NORRISTOWN – The Department of Environmental Protection is investigating an incident that occurred this morning at the Superior Tube Company in Lower Providence Township, Montgomery County.
Just after 9 a.m., company officials reported a 12-gallon spill of trichloroethylene, commonly known as TCE, from a 55-gallon drum inside the facility. Initial readings by the company’s handheld monitors detected 100 ppm of TCE vapors immediately over the spilled material just after the incident. Follow-up indoor monitoring by Superior workers shortly thereafter showed levels quickly decreased to 1 ppm.
The spill was confined to a containment area inside the building and was cleaned promptly, resulting in no airborne TCE levels detected by Superior workers monitoring outside the building.
DEP quickly notified local officials and sent agency inspectors to the site to ensure cleanup had been completed and to take air samples at the perimeter of Superior Tube’s property.
“Our staff was in the Collegeville area this week conducting mobile air quality monitoring and were able to respond immediately,” said Southeast Regional Director Joseph A. Feola. “We will ensure there is no immediate threat to area residents and will follow up with company officials regarding this latest incident.”
As discussed at DEP’s August public meeting, the agency is working to establish additional monitoring locations within the region. As part of these plans, the region had arranged for DEP’s mobile analytical unit to work in the Collegeville area this week conducting air monitoring.
This type of monitoring, like most DEP inspections, is unannounced and not made public, to ensure area businesses continue to operate regularly.
DEP will work to identify potential monitoring areas with data from the mobile units, as well as the two area stationary monitors. A future public meeting will be scheduled to announce additional monitoring efforts, discuss the status of facility emission reduction efforts and review DEP air-monitoring data gathered to date.
Superior Tube currently holds a facility-wide air permit that limits TCE emissions from this degreaser unit to 15 lbs. per hour. The facility emits approximately 70 tons—or 140,000 pounds—of TCE a year.