Post by Eugene on Sept 28, 2009 9:47:43 GMT -5
Yikes!
CONTACT: Mick Hans, 312-353-5050, hans.mick@epa.gov
Susan Pastor, 312-353-1325, pastor.susan@epa.gov
(Ohio EPA) Dina Pierce, 614-644-2160
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
No. 09-OPA180
EPA adds Ohio's Little Scioto River to Superfund National Priorities List
(CHICAGO - Sept. 23, 2009) U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has added the Little Scioto River, near Marion, Ohio, to the Superfund National Priorities List of hazardous waste sites. Superfund is the federal program that investigates and cleans up the most complex, uncontrolled or abandoned hazardous waste sites in the country. A public comment period on the proposed listing of the site ended in June.
The Little Scioto River lies to the west of Marion, in Marion Township. It flows into the Scioto River, a major tributary of the Ohio River. A four-mile stretch of river sediment is contaminated with coal tar creosote containing hazardous polynuclear aromatic hydrocarbons, or PAHs, from the former Baker Wood facility. Since 1992, Ohio Department of Health has maintained a heath advisory against swimming, wading and eating fish from this stretch of the river. Using a mix of U.S. Coast Guard Oil Pollution Act and Superfund emergency removal funds, EPA conducted substantial excavation work from 2002 to 2006, removing 68,000 tons of sediment along about two miles of the river as well as a polluted shoreline area. With placement of the site on the NPL, the Little Scioto River is now eligible for additional cleanup resources and long-term planning.
In June 2009, EPA began a comprehensive, updated site investigation in consultation with Ohio EPA. New sampling of aquatic and ecological conditions will be conducted in Spring 2010. Following the sampling, EPA anticipates proposing a final comprehensive cleanup plan for the site in 2012.
Other EPA Region 5 sites added to the NPL today: the Lane Street Ground Water Contamination site in Elkhart, Ind. and the Amcast Industrial Corp. site in Cedarburg, Wis. Two other sites in EPA Region 5 were proposed for the NPL: Chemetco, a closed steel mill in Hartford, Ill., and Gratiot County Golf Course, a contaminated soil site in St. Louis, Mich. Nationally, 11 new sites were added to the NPL and 10 sites were proposed for addition to the list. Under the NPL process, sites are first proposed and public comments considered before a determination is made to formally add a site to the list.
To date, there have been 1,607 sites on the NPL. Of these sites, 336 have been deleted resulting in 1,271 sites currently on the NPL (including the 11 new final sites added in today's rulemaking). With the proposal of the 10 new sites, there are 66 proposed sites awaiting final agency action: 61 in the general Superfund section and five in the federal facilities section. There are a total of 1,337 final and proposed sites.
Links to the Federal Register notice, information on submitting comments on the proposed sites, background on the NPL process and summaries of the sites newly added or proposed are at www.epa.gov/superfund/sites/npl/current.htm. Detailed information about the Little Scioto River site is at www.epa.gov/region5/sites/littlescioto.
CONTACT: Mick Hans, 312-353-5050, hans.mick@epa.gov
Susan Pastor, 312-353-1325, pastor.susan@epa.gov
(Ohio EPA) Dina Pierce, 614-644-2160
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
No. 09-OPA180
EPA adds Ohio's Little Scioto River to Superfund National Priorities List
(CHICAGO - Sept. 23, 2009) U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has added the Little Scioto River, near Marion, Ohio, to the Superfund National Priorities List of hazardous waste sites. Superfund is the federal program that investigates and cleans up the most complex, uncontrolled or abandoned hazardous waste sites in the country. A public comment period on the proposed listing of the site ended in June.
The Little Scioto River lies to the west of Marion, in Marion Township. It flows into the Scioto River, a major tributary of the Ohio River. A four-mile stretch of river sediment is contaminated with coal tar creosote containing hazardous polynuclear aromatic hydrocarbons, or PAHs, from the former Baker Wood facility. Since 1992, Ohio Department of Health has maintained a heath advisory against swimming, wading and eating fish from this stretch of the river. Using a mix of U.S. Coast Guard Oil Pollution Act and Superfund emergency removal funds, EPA conducted substantial excavation work from 2002 to 2006, removing 68,000 tons of sediment along about two miles of the river as well as a polluted shoreline area. With placement of the site on the NPL, the Little Scioto River is now eligible for additional cleanup resources and long-term planning.
In June 2009, EPA began a comprehensive, updated site investigation in consultation with Ohio EPA. New sampling of aquatic and ecological conditions will be conducted in Spring 2010. Following the sampling, EPA anticipates proposing a final comprehensive cleanup plan for the site in 2012.
Other EPA Region 5 sites added to the NPL today: the Lane Street Ground Water Contamination site in Elkhart, Ind. and the Amcast Industrial Corp. site in Cedarburg, Wis. Two other sites in EPA Region 5 were proposed for the NPL: Chemetco, a closed steel mill in Hartford, Ill., and Gratiot County Golf Course, a contaminated soil site in St. Louis, Mich. Nationally, 11 new sites were added to the NPL and 10 sites were proposed for addition to the list. Under the NPL process, sites are first proposed and public comments considered before a determination is made to formally add a site to the list.
To date, there have been 1,607 sites on the NPL. Of these sites, 336 have been deleted resulting in 1,271 sites currently on the NPL (including the 11 new final sites added in today's rulemaking). With the proposal of the 10 new sites, there are 66 proposed sites awaiting final agency action: 61 in the general Superfund section and five in the federal facilities section. There are a total of 1,337 final and proposed sites.
Links to the Federal Register notice, information on submitting comments on the proposed sites, background on the NPL process and summaries of the sites newly added or proposed are at www.epa.gov/superfund/sites/npl/current.htm. Detailed information about the Little Scioto River site is at www.epa.gov/region5/sites/littlescioto.