Congresswoman Dean tours Crossley Farm Hereford Township Superfund site

May 10—A delegation of environmental experts and government officials led by U.S. Rep. Madeleine Dean braved the dreary weather Friday to get a closer look at the progress being made at the contaminated Crossley Farm site in Berks County.

The Montgomery County Democrat was joined by U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Mid-Atlantic Regional Administrator Adam Ortiz on a tour of the wastewater treatment facility located on the Hereford Township property, where hazardous waste was stored and dumped more than 50 years ago.

Together, they emphasized the historic funding boost from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, which awarded $3.5 billion to the EPA to clean Superfund sites — areas like Crossley Farms that are contaminated by hazardous waste that led to environmental and health consequences for nearby communities.

"It gives me a lot of pride in the work that the federal government is doing in partnership with the state government and private contractors to clean up this site," Dean told those gathered at the event Friday. "We are stewards of this land, and when it gets dumped on we have a responsibility to clean it up for the next generation."

With the infusion of money from the federal government, the EPA has invested $10.9 million to enhance groundwater treatment at Crossley Farm.

Leslee Everett, site manager for the EPA, said the funding is being used to install eight groundwater extraction wells at the contaminated site to pump the groundwater located up to 400 feet underground to the treatment plant.

"We are now able to treat the actual source area," she said. "This will allow us to expedite the process."

Work is also being done to make improvements to the current plant. The agency began the work in April 2023 and Everett said she expects the work to be completed this September.

"This is just one example of those dollars at work," Dean said. "When people think that Washington is only a circus — it's not. There are an awful lot of us that are serious legislators who want to make a difference for the good in our communities."

Ortiz said the funds from the infrastructure law has given the EPA the ability to complete work at nearly 50 Superfund sites around the region that otherwise would have continued to be stuck in limbo.

"We knew there were liabilities, but we couldn't do anything about them because we didn't have the resources," he said. "Now, we have those resources and can do the work."

The history of the site

In the 1960s and 1970s, at least 1,200 drums of trichloroethylene were taken from Bally Case & Cooler Company and buried along with household garbage in a pit on the 209-acre dairy farm owned at the time by brothers Harry and James Crossley.

Trichloroethylene is a cancer-causing industrial solvent and metal degreaser that can impact the nervous system, liver, respiratory system, kidneys, blood, immune system and heart. TCE does not dissolve in water or fade over time.

By 1983, neighbors of Crossley Farms noticed their water had an unusual scent and taste, and reported it to the agency which is now the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection.

The state issued a health advisory, warning residents not to drink from the contaminated wells and the Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency provided temporary water supplies to the community.

The maximum allowed contaminant level for TCE in drinking water is 5 parts per billion. Today, Everett said groundwater at the hot spot has TCE measuring 1.2 million parts per billion, according to the EPA.

In 1997 the EPA installed water treatment systems in homes served by about 65 contaminated wells. Today about 45 residential wells are still affected. The EPA said the special filters make it safe for residents to drink and use water normally.

The EPA also constructed a treatment plant on the property in 2014 to help clean the groundwater contaminated by the toxic chemicals. The plant uses air stripping technology and carbon filtration to remove TCE and other volatile organic compounds.

The plant can process up to 200 gallons of water per minute. The improvements currently being made thanks to the federal infrastructure money will up that number to 250 gallons per minute.

Everett said the treatment plant has been effectively treating the groundwater contamination, with the water having no detectable TCE when it is released into a nearby stream.