Several possible sources were located, including a small bottle of rubbing alcohol and a broken television picture tube, Orzehowski said. However, city public works Director David Williams later reported that he believed the substance was a small amount of nitric acid. Williams said he had detected a pungent acid smell, which he traced to a brown-colored liquid that he suspected originated in a small, unmarked, white plastic container. It is extremely hazardous to humans in direct contact, burning skin and eyes very badly, Williams said. Williams said he notified the state Department of Environmental Protection and said that the material would be neutralized with soda ash or some other form of buffering compound.
Steel mills use it.
But in such a small quantity, it could have come from anywhere. Williams also noted it is illegal to dispose of hazardous materials via household and commercial garbage collection. Nonetheless, he and other city officials said such incidents are an occasional occurrence at the dumping site. As a result, Williams said, all 10 of the facility's workers are trained and certified in hazardous materials response. A Westmoreland County hazardous materials team was not called due to the small amount of the chemical, he said.