The Vincennes Tar Seeps Site is located at South 14th Street in Vincennes, Knox County, Indiana. The Site is a community baseball complex made up of five ball fields. The complex consists of Veterans Field to the east, Red Diamond Field and Joe Bilskie Sr. Field to the middle, Blue Diamond Field and Yellow Diamond Field to the west. The complex also has a concession stand, batting cages and play ground. The property is surrounded by a cemetery on the north side, residential and commercial mixed property on the east and south side of the site.
Around 1995, the Little League Baseball Association constructed Veterans Field over the top of a tar pit that had existed on the property since at least 1944. Many reports exist concerning the origin of the tar pit, but none have been verified or tied to any specific facility or operation.
In February 2000, there was a fire within a storm sewer that parallels the former tar pits and runs between Veteran’s and Joe Bilskie Sr. Field. The Vincennes Fire Chief indicated that children had entered a 6-foot-diameter storm sewer and started a tar-like substance on fire. It is suspected that tar from the former tar pits may have migrated and seeped through the pipe joints and into the storm sewer.
Over the years, tar has been observed seeping from below ground surface in several locations throughout the baseball field. Parents complained that their children had come home with tar stains on their clothes and hands after using the field. Reportedly, the tar caused skin irritation. At the beginning of each season, the ball field association would remove the surface tar from the playing field.
In February 2001, at the request of the Indiana Department of Environmental Management (IDEM), the U.S. EPA conducted a removal site assessment. The tar was found in both surface and subsurface soil and was considered characteristically hazardous for corrosivity due to a pH level below 2.0. In April 2001, the Site Assessment Report was prepared, and in February 2002, IDEM formally requested that the U.S. EPA perform a removal action at the site. Due to a request by the Little League Baseball Association, removal activities were not conducted during the summer of 2002.
The first removal action was completed at the site in July of 2003. The source tar was considered removed and the affected fields were put back into use. During the summer of 2004 the tar began to reappear in the previously excavated parking lot area as well as the outfield of Veteran's Field. The problem continued to expand until IDEM and U.S. EPA agreed that the problem needed to be readdressed. IDEM referred the site again in March of 2008.
• On October 15, 2008 the last load of tar-contaminated debris and soil was shipped off-site.
• Backfill of the excavated area was completed on October 17, 2008.
• The upper ballfield was turned over to the Cub League Association for restoration using U.S. EPA funds on October 8, 2008 while removal work continued on the lower parking lot area.
• Asphalt work to restore the excavated parking lot area began on October 22, 2008 and was completed on November 3, 2008.
• A final walk through with the Cub League Manager was performed on Number 3, 2008 and no outstanding issues were identified.
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