By Gabbie Burton
Contributing Writer

The discourse surrounding the remediation of the former National Vulcanized Fiber (NVF) site in Kennett Square continued on Jan. 20 as the borough invited the public to a meeting where officials from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (Pa. DEP) and owner of the property, Rockhopper LLC gave updates about the continued clean-up of the site.

The two-and-a-half-hour meeting hosted nearly 60 local attendees at borough hall and gave the representatives an opportunity to present updates on the remediation efforts to remove polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and other hazardous materials from the site, and answer questions from the community.

NVF, which operated from the late 1800s until it declared bankruptcy in 2007, produced vulcanized fiber, a plastic-like material used in a variety of products at the time. The production of the vulcanized fiber left behind hazardous materials that permeated the soil and ground water and were first discovered in 1982 in Red Clay Creek prompting an initial clean up with the EPA in the 1980s and 1990s.

Rockhopper acquired the property in 2009 and entered the property into the Pa. DEP’s voluntary clean-up program under the Land Recycling and Environmental Remediation Standards Act, otherwise known as Act 2. Due to the presence of PCBs, the EPA once again became involved in overseeing remediation at the site focusing only on PCB remediation while Pa. DEP handles the remediation of all other materials.

Rockhopper partnered with Lennar home construction company in 2021 and has plans to build 246 townhomes and 48 affordable apartments at the property should remediation efforts and borough approval ultimately succeed.

‘Push the pretty shiny pictures’

Like other public meetings that have been held about the NVF site, community members at the meeting continued to focus on a distrust in the remediation process and overall safety concerns.

“I think where I and maybe others are feeling the distrust is when somebody has financial gain on the site, and they’re the ones providing information,” said one attendee. “I think the collective concern might be that [developers are] going to continue to push the pretty shiny pictures until we all get tired of fighting it.”

While officials from the EPA and Pa. DEP oversee and approve the removal of PCBs and all other hazardous materials, respectively, the agencies do not have boots on the ground performing the remediation; that task is delegated to Rockhopper.

Dave Brown, one of the representatives from Pa. DEP, explained that while the responsibility of remediations falls on Rockhopper, the company works with independent and licensed professionals to perform both the removal and sampling of soil and groundwater at the site. According to Brown, the samples from the site are then sent to independent labs accredited by the state for testing, adding an additional layer of outside oversight. The EPA and Pa. DEP officials also stated that the agencies perform periodic check-ins and final approvals, although this level of oversight was criticized by some of those in the audience.

“So what we’re saying is that you’re getting reports that these people are moving full steam ahead, and what we’re seeing doesn’t match what you’re saying,” on resident said. 

The passionate questions issued by local residents at the meeting were largely inspired by safety and health concerns, mainly the theory among local residents that the NVF site and surrounding areas are a potential “cancer cluster.”

EPA representative Amanda Michel noted in her presentation that PCBs are probable carcinogens, linked to liver, breast, non-Hodgkin lymphoma and melanoma cancers as well as other adverse health effects such as birth defects, developmental delays and immune system dysfunction.

While attendees at the meeting who live near the NVF site on West Mulberry Street shared stories of cancer impacting their lives, the correlation residents see between the NVF site and local cancer diagnoses has not been officially linked.

“I was diagnosed with cancer in 2021 along with several other people in our neighborhood,” said Corey Barber, a former Kennett Square resident. “I love Kennett Square, I do, and I’m sorry that we had to move, but when the digging starts and the dust comes up, there will be an uproar. There will. People are going to believe that they’re going to get cancer. I did, from the dust kicking up.”

To mitigate this concern, Michel shared that both Pa. DEP and EPA have dust control guidelines that will be used in the final plan Rockhopper submits for development.

While the meeting allowed the parties involved to share information and answer questions, the conversation surrounding the NVF site, its remediation and its future development is still far

from over. For the ownership of the site, a PCB Final Cleanup Plan is due to EPA by Feb.11. For the borough, Mayor Matt Fetick shared the possibility of scheduling another similar meeting to continue answering community concerns. He also shared that in the coming months borough council will also vote on changing the zoning ordinance of the site.

“Council could vote to amend the zoning ordinance to permit the use of residential dwellings on that site,” Fetick said. “That is far from the approval of building homes. It’s a change in the zoning that just says it could be done. It doesn’t say that it can, will, should.”

Fetick encouraged those concerned or interested in the NVF remediation and development to continue asking questions and stay up to date on the process through the designated page on the borough website.

To contact Contributing Writer Gabbie Burton, email [email protected].