| Hydrogen Release Compound (HRC®) Helps
Take Major Cleanup Site off Superfund List |
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SAN CLEMENTE, CALIFORNIA, May. 18 -/E-Wire/-- In a recent ceremony
near Denver, Colorado, Interior Secretary Gale Norton took possession of
nearly one-third of the 17,000-acre Rocky Mountain Arsenal (RMA), a former
chemical weapons facility once described as "the most polluted square mile
on earth," for the Department of the Interior and dedicated it as a national
wildlife refuge. Military munitions sites like RMA, of which there are an
estimated 2,300 in the U.S., may harbor a wide range of hazardous soil and
groundwater contaminants, such as perchloroethene (PCE), trichloroethene
(TCE), nitroaromatic explosives, and perchlorate. Hydrogen Release Compound
(HRC®), a low-cost, accelerated bioremediation technology developed by
Regenesis (San Clemente, CA), is one of the advanced technologies credited
with speeding the RMA cleanup and making the site safe for civilian use.
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HRC®, a viscous, honey-like substance,
is simply injected into the soil, where contact with groundwater causes it
to slowly release lactic acid. Naturally occurring anaerobic microbes metabolize
the lactic acid to produce hydrogen. The hydrogen, in turn, is used by other
indigenous microbes to break down target chemicals. This occurs through
a stepwise process known as reductive dechlorination, which produces harmless
end-products such as ethene and ethane. HRC, used on over 500 sites worldwide,
is recognized as a key technology for the treatment of federal facilities
dealing with groundwater contamination issues.
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From the 1940s to the mid-1980s the Rocky Mountain
Arsenal was used to produce chemical warfare and industrial chemicals and
later for weapons destruction, causing it to be placed on the Environmental
Protection Administration's National Priorities "Superfund" List in 1987.
A massive environmental restoration program is now under way to convert
the Arsenal into one of the country's largest urban wildlife refuges. The
EPA recently confirmed that about 5,000 acres of the site were clean enough
to be taken off the Superfund list, paving the way for its transfer to the
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. A ceremony at the site April 17 was a major
step that "makes the refuge official," said Laura Williams, EPA's Remedial
Project Manager for the RMA. "This will be the first of the arsenal property
transferred to the U.S. Department of Interior."
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About Regenesis
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Incorporated in 1994, Regenesis is the world's
leading developer and distributor of injectable products designed to facilitate
the rapid, low-cost, and efficient cleanup of contaminated-groundwater sites.
Regenesis's patented products include Oxygen Release Compound (ORC®)
for remediation of aerobically degradable hydrocarbons; Hydrogen Release
Compound (HRC®), for treatment of anaerobically degradable compounds;
HRC Extended Release Formula (HRC-X™ ) for long-term treatment of residual
source areas and DNAPLs; Bio-Dechlor Inoculum™ for treatment of dichloroethenes
(DCE) and vinyl chloride (VC) at recalcitrant sites; and Metals Release Compound
(MRC™) for injectable, low-cost, in-situ groundwater treatment of dissolved
metals. Interested readers are encouraged to visit the Regenesis website
(www.regenesis.com ) for information, or to contact Marketing Manager
Bryan Vigue (949-366-8000, x122; bryan@regenesis.com ).
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