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The property is located at 2028 South Sheridan Road in North Chicago, Lake County, Illinois. Coordinates for the site are latitude 42 degrees 19' 22.6" North and longitude 87 degrees 50' 30.1" West, as determined by Arcview or Landview III. It is located in an industrial neighborhood with surrounding residential and commercial areas. The Site is approximately 17.5 acres and is located adjacent to Pettibone Creek which discharges to Lake Michigan.
R. Lavin & Sons, Inc. began operating a secondary copper and brass recovery facility in 1941. Scrap copper and brass in many forms were imported from off-site sources, melted and refined in furnaces, and then poured into ingots that were shipped to customers. R. Lavin & Sons, Inc. fell under SIC Code 3341 and had approximately 200 employees. The facility was upgraded several times in advance of and in response to environmental regulations. Upgrades included installation of several baghouses; improvement of a closed-loop, cooling water recirculating system; implementation of surface run-off containment and control measures. Currently R. Lavin & Sons, Inc. is non-operational and in a liquidating bankruptcy with its assets being sold for cash by its creditors. Areas of concern on-site include the three open top storage tanks with 2.6 million gallons of capacity, the two retention ponds that directly discharge to the storm sewer, the process pit, the slag piles most of which are outside and uncovered, and the numerous baghouses throughout the facility.
Releases of contaminants to the storm sewer have been and continue to be an ongoing problem at this Site. Wastes generated by furnace clean-outs, flue dust collection, and contact cooling water treatment have been subject to heavy precipitation that has resulted in contaminated runoff being released to the ground and then to the groundwater and/or storm sewer that runs to Pettibone Creek and then to Lake Michigan. In addition, large volumes of slag were stored outside and were exposed to rainfall. A 1994 study by Illinois EPA compared sediment concentrations of certain metals upstream and downstream of the Site’s outfall into the Creek. The contaminants, copper, lead, and zinc were increased by 2387%, 3932%, and 2769%, respectively, downstream of the Site.
During the month of September, contractors decanted off water from the northeast tank which was shipped to Kenosha WWTP. Sludges were treated with lime to fixate the lead then pumped into sealed roll-offs for transportation to a disposal facility. Currently (9) roll-offs are staged on-site. Approximately half of the northeast tank has been cleaned to date with roughly 2 feet of sludge remaining in the east half of the tank.
Contractor is working on disposal arrangements, possible delays may be due to the sludge being to wet for landfill disposal and/or material may still exceed TCLP level for lead of 5ug/l.
Continue with the removal and treatment of the remaining sludge.
Power wash the northeast tank after sludge removal.
Complete all disposal arrangements.
Complete work as stated in the AOC.
Depending on the availability of resources, remaining containers, drums and lab chemicals are being consolidated for possible removal.
The south stormwater tank was sold and is scheduled to be dismantled in the near future.
Submit Final Report.
Creditors committee is anticipating the site will be abandoned if an agreement with the City cannot be reached on the sale of the property.
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