The Tracy Lead Battery Site is located at 361 South 4th Street, 380 South 4th Street, and the former Central Livestock yard in Tracy, Lyon County, Minnesota. The Site is located on both sides (east and west sides) of South 4th Street and is bordered by open farmland to the west, a livestock yard and residential properties to the south, undeveloped land to the east, and a drainage ditch to the north. The ditch contains water and flows from west to east. Commercial properties are located north of the ditch. The Meridian coordinates for the Site are 44.230251° North and 95.623263° West.
The former owner of the 361 South 4th Street property, Mr. Shirley Stowell, crushed lead batteries on the property for over 25 many years. These operations likely ceased upon the death of Mr. Stowell in 1970. Battery casings, metals, and debris remain piled and scattered on the Site.
The property at 380 South 4th Street was also used for battery crushing, but no visible battery crusher remnants are located at 380 South 4th Street. The 380 South 4th Street property was a salvage yard in the 1950s, 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s. Tax records indicate that the property was a salvage yard during this period and went through several ownership changes. The lead battery cracking operations on this property occurred during the 1960s and early 1970s. The property is currently used as a single family home.
Historic lead battery recycling operations at the Central Livestock property are indicated by the presence of empty battery casings and battery-casing chips located along the central and eastern portions of the abandoned railroad spur. The batteries likely came from the 380 South 4th Street property which used the railroad spur to transport the lead batteries for recycling. Additional lead contamination is also located along the northern boundary of the property. This contamination likely spilled over from the adjacent salvage yard (380 South 4th Street).
STS Consultants Ltd. conducted Phase I (2004) and Phase II (2007) investigations for the 380 South 4th Street and Central Livestock properties (STS Consultants Ltd. 2007), and Delta Environmental Consultants, Inc., conducted a Phase I (2004) investigation for the 361 South 4th Street property (Delta Environmental Consultants, Inc. 2004). The Phase I and II investigations were performed for the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA).
In June 2007, the MPCA requested U.S. EPA assistance to evaluate the Site.
In April 2008, U.S. EPA conducted a time-critical removal assessment at the Site. U.S. EPA and Weston START mobilized to the Site on April 21, 2008, to perform this investigation. The Site Assessment found levels of lead as high as 26,000 parts per million (ppm).
An Action Memorandum (Action Memo) indicating the need to perform a Time-Critical Removal Action was approved on August 5, 2008.
The Scope of Work for the Removal Action includes the following:
• Mobilize/Demobilize Equipment
• Excavate and Remove Impacted Soils
• Soil Sampling
• Transport/Dispose of Impacted Soils
• Backfill and Grade Excavated Areas
• Site Restoration
Removal activities at the Site began on September 16, 2008.
The removal activities at the Tracy Lead Battery Site started for 2009 construction season on April 21, 2009. Activities continued on the 361 South 4th Street property during this reporting period. The lead-contaminated soil under the construction trailer footprint of 2008, the gravel parking lot created in 2008, the driveways, and the areas surrounding the abandoned house were excavated. Excavation work on the 361 South 4th Street property was completed on April 27. Backfilling of the newly excavated areas will be initiated on April 30, weather permitting. The areas excavated last year were seeded on April 25 and 28.
Excavation began on the 380 South 4th Street property on April 27. The work on the 380 South 4th Street property was started at the eastern edge of the property. Work will proceed toward the west. The cutting down of trees on the property was initiated on April 29.
Excavation on the Central Livestock property was also started on April 27. The areas on the eastern end of the property, which were not completed in 2008, were worked on first.
To date, approximately 500 tons of lead-contaminated soil have been excavated and treated. The material is presently stockpiled on the Central Livestock property. Transportation and disposal activities have not been initiated.
Continue excavation activities on the Central Livestock and 380 South 4th Street properties.
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