Hazardous Waste Cleanup: East Penn Manufacturing Company in Lyon Station, Pennsylvania

On this page:


Cleanup Status

EPA issued an Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) Corrective Action Permit to the Facility in 1988. Since then, the Facility has completed the following activities:

  •  Continued operation of on-site groundwater pump and treat for drinking and industrial uses, and
  •  EPA approved the Facility’s Corrective Measure Study (CMS) in December 1998.

Several corrective measures such as construction of a new industrial wastewater treatment plant, construction of swales/berm to minimize the surface run-on to the Solid Waste Management Units (SWMUs), contaminated soil excavation and treatment, and natural dewatering of one of the SWMUs have been implemented in order to facilitate subsequent corrective measures.

EPA modified East Penn’s RCRA Corrective Action Permit for corrective measures in November 2001. The corrective measures involved on-site excavation and treatment of waste and contaminated soil, placement of  treated waste/soil from one SWMU to another, and capping.
EPA received no comment during the public comment period of August 23, 2001 through October 6, 2001.

In September 2003, East Penn began a post closure groundwater monitoring program to monitor the effectiveness of the remedial measures.

In March 2004, East Penn began to conduct a feasibility study on land use redevelopment. A building structure over the Eastern Ore Pit (EOP) (about 1.6 acres) was proposed.

In September 2005, East Penn submitted Post Closure Groundwater Monitoring Report recommending additional data collection be performed to confirm data trends.

In November 2005, East Penn submitted a copy of the plan entitled, “Final Engineering Design and Construction Plan for Corrective Measure Implementation -Eastern Ore Pit Solid Waste Management Unit Low Permeability Cap.” The Plan discussed the final cap to be constructed over the EOP SWMU.

In December 2006, East Penn was interested in enrolling the SWMU Battery Case Landfill in the EPA/Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (PADEP) One Clean Up Program.

In March, 2013, as per a PADEP on site visit, a new containment building was constructed on top of the old Eastern Ore Pit. It would serve as a less-than-90-day storage area. The Central Ore Pit was filled in and a new concrete truck-around associated with the containment building now “capped” that area. East Penn still worked on filling in the Western Ore Pit with some of the soils that were acceptable from the off-site remediations. East Penn clearly owns the Western Ore Pit. East Penn anticipated completing the off-site soil clean up on the adjacent property this year if all went as planned. The Battery Case Landfill was filled in except for a small area.

Completed corrective action work includes the excavation and treatment of the former Battery Case Landfill Solid Waste Management Unit, limited excavation of soil/waste materials from around the former Central Ore Pit (COP), expansion of a concrete slab to cover remaining soil/waste materials around the former COP, removal and processing of selected debris in the Eastern Ore Pit (EOP) Solid Waste Management unit (SWMU).  Stabilization of the EOP SWMU bottom sediments, and placement of treated soil/waste from these areas into the EOP SWMU. Additional lead containing soil has been excavated (soil from Site cleanup activities performed according to the PADEP Act 2 voluntary cleanup program), treated and placed in the EOP SWMU to reach final fill grade.  Treatment of the soil/waste materials involved excavation, material sizing where appropriate, and ex-situ and in-situ chemical fixation using EnviroBIend, a commercially available phosphate treatment reagent. Construction of the building/cap was completed in early 2012. A stormwater system was also installed to divert stormwater away from the EOP.

Groundwater is currently being treated by production wells #5 and #6 at the facility. The groundwater is withdrawn and passes through dual 10,000 pound carbon absorption units at each well. The wells at the site also provide hydraulic control of the facility’s groundwater and prevent contaminated groundwater from leaving the facility.

Top of Page


Site Description

Interactive Map of East Penn Manufacturing Company in Lyon Station, Pennsylvania


View larger map

The Facility consists of 289 acres located on a hillside in Lyon Station, Pennsylvania. The plant is situated in a predominantly rural setting and is bordered by agricultural land. The Facility manufactures lead-acid storage batteries, battery cables, hold downs, terminals and booster cable and operates a secondary lead smelter as part of its battery recycling operations.

Top of Page


Contaminants at this Facility

The main contaminants in groundwater are chlorinated organics, trichloroethane, trichloroethene, and tetrachloroethene. Soil contaminants are antimony, lead and mercury.

Top of Page


Institutional and Engineering Controls at this Facility

The Institutional Control consists of a permit with PADEP which requires treatment of the on-site potable drinking water well.
The Engineering Control consists of a cap for the Eastern Ore Pit Solid Waste Management Unit.

Top of Page


Land Reuse Information at this Facility

The facility is under continued use.

Top of Page


Site Responsibility at this Facility

RCRA Corrective Action activities at this facility have been conducted under the direction of EPA Region 3 with assistance from PADEP.

Top of Page