The Site is located at 1122 3rd Avenue in Rockford, Winnebago County, Illinois. The Site is an inactive and abandoned former dry cleaning facility consisting of a rectangular, two-story building. The Site is bordered by 2nd Avenue to the north, a hardware store to the east, 3rd Avenue to the south, and 7th Street to the west (Figure 2-1). The Meridian coordinates for the Site are 42º15'50.06" North and 89º04'47.58" West. The size of the Site was not found in background documents; however, an overhead image of the property suggests that the Site covers approximately 0.2 acre and that the Site’s building occupies approximately 4,400 square feet. The Rock River is located approximately 0.75 mile northwest of the Site. The Site is in a mixed residential and commercial/industrial area. The nearest residents are located in an apartment complex approximately 100 feet northwest of the Site.
The Site operated from approximately 1948 to 2004 as a dry cleaning facility. In 1994, a Phase I Environmental Site Assessment (ESA) was conducted by Huff & Huff, Inc., of LaGrange, Illinois. During the ESA, three soil borings were collected and analyzed for volatile organic compounds (VOC) and total petroleum hydrocarbons (TPH). The specific TPH compound analyzed for was Stoddard Solvent, the dry cleaning solvent used during operations. One boring was advanced to a depth of six feet below ground surface (bgs) and two borings were advanced to a depth of 12 feet bgs. The boring advanced to six feet bgs was located near the dry cleaning units and soil in the boring contained VOCs at the following concentrations:
VOCs in Soil Boring near Dry Cleaning Units:
Sample Depth Detected VOCs
2 to 4 feet bgs Ethylbenzene – 0.006 mg/kg
TCE – 0.078 mg/kg
Toluene – 0.0093 mg/kg
Total Xylenes – 0.045 mg/kg
4 to 6 feet bgs TCE – 0.049 mg/kg
Total Xylenes – 0.021 mg/kg
TPH as Stoddard Solvent–20 mg/kg
bgs – below ground surface
mg/kg – milligrams per kilograms
TCE – tetrachloroethylene
TPH – total petroleum hydrocarbons
VOC – volatile organic compound
The other two borings were collected from a location near the Stoddard Solvent pump and aboveground storage tank (AST) and from a location outside the building beneath the Stoddard Solvent fill pipe, respectively. These two borings contained no detections of VOCs or TPH.
In October and November 2007 Fehr-Graham & Associates, LLC, of Rockford, Illinois, performed a Phase I ESA on behalf of the City of Rockford. The ESA included a site reconnaissance that revealed the following conditions present at the site:
•All windows and doors were boarded up at the Site and there is no electricity. Therefore, it was fairly dark inside the building.
•The building’s interior was cluttered by dry cleaning equipment, clothes, and general debris.
•There is an upper level in the building that consists of offices and a restroom. A leaking ceiling had caused the wooden structure of this upper floor to become very wet and moldy. In addition, the upper level was apparently vandalized and in disarray.
•A fill pipe for the AST inside the building was located on the west wall outside the building.
•Possible asbestos-containing material (ACM) floor tiles were observed.
•Three dry cleaning units were observed inside the building with the supply tank of one unit mostly full of dry cleaning product.
•An AST with a hand pump was observed near the west central wall and was inaccessible because it was covered with miscellaneous items.
•The historical boiler room was observed southeast of the AST.
•Several 55-gallon drums were observed on the ground floor of the building. The drums appeared to contain various chemicals, including spent TCE and petroleum-based dry cleaning products.
•Several small chemical storage containers (five gallons and less) were observed.
On December 20, 2007, WESTON START members Mr. Ben Maradkel, Mr. Jay Rauh, and Mr. Randy Livingston met with U.S. EPA OSC Cook; City of Rockford representative, Mr. Andy Laurent; and Mr. Jerry Willman of the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency to assess the Site’s current conditions and conduct waste sampling. During the site reconnaissance, WESTON START provided written and photographic documentation of the Site conditions and performed continuous breathing zone air monitoring with a MultiRAE Plus five-gas monitor, and a Micro-R gamma radiation meter. No air monitoring readings above background levels were recorded for the breathing zone throughout the Site during site reconnaissance.
The Site building was in fair condition and all the windows and doors were boarded. Site access is unrestricted and it appeared that trespassing had occurred at the site because debris was scattered in a haphazard way throughout the building.. There were some leaks in the roof, and miscellaneous containers and debris were scattered throughout the building. The drop ceiling in the building was deteriorating and falling down due to water leakage from the roof. Items and debris were scattered throughout the building. The first floor of the building contained some distinct areas including a Sorting Area, Dry Cleaning Area, Boiler Room, Storage Area 1, and Storage Area 2. An AST was located northwest of the Dry Cleaning Area. A second floor in the building contained offices. Suspect ACM was present throughout the building. Building material that could possibly be ACM included floor tile, plaster, drywall, window caulking, and fiberglass paper backing. The following is an inventory of the containers observed throughout the building:
•12 to 14 drums suspected to contain chlorinated solvents including PCE located throughout the first floor of the building
•20 to 25 small containers (one-gallon to five-gallons) containing corrosives, flammables, paints, strippers, thinners, and chlorinated solvents located throughout the first floor of the building
•One AST (approximately 1,000 gallons) with approximately one inch of product remaining located in a separate room northwest of the dry cleaning area on the first floor of the building
•One 150-gallon vat (located underneath the washing machine) that was half full located in the dry cleaning area
During this reporting period Site housekeeping activities continued and hazardous categorization of unknown waste substances commenced. On March 17, 2008, START and ER personnel returned to the Site after a week off Site. Cody Cole Security was present on Site during the week of inactivity and continued to provide personnel during non-work hours throughout this reporting period. On the morning of the 17th the Site trailer was connected with electricity, phone and internet service. (Wilson Electric Company/ComEd and AT&T) A third roll-off-box (20 cubic yard) was also delivered to the Site for additional debris/trash removal. ER personnel worked to dismantle an overhead metal clothes rack and installed string lighting in the garage area of the building. Left-over drying cleaning supplies/machines were moved/removed and the area was prepped for hazardous categorization activities. START observed that traction on the north stairs had improved from the result of warmer ambient temperatures melting layers of ice. The room adjacent to the garage area was also cleared by ER personnel. Sewing supplies removed from this room included buttons, zippers, fabric and sewing machines. START also observed an open window and unsecured window-mounted fan on the building’s northeast corner. START brought mention of these security concerns to OSC Cook and he instructed ER personnel to remove the fan and board-up these openings before work terminated for the day.
