On this page:

• Cleanup Status
• Site Description
• Contaminants at this Facility
• Site Responsibility

Cleanup Status

All tanks and concrete were removed. The Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) tank was closed in 1986. Approximately 575 cubic yards of soil contaminated with pesticides were also removed during closure. Eight areas of environmental concern (AECs) were identified with potential impacts to soils and/or sediment. Contaminated soil from the FMC site was excavated and disposed off-site. An area of pesticide-contaminated soil was also removed from the adjacent Malaga Villa Apartments property.

A semi-annual groundwater monitoring program has been implemented at the site to monitor the extent and changing concentration of contaminants beneath the FMC site and the former Grasso property. Because drinking water for the surrounding area is provided by private wells, several rounds of tap water sampling were also conducted.

The New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (NJDEP) is currently reviewing a July 2012 FMC report that analyzes the most recent groundwater monitoring data to evaluate the trend and assess whether the contaminated groundwater can be naturally attenuated. The facility is also proposing activities to evaluate residual pesticides in soil believed to affect groundwater quality on site. A groundwater institutional control (i.e., classification exception area [CEA]) was approved on April 2008 and renewed in 2011. The NJDEP requested that FMC submit documentation for soil institutional control (i.e., a deed notice) as part of the remedy for the contaminated soil. 

Site Description

The FMC Corporation (FMC) site is situated on approximately 2.75 acres of land along North Delsea Drive (State Highway Route 47) in Malaga, Franklin Township, Gloucester County, New Jersey. Current land uses in the area are commercial and residential. The facility is bordered by a service station and self-storage warehouse to the northeast, an unoccupied restaurant to the southeast, a Conrail railroad line and the former Grasso property to the southwest, and the Malaga Villa Apartments and a small shopping center (including a Laundromat) to the northwest.

Between 1963 and 1986, this site was used for manufacturing, packaging, and storing agricultural chemicals and products, including insecticides, pesticides, and herbicides. Since 1986, the FMC site has been used solely as a warehouse and distribution point for dry and aqueous agricultural products (fertilizers, herbicides, insecticides, and pesticides) manufactured at other FMC plants around the country. A portion of the on-site warehousing is also leased to AG Chemical for distribution and storage of similar agricultural products. In 1996, FMC purchased the former Grasso property southwest of the main plant site to allow access for monitoring of impacted groundwater migrating from on-site contaminant source areas.

In addition to the warehouses, the former facility layout included several aboveground tanks, a concrete truck off-loading area, and a reinforced concrete tank without secondary containment. The concrete tank was used until August 1992 for storage and evaporation of floor wash waters, drum rinsate, and pesticide residuals from process operations and, consequently, was classified as an interim status RCRA hazardous waste treatment unit.

Contaminants at this Facility

Soils and groundwater are contaminated with pesticides. 

Site Responsibility at this Facility

Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) Corrective Action activities at this facility have been conducted under the direction of EPA Region 2.