The LaSalle Rolling Mill Site ("the Site") is located at 1375 9th Street in LaSalle, LaSalle County, Illinois. It is located in an industrial/residential neighborhood with approximately 895 residents living within one hald mile of the site and the Vermilion River approximately 1000 feet east of the Site.
The property operated as a metal forming and rolling facility under contract to the U.S. Mint to generate metal blanks for pennies, which required copper plating onto zinc blanks. The facility occupied approximately 12 acres with one main building containing two furnaces, rolling mill, copper plating line and associated treatment operation, laboratory, warehouse space and offices. Several storage tanks are located outside which were used for the storage of mill oil and spent plating solution.
On August 22, 2000, USEPA conducted an inspection at the closed facility with officials of the US Mint and FBI, which were investigating the status of raw material (copper and zinc) owned by the US Government that may have been abondoned due to the Chapter 7 bankruptcy. The following areas of concern were identified: (1) copper plating line with 20 plus vats containing potassium cyanide and acid rinses; (2)wastewater treatment area with several tanks, one containing over 900 gallons of spent cyanide solution; (3)drum storage of F006/F008 waste, acids, cyanides, oxidizers and flammables;(4) outside tanks containing mill oil and spent cyanide solution;(5)asbestos insulation inside the building.
A General Notice Letter was sent on April 12, 2001, to the owners for the facility, and after lengthy negotiations with the RPs an AOC was signed on September 4, 2003, to address the areas of concern that were identified during the inspection.
As of 7/7/04, the work plans and HASP have been submitted and approved, some initial sampling has occurred and waste streams are being generated for various disposal bids. On site work is anticipated to begin within the next month.
