The Site is a former castings facility in central Illinois. The Site consists of nine separate land parcels (properties) encompassing approximately 30 acres. Beginning in the 1880’s, several manufacturing processes took place at the Site. Different land uses included the following operations: electroplating, operation of a radiation room, operation of a bulk petroleum plant, operation of several machine shops, and operation of several foundries. In 1917, Wagner Castings began operating a foundry at the Site which eventually became known as the Intermet Corporation facility. Wagner Castings was wholly-owned domestic subsidiary of the Intermet Corporation. Both Wagner Castings and the Intermet Corporation filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in September 2004, and subsequently closed operation at the Site in late 2005.
Illinois EPA’s Office of Site Evaluation collected samples from the suspected areas of contamination at the Site. The State identified multiple 55-gallon drums stored in the Waste Storage Building. A photo ionization detector showed an elevated reading of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in one of the drums; however, the laboratory flagged the sample collected from that drum as having insufficient volume to analyze. Illinois EPA also observed several broken bags of green powder in the Waste Storage Building; an X-Ray Fluorescence (XFR) analyzer detected levels of chromium in excess of 20,000 ppm, but a sample collected for Toxicity Characteristic Leaching Procedure metals analysis did not test above hazardous levels. An area located within one of the partially demolished buildings contained stock-piled PCB capacitors. In this same area, two drums labeled “Hazardous Waste” contained broken capacitors. Analysis of residual material in one of those drums detected Aroclor 1242 at 2,800,000 parts per billion. One large building is covered with metal panels coated with Galbestos. One of the two additional samples collected from the numerous rubble piles outside the buildings tested positive for chrysotile asbestos (10-20%). Illinois EPA subsequently referred the Site to the EPA Region 5 Superfund Program.
