1.1.1 Incident Category
CERCLA Incident Category: Abandoned Residential Property

1.1.2 Site Description

1.1.2.1 Location

The Wiley Property Site is located at 209 Shinkle Chapel Road in Hartford, Ohio County,Kentucky.  The geographic coordinates of the Site are 37.5123000^o North and 86.9653010^o West. The Site consists of two parcels of land.  The first residential tract is designated as Tax/Parcel ID 73-17-1 in the records for Ohio County, KY  comprising 10.2 acres. This property is currently held by Wells Fargo Bank, following a foreclosure and Master Commissioner’s sale in 2014.  There are two improvements on Tax/Parcel ID 73-17-1: a single family home and an outbuilding.

The second tract making up the Site is designated as Tax/Parcel ID 73-17 in the records for Ohio County, KY.  This parcel is privately owned and a portion of this property was subdivided to sell Parcel 73-17-1 in 2007.  There are reports of an old barn on this property which was subsequently destroyed, thus suggesting that the past use of the property was for agricultural purposes.

The Site is bordered to the north by Shinkle Chapel Road, and by wooded, rural, and agricultural lands to the east, south, and west.  There is an abandoned single family dwelling on the property, and there are 10 homes located within a half-mile radius of the Site.

1.1.2.2 Description of Threat
Direct contact with high concentrations of inorganic arsenic, a listed hazardous substance

1.1.3 Preliminary Removal Assessment/Removal Site Inspection Results

See Polreps 1-2 and the Documents tab of the website: www.epaosc.org/wileyproperty for additional information.

2.1.1 Narrative

2.1.2 Response Actions to Date

On 8/3/2016, the Emergency and Rapid Response Services (ERRS) contractor CMC, Inc. began clearing and soil excavation activities.  The soils are placed in two separate stockpiles, based on use of an X-Ray Fluorescence (XRF) which measures total arsenic concentrations. The Superfund Technical Assistance and Response Team (START) contractor delineates areas at the surface with the XRF where total arsenic concentrations soils are >5,000 parts per million (ppm). Using historical data collected from this site, these soils are likely to fail the Toxicity Characteristic Leaching Procedure (TCLP) and are managed as a hazardous waste.  These soils will be shipped to a RCRA Subtitle C landfill in Indianapolis, IN for disposal.  Soils which test below 5,000 ppm are placed in a separate stockpile and will be shipped as a DOT hazardous material to the Republic Services Ohio County landfill in Beaver Dam, KY.  As of the date of this report, approximately 2570 cubic yards of arsenic-contaminated soils have been excavated and stockpiled. 

Off-site disposal of the DOT-regulated materials began on 09/14/2016, and as of the date of this report, over 280 tons has been disposed of at the Ohio County landfill.

On 08/30/2016, air samples were collected to evaluate the potential exposure of site workers to airborne arsenic particulate matter.  The results indicated that the maximum arsenic concentrations detected were 1.2 micrograms per cubic meter of air (ug/m3).  This is below the OSHA limit of 10 ug/m3 by an order of magnitude.  Site workers continue to wear Level C respiratory protection until another round of samples is collected to justify a downgrade in personal protection.

Also during this reporting period, additional funding in the amount of $900,000 was placed on the ERRS Task Order..

2.1.3 Enforcement Activities, Identity of Potentially Responsible Parties (PRPs)

All of the previous and current land owners have been designated as PRPs for this Site.  However, none have been identified for purposes of conducting the removal action as there is no direct evidence that any of the land owners contributed to a release of hazardous substances during their period of ownership.

Wells Fargo N.A. is currently responsible for the Wiley property but is not considered a PRP because it acquired title to the property via a foreclosure proceeding and thus has no liability under CERCLA.

2.1.4 Progress Metrics

2.2.1 Anticipated Activities

2.2.1.1 Planned Response Activities

2.2.1.2 Next Steps
Disposal of soils classified as hazardous wastes are pending the approval of the subcontracting consent package submitted to the EPA Contracting Officer.

2.2.2 Issues

The Action Memo authorizes excavation to 1.5 feet below land surface (BLS), followed by backfilling with clean soil and establishing vegetative cover.  Composite soil samples were collected on 09/07/2016 from the subgrade depth on the hillside area of the site following excavation. Results revealed total arsenic at 1530 ppm on the residential property and 1930 ppm on the non-residential property at subgrade depth along the hillside located down-gradient of the former source area.  A plastic barrier will be placed on all excavated areas as a marker before backfilling with clean soils.  This will facilitate identification of areas which may exceed the Kentucky Department of Environmental Protection (KDEP) remediation objectives for this site.

EPA - 1

ERRS - 6

START - 1