United States Environmental Protection Agency
Region V
POLLUTION REPORT



Date:
Friday, July 17, 2009
From:
Bradley Benning

Subject: 

Ongoing activity
Midwest Metallics Site
7955 West 59th Street, Summit, IL
Latitude: 41.7775000
Longitude: -87.8203000


POLREP No.:
13
Site #:
B5J2
Reporting Period:
7/6/09 to 7/17/09
D.O. #:
29
Start Date:
11/14/2005
Response Authority:
CERCLA
Mob Date:
6/15/2009
Response Type:
Time-Critical
Demob Date:
 
NPL Status:
Non NPL
Completion Date:
 
Incident Category:
Removal Action
CERCLIS ID #:
ILD054348974
Contract #
30228-0031
RCRIS ID #:
 

Site Description

The Site is located at 7955 West 59th Street in the City of Summit, Cook County, Illinois.  Approximately 23 acres in size, the Site is located 10 miles southwest of Chicago, Illinois.  The Site is located in the west-central section of Summit, and has  the geographic coordinates of latitude 41.46.39 N, longitude 87.49.13 W.  The Site is bordered by an industrial complex and 59th Street to the north; by railroad tracks and an automobile junkyard to the east; and by railroad tracks and railroad yard to the south and west.  Although the Site is located in an industrial neighborhood, there is significant residential development less than 1000 feet to the southeast of the site.

The Site previously operated as a scrap metal processing/recycling facility for more than 20 years.  The scrap metal shredder was utilized for the processing of scrap metal articles, such as automobile hulks and light iron.  The shredding process facilitates separation of ferrous and nonferrous metals from nonmetallic materials contained in the feed material; after separation, the remaining material is commonly referred to as shredder residue.  Shredder residues consist predominantly of nonmetallic solid material, including plastic, glass, rubber, soil, carpet and fabric.  It is an unconsolidated, heterogeneous solid, medium to dark brown in color and typically exhibiting a slight, musty odor.

Key Site features include the main ASR pile, two sets of abandoned railroad tracks, the former materials processing/shredder area, a surface water impoundment located along the northern edge of the Site, and two office/garage buildings currently being leased to trucking companies.  The main ASR pile extends along the Site’s eastern border in a north-northeast/south-southwest direction and measures approximately 875 feet along its longest axis.  The pile ranges in height from 30 to 70 feet above ground surfaces and in width from 125 to 250 feet.  Two separate  operations are active at the Site.  These companies have leased discrete areas in the west-central and northeastern sections of the Site to conduct their operations.  Generally, ground elevations increase by five to 10 feet from north to south, with drainage patterns to the north and northeast.  Water and/or leachate from the ASR pile was observed accumulating along the east border and flowing off the Site toward the adjacent automobile junkyard.  Other small piles of ASR are located throughout the Site, and many of the berms on Site are constructed of ASR material.  

A Removal Site Assessment was conducted on March 15, 2000, to determine the extent of the automobile shredder residue (“ASR”) previously observed at the Site, and to obtain additional analytical data to warrant a removal action.  Samples of the ASR were collected from various locations throughout the Site.  Eleven samples were collected at 200 foot intervals along the base of the large pile, and eight samples were collected on the top of the pile.  Eight surface samples, a sediment sample and one water sample were also collected.  The samples were analyzed for Total lead, TCLP metals, and PCBs.  The results identified total lead levels ranging from 20.6 to 180,000  ppm, TCLP lead levels of 0.283 to 94.1ppm, and PCBs from 7.6 to 217.7 ppm.  The ASR appears to cover an area in excess of 20 acres with depths ranging from one to 10 feet. The largest volume of ASR is located in the pile along the eastern perimeter and is estimated to contain 350,000 cubic yards.  In addition to the ASR, the Site allegedly has four underground fuel storage tanks which probably contained diesel fuel for the Site vehicles.  The condition and/or possible contamination from these tanks were not addressed during the initial site assessment activities.  These potential fuel tanks are outside the scope of this removal action.


Current Activities

This is the initiation of the next phase of action to consolidate the ASR pile for future capping.  On 6/15/09, Environmental Quality Management (EQM) mobilized to the site to begin work to consolidate the current pile into an area that will be the final footprint of the pile prior to capping.  The main work will be to move the southern pile off of property currently owned by a third party, and to pull material back from the site perimeter to allow for cover and drainage canals.  A detention pond is planned for the norhtwest corner of the site.

Work continues to progress over the last two weeks, primarily pulling material down from the main pile and excavating the northern perimeter channel area and now moving over to the northeastern corner.  Weston collected approximately 21 ASR samples on 6/25/09, to obtain updated data on the material since the last sampling was collected in 2000.  Initial results indicate that 10 of the 21 samples exceeded the TCLP standard of 5 ppm.  The PCB levels were all below 50 ppm except for one sample.  Minor maintenance issues with one of the excavators, but had little impact on site operations.  The southern boundry is being cleared and significant ASR needs to be pulled back into the main pile off of Parcel 7 which was acquired by a third party.  The surface and subsurface ASR on parcel 7, and the shredder structure will now have to be addressed by the new owner.  Met with site attorney to discuss enforce options for the parcel 7 owner.

As the height of the main pile is lowered and safer to work on, ERRS plans to change out an excavator for another dozer and demobe the dump truck, as most of the remaining ASR can be moved with dozers.


Planned Removal Actions

Site mobilization and setup. - Completed

Consolidation of numerous small ASR piles into the final foorprint area.

Install drainage channels and detention pond.

Reshape/Reconfigure pile to design standards.

Cover installation.

Erosion control/Restoration.

Demobilization.


Next Steps

Continue to consolidate the ASR into one main pile.

Continue to excavate perimeter along the north and south boundries.

Start to address steep slopes along the northeast and east perimeter.

Maintain dust control measures as needed.

Maintain site security.

Arrange sampling for perimeter air monitoring and personnel monitoring for the week of 7/20/09.

Arrange meeting with owner of other site parcels to discuss cleanup options for the southern parcel 7 which includes most of the shredder structure.


Key Issues

This phase of the work is under a new Task Order with EQM.

Maintaining dust control will be an ongoing issue as the hot and dry weather approaches.

Observing ASR and monitoring for any hot spots as the pile is opened up.


response.epa.gov/midwestmetallics