On March 18th, debris/trash in Storage Area 1 was targeted removal. This included racks of clothes and hangers which were removed from the building with a hand-powered wheel barrel and loaded into the roll-off-box with a Bobcat. ER personnel added additional light to this room to improve working conditions. After the room was cleared, four additional 55-gallion drums of cleaning product were uncovered and documented. The third roll-off-box was filled and the disposal company was notified. A large counter top was moved from the sewing supply room adjacent to the garage into the garage area itself. This counter top was placed along the building’s west wall for future hazardous categorization activities. The building was sealed by ER personnel before work was completed for the day.
Work on March 19th, included primarily drum moving and marking. A Rock River Disposal transport unit arrived in the morning to haul off the Site’s third full roll-off-box (20 cubic yard) and replaced it with a forth. During the loading of the roll-off-box, the transport truck leaked approximately 3 gallons of hydraulic oil. After the truck had cleared the Site, ER personnel noticed the oil and contacted the company about the unreported incident. ER personnel then treated the paved northwest corner of the Site, where the spill occurred, with Oil Dri. Small containers of household and commercial waste products were collected by ER and START. These small containers were then staged in the building’s garage area on counter tops for hazardous categorization. ER and START conducted a search of the building’s upper level for additional small containers which produced several more small bottles of household and office supply waste which was added to the previously established collection. ER personnel upgraded personal protection equipment (PPE) to a Level C status before beginning drum moving tasks. Eleven drums were moved from the Dry Cleaning Area and Storage Area 1 by ER personnel. A team of two workers utilized a manual drum cart to move the 55-gallon drums from their original locations to the building’s west entrance. The drums were then loaded onto a Bobcat in sets of two and a third ER worker drove them over to the garage area. The drums were then unloaded in the garage staging area and placed in neat rows. A 75-gallon water softener tank was also moved to the garage area in a similar manner. The tank, which contained a bottom salt residue, was cut apart by ER personnel with a saws-all and placed in the roll-off-box. A final sweep of the building was conducted to collect all five-gallon buckets and any remaining containers, which were placed in the garage staging area. After all containers were moved into the staging area, ER personnel sequentially marked the drums and buckets. This completed the hazardous categorization preparation activities and work for the day.
The main work task on March 20th was drum sampling. ER personnel continued to clean out debris/trash from around Vat 1 utilizing a similar wheel barrel and Bobcat removal technique. All preliminary paperwork and staging of hazardous waste containers was completed in the morning before any drums were opened. ER and START began the afternoon sampling session by upgrading PPE to Level C. ER personnel utilized simple glass and plastic bailers to fill sample jars and START monitored air levels within the open garage area. Twenty-six samples from drums and buckets of varied size were documented and prepped for transport to Microbac Laboratory (Merrillville, IN). Empty five-gallon buckets were decontaminated with Oil Dri and split in two before being placed in the roll-off-box for disposal.
On March 21st ER personnel worked to clean out Tank 1 and began to consolidate some of the waste on Site. Some remaining cleaning product was removed along with hoses from a dry cleaning machine found in the garage area of the building. This waste was placed in an approved five-gallon bucket for disposal and the machine left in place. Tank 1, an above ground fuel storage tank located next to the building’s west entrance, was detached from the wall and its exterior piping cut. The tank’s wooden supports were removed and ER personnel utilized a hand-powered pump/bailer to remove the remaining liquid. This liquid, along with the small container waste, was categorized, documented, and consolidated into some of the partially full drums and buckets. The tank was then rendered unusable by cutting a large hole in the top and left inside the building. ER personnel removed some additional debris/trash until security personnel arrived to guard the Site over the holiday weekend.
SAMPLING ACTIVITIES
Drum and small container sampling activities were completed by ERRS on March 20th during this reporting period.
•Continued debris/trash removal from the building’s ground and upper floor into roll-off boxes;
•Hazardous waste bulk-containerization for removal and proper disposal.
•Assess the condition and removal needs of the building’s upper floor;
•Establish waste streams;
•Condense waste containers for bulk-containerization for removal and proper disposal.
•Maintaining documentation of removal activities; and
•Correct waste stream categorization for proper hazardous waste removal and disposal.
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