EPA Issues Administrative Order to the Macalloy Corporation in North Charleston, South Carolina for Facility-Wide Investigation and Long-Term Cleanup.

ATLANTA--(BUSINESS WIRE)--July 8, 1998--The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, in coordination with the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control (SCDHEC), announced today that it has issued an Administrative Order to the Macalloy Corporation in North Charleston, South Carolina. The Order, issued in accordance with Section 7003 of the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA), as amended, was issued because EPA has determined that present and past generation, handling, storage, treatment, and/or disposal of solid and/or hazardous waste at the facility may present an imminent and substantial endangerment to health and/or the environment.

The EPA RCRA Order provides for a facility-wide investigation to address long-term cleanup. A short-term cleanup currently is being addressed under an Administrative Order on Consent issued in June 1998 under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA, also known as Superfund). The requirements of the EPA Superfund Consent Order are designed to control stormwater runoff by directing all runoff to permitted discharge points, as well as to reduce the levels of contaminants released from those discharge points.

In addition to the EPA's Superfund Consent Order, the Macalloy Corporation is subject to certain RCRA corrective action requirements under a Consent Order with SCDHEC. The EPA RCRA Section 7003 Order is designed to complement the SCDHEC Consent Order and the EPA Superfund Consent Order to ensure that a comprehensive investigation and all appropriate corrective action takes place facility-wide. EPA will coordinate with SCDHEC in an effort to ensure, to the extent possible, that work necessary to meet the requirements of theses actions will not be duplicated.

The EPA RCRA Order requires the Macalloy Corporation to conduct the following:

-- Fully implement the SCDHEC Consent Order, including the closure

of the Unlined Surface Impoundment in accordance with a SCDHEC approved closure plan.

-- Implement Interim Measures (IMs) to control or abate immediate

threats to health and/or the environment to prevent or minimize the spread of contaminants while long-term corrective alternatives are under evaluation. The IMs will include the cessation of the discharge of process wastewaters and stormwaters via an underground pipeline system to a wastewater settling pond and the cessation of the discharge of wastewater from the unit to Shipyard Creek; enhanced groundwater monitoring requirements; groundwater stabilization measure; and certain hazardous waste management requirements. These IMs are necessary to prevent the offsite migration of hazardous waste and/or hazardous constituents.

-- Upon completion of EPA's preliminary assessment of the marsh and

Shipyard Creek sediments to determine the extent of contamination in the adjoining estuary, the Macalloy Corporation will be required to submit a RCRA Facility Investigation Workplan to propose, if necessary, additional investigation and corrective measures involving the marsh and Shipyard Creek sediments.

All work required by the Order will be consistent with EPA-approved work plans.

The Macalloy facility is located at 1800 Pittsburgh Avenue on 124 acres at the headwaters of Shipyard Creek, a tributary of the Cooper River. The Macalloy Corporation has owned and operated the facility since 1979. Since its construction in 1941, the facility has manufactured ferrochromium, an alloy used in the manufacture of stainless steel and alloy steels. The wastes generated from the manufacturing process include chromium, arsenic, lead, barium, manganese, mercury, zinc and cadmium. At high concentrations, these contaminants may cause adverse effects to human health and the environment.

    CONTACT: EPA
              Carl Terry, 404/562-8325