The ESB, Inc., Site (Site), located at 1246 Allene Street in Atlanta, Fulton County, Georgia, is a defunct manufacturing facility which produced lead-acid automobile batteries from 1948 to 1988. Facility operations included casting lead alloys, producing oxides of lead, mixing lead pastes, and forming positive and negative battery plates. Manufacturing operations ceased in 1988. The Site, situated on 12 acres of land in a mixed-use zoning area in southwest Atlanta, Georgia is bordered by a railroad spur on the north, and residential properties on the west, southeast and south. The nearest residential property is located approximately 500 feet to the west of the facility. A child care center is located directly across the street from the facility to the west. It was alleged that during the manufacturing process, lead particles were released to the atmosphere via emissions from elevated roof stacks at the facility and impacted some of the surrounding properties.
In accordance with the AOC, EPA conducted a fund-lead, time-critical removal action at residential and commercial properties located in the immediate outside perimeter of the ESB facility. This cleanup action included the remediation of lead and arsenic from 48 residential yards and a ditch located downgradient and due north of the facility. Prior to remediation, lead contaminated soils in the yards and ditch revealed elevated lead of 500 mg/kg and 44,000 mg/kg, respectively.
An EPA Fund-lead, Time-Critical Removal Action was implemented at the Site to mitigate lead-contaminated soils identified at residential and commercial properties located in the immediate vicinity of the ESB facility. Lead contamination identified at the properties remediated during this action are suspected to have been directly impacted as a result of historical operations at the ESB facility.
As part of the Administrative Order on Consent for Removal Action (Order) for the ESB, Inc., Site and through a request of the Georgia Department of Natural Resources Environmental Protection Division (EPD), Exide Technologies has employed the services of AMEC E&I (AMEC) to perform quarterly groundwater sampling at the Site. As of September 2010, OSC Carter Williamson has overseen the activities associated with the ESB Site.
On June 10, 2013, Exide filed for reorganization under Chapter 11 of the Federal bankruptcy code and notified EPA and EPD that it was ceasing work at the ESB, Inc., Site until a determination was made in the 2013 bankruptcy process as to any future work under the Order. Up to that point, several conference calls and meetings had taken place between EPA, EPD, Exide and AMEC to help progress the clean-up and remediation of the Site. At the time of the bankruptcy filing, Exide had drafted a letter outlining a potential path forward that was discussed during a meeting on March 21, 2013. Exide forwarded a letter and a proposed remediation plan to EPA and EPD on January 21, 2014 titled "Path Forward for Remediation" which addresses several remediation options focusing on soil excavation at various locations and depths on the former ESB Site. This document has been forwarded to the Technical Services Section for review and consideration.
Once EPA and EPD review the proposed plan and provide comments to Exide, a removal action workplan will be developed that will outline Exides plan of action. At present, Exide has submitted a document which addresses six excavation remediation alternatives for soils at the Exide/Allene Avenue Site.
During the week of December 10th, 2013, EPA and EPD met at the Site to discuss recent events and to interview a resident who lives adjacent to the former site who had complained to WSB-TV that she had been adversely impacted by odors emanating from the abandoned facility. During that previous event, Atlanta firefighters and Atlanta Code Enforcement had responded and did not identify anything in the facility that would cause this situation. Upon interviewing the complainant, EPA and EPD staff conducted an inspection of the entire facility and found no evidence to support the odor complaint that would be attributed to past practices at the ESB facility. EPA and EPD staff did encounter however, a large collection of fairly new graffiti that covered a great percentage of the building. EPA and EPD communicated that to the complainant and to the Atlanta Code Enforcement and Solicitors Office. The odors from the graffiti paint when originally applied may have produced the odors but not in a protracted time-frame as indicated by the complainant. After this site visit, EPA and EPD, along with Atlanta Code Enforcement met with Councilmember Joyce Sheperd, District 12 at her office to discuss their findings and to try and determine a path forward for the site. On January 13, EPA, EPD, Code Enforcement and Councilmember Sheperd's office conducted a teleconference with Allene Avenue Redevelopment to discuss the future of the site, fencing, the condition of the abandoned building etc. Councilmember Sheperd, along with EPA, EPD and Atlanta Code Enforcement officials will conduct a community meeting on February 18, 2014 at Perkerson Park to discuss the future of the site, the Exide bankruptcy proceedings and the remediation plan/soil excavation strategy proposed by Exide.
Oversight and collaboration with EPD, the City of Atlanta, Councilmember Sheperd's Office, Exide and Allene Avenue Redevelopment LLC and the community with regards to the future of the clean-up and redevelopment of the Site.
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