U.S. ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY POLLUTION/SITUATION REPORT Lyndon Street Drums - Removal Polrep UNITED STATES ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY Region V
Subject:	POLREP #3 Time-Critical Removal Continues Lyndon Street Drums Pending Detroit, MI Latitude: 42.3955500 Longitude: -83.1502640
To:	Jason El-Zein, U.S. EPA Beverly Kush, U.S. EPA Osric Wilson, DFD Harold Watkins, DFD Robin Eagan, DFD Bruce VanOtteren, MDEQ Jennifer Wolf, MDEQ Joe DeGrazia, MDEQ Ray Scott, Detroit Environmental Affairs John Maritote, U.S. EPA Carol Ropski, U.S. EPA Michael Chezik, U.S. DOI Sherry Fielding, U.S. EPA Duty Officer, USCG Joe Walczak, MDEQ Shawn Battle, DFD Patricia Lawton, MDEQ Charles Gebien, U.S. EPA Thomas Marks, U.S. EPA Jeffery Trevino, ORC John Glover, U.S. EPA Mark Johnson, ATSDR Linda Dykema, MDCH Christina Bush, MDCH Lisa Quiggle, MDCH Edward Primeau, USCG Joel Ferguson, USCG Jon Gulch, U.S. EPA David Szymanski, Wayne County
From:	Jeffrey Lippert, On-Scene Coordinator
Date:	11/5/2011
Reporting Period:	10/31/2011 - 11/5/2011
1. Introduction   1.1 Background     Site Number: C566    Contract Number:   D.O. Number:      Action Memo Date: 9/14/2011 Response Authority: CERCLA    Response Type: Time-Critical Response Lead: EPA    Incident Category: Removal Action NPL Status: Non NPL    Operable Unit: Mobilization Date: 8/18/2011    Start Date: 10/24/2011 Demob Date: 8/18/2011    Completion Date:   CERCLIS ID: MIN000510622    RCRIS ID: ERNS No.:    State Notification: 08/18/2011 FPN#:    Reimbursable Account #: 1.1.1 Incident Category Began as an emergency response on August 18, 2011.  Time-Critical removal beginning October 24, 2011. 1.1.2 Site Description The site is the abandoned laboratory of Riverside Organics, Inc, according to labels inside the building.  The site is bordered by Lyndon Street and commercial and industrial properties to the south, a vacant lot and commercial and industrial properties to the west, residential homes to the north, and industrial and commercial properties to the east. 1.1.2.1 Location It is located at 8100 Lyndon Street, Detroit, Wayne County, Michigan 48238. 1.1.2.2 Description of Threat U.S. EPA was contacted by Captain Eagan of the Detroit Fire Department (DFD) on August 18, 2011 regarding hundreds of drums and miscellaneous containers, many leaking, in an abandoned building at 8100 Lyndon Street, Detroit, Wayne County, Michigan 48238 (site). DFD requested assistance with securing the site and removal of the drums and containers. U.S. EPA secured the building and leaking drums, collected samples and conducted air monitoring on August 18, 2011.  No waste was disposed of during the emergency action, only securing of the site.  Over 300 drums and containers exist inside the building in very poor condition.  During the emergency response, U.S. EPA collected five waste liquid samples.  All five samples were characteristically hazardous for either ignitability, corrosivity, or toxicity as defined by 40 C.F.R § 261.21, §261.22, or §261.24, respectively.   All samples collected by U.S. EPA also contained various levels of cyanide, a CERCLA hazardous substance. 1.1.3 Preliminary Removal Assessment/Removal Site Inspection Results OSC Lippert responded to the Site on Thursday, August 18, 2011 at approximately 1400 hours. U.S. EPA confirmed the presence of hundreds of drums and containers at the Site. Many were marked "Toxic", "Flammable", "Corrosive", "Poison", "Reactive", and "Dangerous When Wet", few were leaking and many are in poor condition. Many containers are stacked on top of each other and incompatiple wastes (containers labeled "oxidizer" and "corrosive") stored in close proximity of one another.  VOC readings were over 500 ppm on two drums that were opened and sampled. The building is in a state of disrepair. Holes in the roof are allowing rain water to infiltrate the building and contribute to the already unstable condition of drums and containers. There is no perimeter fencing and the building is open and unlocked. 2. Current Activities   2.1 Operations Section     2.1.1 Narrative U.S. EPA was contacted by Captain Eagan of the Detroit Fire Department (DFD) on August 18, 2011 regarding hundreds of drums and miscellaneous containers, many leaking, in an abandoned building at 8100 Lyndon Street, Detroit, Wayne County, Michigan 48238. DFD requested assistance with securing the site and removal of the drums and containers. OSC Lippert responded to the Site on Thursday, August 18, 2011 at approximately 1400 hours. U.S. EPA confirmed the presence of hundreds of drums and containers at the Site. Many were marked "Toxic", "Flammable", "Corrosive", "Poison", "Reactive", and "Dangerous When Wet", many were leaking and in poor condition. The building is in a state of disrepair. Holes in the roof are allowing rain water to infiltrate the building and contribute to the already unstable condition of drums and containers. There is no perimeter fencing and the building is open and unlocked. U.S. EPA secured the wastes and the building and conducted air monitoring and drum sampling on August 18, 2011. U.S. EPA remobilized to the site on October 24, 2011 and began the time-critical removal action. 2.1.2 Response Actions to Date During the week of October 31 through November 5, U.S. EPA conducted inventory of containers in-place.  In an effort to reduce the health and safety hazards in the building, compressed gas cylinders were removed from the building and placed in a staging area.  Compressed gas cylinders were labeled "toxic", "flammable", "corrosive", "inhalation hazard", and "experimental use only".  Many were unlabeled.    U.S. EPA also removed reactive chemicals from the building and staged them in a lined connex box. Three containers of pure ether were discovered in the building in rusted, bulging containers.  Drums and containers surrounding the ether were moved to a more secure location inside the building.  The containers of ether were isolated with caution tape. 2.1.3 Enforcement Activities, Identity of Potentially Responsible Parties (PRPs) The enforcement process is on-going. 2.1.4 Progress Metrics Waste Stream Medium Quantity Manifest # Treatment Disposal                                       2.2 Planning Section     2.2.1 Anticipated Activities Continue container inventory Continue removal of reactive chemicals Continue segregating chemicals within the building 2.2.1.1 Planned Response Activities          Inventory containers     Sample containers;     Soil excavation;     Backfill; and     Off-site disposal.   2.2.1.2 Next Steps Continue enforcement 2.2.2 Issues None.   2.3 Logistics Section     Not Applicable.   2.4 Finance Section     No information available at this time.   2.5 Other Command Staff     2.5.1 Safety Officer Bryan Mullins  2.6 Liaison Officer Not Applicable. 2.7 Information Officer None. 2.7.1 Public Information Officer None. 2.7.2 Community Involvement Coordinator None. 3. Participating Entities   3.1 Unified Command Unified Command was not utilized. 3.2 Cooperating Agencies Detroit Fire Department Michigan Department of Environmental Quality Detroit Environmental Affairs 4. Personnel On Site   U.S. EPA - 1 START - 1 ERRS - 6 5. Definition of Terms   U.S. EPA - United States Environmental Protection Agency ERRS - Emergency and Rapid Response Service START - Superfund Technical Assessment and Response Team DFD - Detroit Fire Department C.F.R - Code of Federal Regulations 6. Additional sources of information   6.1 Internet location of additional information/report None. 6.2 Reporting Schedule POLREPS will be issued weekly or as necessary. 7. Situational Reference Materials   None.