as a buffer for the Facility. The Geigy Chemical Company (Geigy) owned and operated the Facility from 1947 to 1955 before selling to Olin Mathieson Chemical Corporation (Olin) in 1955. Geigy and Olin formulated pesticides (chiefly DDT) during their years of occupancy. The Facility was sold to Thiokol Corporation (Thiokol) in 1958. In 2001 Alliant Techsystems Inc. acquired Thiokol and in 2015 merged with Orbital Sciences Corporation to become Orbital ATK Inc. (ATK). ATK is the current owner and operator of the Facility.
The ATK facility designs, manufactures and conducts research on solid fuel rocket propellant, gas generators, and rocket propulsion units for use in space and defense. The facility also manufactures safe-and-arm devices, semi-conductor bridge detonators and liquid gun propellants.
At this multi-component corrective action facility, SWMU and site-wide investigations have identified pesticide, volatile organic, metal contamination in the soil, surface water, and groundwater.
A shallow and intermediate aquifer groundwater plume migrating from the central portion of the facility towards the southeast is contaminated predominantly with TCE and its degradation products and perchlorate at concentrations above Maximum Contaminant Levels (MCLs) and drinking water equivalent level (DWEL), respectively.
Institutional and Engineering Controls at this Facility
Institutional Controls established through a Corrective Action Permit include:
- Long term groundwater and pore water monitoring
- Compliance with and maintenance of land and groundwater use restrictions
- Engineering controls
- Soil management including consolidation and capping
Institutional and Engineering Controls help ensure human exposure and groundwater migration are under control at a cleanup facility. Where control types have been reported by states and EPA in EPA’s RCRAInfo, they are shown below. Not all control types are needed at all facilities, and some facilities do not require any controls. Where there are blanks, the control types may not be needed, may not be in place, or may not be reported in RCRAInfo.
Are Controls in Place at this Facility?
|
Control(s) Type |
Control(s) in Place? |
Areas Subject to Control(s) |
|
|---|---|---|---|
|
Institutional ControlsNon-engineering controls used to restrict land use or land access in order to protect people and the environment from exposure to hazardous substances remaining in the site/or facility. (CA 772) |
Informational DevicesInformational Devices (ID) |
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|
Governmental Controls (GC) |
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Enforcement and Permit Tools (EP) |
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| Proprietary ControlsProprietary Controls (PR) | |||
|
Engineering ControlsEngineering measures designed to minimize the potential for human exposure to contamination by either limiting direct contact with contaminated areas or controlling migration of contaminants. (CA 770) |
Groundwater ControlGroundwater Control (GW) |
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Non-Groundwater |
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For definitions of the terms used, hover over or click on the term.
Enforcement and Compliance at this Facility
EPA’s Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance (OECA) provides detailed historical information about enforcement and compliance activities at each RCRA Corrective Action Site in their Enforcement and Compliance Historical Online (ECHO) system.
RCRA Enforcement and Compliance Reports from ECHO
Related Information and Publicly Available Electronic Records
For more information about this facility, see these other EPA links:
- RCRA information in EPA’s Envirofacts database
- Information about this facility submitted to EPA under different environmental programs as reported in EPA’s Facility Registry Services
- Alternative Names for this facility as reported by EPA programs in EPA’s Facility Registry Services
- Cleanups in My Community provides an interactive map to see EPA cleanups in context with additional data, and lists for downloading data
- Search RCRA Corrective Action Sites provides a search feature for Corrective Action Sites
Documents, Photos and Graphics
Contacts for this Facility
EPA Region implements and enforces the RCRA Corrective Action program for and federally recognized tribes.
For further information on this corrective action site, use the Contact Information for Corrective Action Hazardous Waste Clean Ups listings that are accessible through Corrective Action Programs around the Nation.