The former W.R. Grace & Company (WRG) Dearborn plant (also known as the Henn Street Facility, Dearborn plant, and N-Forcer Site) is located at 14300 Henn Street, Dearborn, Wayne County, Michigan. Land use in the surrounding neighborhood includes recreational (a soccer field is located across the street), residential, educational, commercial, and industrial. The site has a single 16,000 square-foot building, which was used to process vermiculite ore into attic insulation and lightweight concrete aggregate. The original site consisted of a railroad spur where raw ore was off-loaded, two storage silos, exfoliation furnaces, and bagging/processing space.
During the 1950s, the Zonolite Company started leasing the facility to process vermiculite ore from Libby, Montana. In 1963, the Zonolite Company was acquired by WRG and continued to use the Dearborn plant to manufacture products using Libby, Montana, vermiculite ore. According to WRG shipping records, the Dearborn plant processed approximately 206,000 tons of vermiculite ore from Libby, Montana, from 1966 to 1988. Although WRG vermiculate processing allegedly began 10 years prior to this, records are not available on the quantity of vermiculite associated with this earlier period.
Over time, it became known that vermiculite ore mined from Libby, Montana, was contaminated with asbestos fibers, including the amphibole asbestos varieties tremolite and actinolite, as well as the related fibrous asbestiform minerals.
Studies throughout the 1980s identified an increased rate of asbestos-related respiratory diseases in vermiculite workers. The findings at the Libby mine site and sites processing ore from Libby, Montana, provided the impetus for investigating the Dearborn Site, as well as other sites across the nation that received asbestos-contaminated vermiculite from the Libby, Montana, mine. In 1989, WRG ceased operations at the Dearborn plant. The storage silos and exfoliation furnaces were dismantled and removed, and use of the railroad spur ceased.
Another company currently operates on the Site.
Week of April 04, 2005, EPA, ATSDR, MDCH, ERT, ERRS, and START mobilized to site: support facilities were established; the excavation area was secured with snow fencing; and ERT collected background perimeter air samples. EPA Community Involvement Coordinators began contacting residents living within approximately one-half mile radius of the site.
April 5, George Howard from the Michigan Department of Labor and Economic Growth’s asbestos program and Thomas Vincent from the MDEQ’s asbestos program visited the site. EPA held a public meeting to inform the community of the planned onsite excavation and residential yard investigation. Prior community involvement included attending a public meeting in December 2004, two direct mailings, two English and two Arabic newspaper ads, and coordination with ACCESS, a local community organization. In addition, Jane Mackey from Congressman Conyers office contacted EPA to offer assistance.
April 11, perimeter air sampling was initiated, and onsite excavation started in area 1 (behind the building). EPA will excavate to a maximum depth of 18in below ground surface.
April 12, EPA completed contacting residents within ½ of the site. Over 1,000 homes were visited. EPA has entered into the site database 675 of these visits. Of the 675 visits entered, 261 residents were home or responded to cards asking them to contact EPA. 80 homes have been inspected and 50 more are scheduled to be completed. Of the homes inspected, 15 have been selected for further investigation. No tremolite bundles have been found off site.
Starting on April 13, MDEQ’s RRD provided two inspectors to assist EPA with visual inspection of yards.
EPA is continuing to work with CSX Transportation, Inc. to cleanup the adjacent railroad property.
1) Continue visual inspections;
2) Excavate and dispose of contaminated soil;
3) Vacuum/wash concrete pads;
4) Repave asphalt parking areas;
5) Restore site conditions;
7) Sample residential areas based on visual inspections and an air deposition model;
8) Work with CSX Transportation, Inc on access and cleanup of railroad property.
|
