The Lincoln Metals Site (the Site) is an inactive brass foundry that operated in Lincoln, Talladega County, Alabama from 1956 to 2001. The facility was built circa 1947.
The Site includes a 1.73 acre fenced foundry, two residential properties, a public park and an adjacent drainage ditch. The old foundry property is located at 248 Foundry Road, in the City of Lincoln, Talladega County, Alabama. The old foundry contains one dilapidated building, of approximately 21,000 square feet. Within the building structure there exist heavy machinery including; silos, ore milling and processing stations, electric arc melting pots, and other industry equipment used in the foundry process. External to the building there are areas where contaminated process material is buried and piled. Areas within the fenced foundry property include partially covered sand piles, areas where remnants of slag, broken sand casting ladles, sand caste molds, faucet fittings fragments, and piles of other process debris which have been abandoned.
Contamination from the foundry property has migrated off-site via surface water migration patterns. The off-site contamination is being displaced to the lowest and least obstructed path into an adjacent drainage ditch. The drainage is consistent with the surrounding flooding and surface water flow patterns, all of which flow from southeast to northwest, across the property and into the adjacent drainage ditch.
The geological formations at the Site provide a north-northwest ground/surface water flow across the Site. Groundwater depth ranges from zero to 25 feet, averaging six (6) to ten (10) feet below the land surface. The Site is located at 33o36’54” north latitude and 86o06’40” west longitude.
On January 19, 2005, ADEM submitted a CERCLIS Pre-Screening report for the Heartland Faucet / Lincoln Metals facility to EPA Region 4’s CERCLA Remedial program. By 2006, ADEM indicated that all State means of addressing the concerns at this Site had been exhausted. In December 2006, the Lincoln Metals facility was referred to ERRB for further assessment.
In January 2007, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Emergency Response and Removal Branch’s (ERRB) On-Scene Coordinators (OSC) conducted a Removal Site Evaluation (RSE) at the Site. The RSE and analytical results, determined that CERCLA hazardous substances (lead, arsenic and chromium) exist and continue to migrate from the old foundry property to the adjacent drainage pathway causing a potential threat to the environment and public health.
Removal activities for this reporting period include:
- The ERRS contractor continues site removal activities including:
- removal of vegetation, trees, and scrubs throughout the site;
- segregatation of existing soil stock piles into 200 cubic yard sections;
- treatment of soils utilizing a phosphate and magnesium binder to render the material non-hazardous and unleachable for disposal;
- dismantling of all process equipment associated with the old foundry building;
- and segregation of debris from the building demolition into piles of similar materials;
- The Superfund Technical Assessment and Removal Team (START) contractor continued removal activities including:
- technical oversight;
- implementation of site-specific HASP, air and water monitoring;
- confirmation sampling and documentation of excavated soils;
- and documentation of results from perimeter air monitoring equipment used to measure dust particulate migration off Site during the removal process.
- The ERRS contractor will continue the segregation of demolition debris throughout the footprint of the former foundry;
- Containers and transformers which contain PCB laden oils found within the old foundry building, will be disposed of properly;
- Additional hazardous waste found on Site will be segregated by waste stream for disposal;
- The ERRS contractor will continue the treatment of soils utilizing phosphates and magnesium binder to render the material non-hazardous and transport the non-hazardous material off site for disposal;
- Future actions include excavation/backfill of contaminated soils located within the old foundry building footprint;
- Excavation in areas along the north end of the foundry fence line where soils or sands have migrated beyond the fence line onto the adjacent drainage ditch in a westward direction;
- Excavation in residential areas surrounding the Site.
The removal action at the Site has received additional media coverage from the Talladega Daily Home newspaper, The Birmingham affiliates of ABC/NBC/CBS Channels and local radio news spots. Affiliates have conducted interviews with EPA's public affairs office and local residents.
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