Time Critical Removal Action – Lead Impacted Soil with regards to residential property impacts.

US EPA has mobilized ERRS and START contractors to assist with the removal of lead impacted soils found at several residential properties.

On October 27, 2011, US EPA mobilized ERRS and START contractors to the site to begin lead removal and residential property restoration activities.

START has obtained 11 completed access agreements for lead removal purposes. 

START collected a representative sample from the low-level lead impacted soil stockpile. 

A soil staging area has been established in order to stockpile low-level lead impacted soil and clean backfill.

A hand-held X-Ray Fluorescence (XRF) field instrument is utilized to determine the presence and extent on lead impacted soil located in the residential properties.  The USEPA residential cleanup standard of 400 ppm will be used for all properties associate with this removal action.

Progress of Residential Lead Removal Activities:

 

2.1.3 Enforcement Activities, Identity of Potentially Responsible Parties (PRPs)

U.S. EPA Region 5 Superfund staff expects to begin work on the Remedial Investigation/Feasibility Study in spring 2012. All site sampling and characterization should be completed in calendar year 2012.

A remedial investigation is a study of the nature and extent of contamination at a cleanup site, while the feasibility study proposes and evaluates cleanup options. Cleanup alternatives are evaluated against criteria including effectiveness, overall protection and cost. U.S.EPA then proposes a cleanup plan for the site, and people have an opportunity to review and comment on that plan. This process can take years to complete, but the community is kept informed as the investigation moves forward. If an imminent threat to human health is discovered on the site or in the community then U.S.EPA can step in and do an emergency cleanup.

Once the Remedial Investigation/Feasibility Study is complete and a remedy selected, the responsible parties for this site will be given the opportunity to undertake the work. If they fail to do so, then the site will be eligible for federal cleanup funding. Remedy funding for all Superfund sites is allocated on the basis of the priority assigned to the site by U.S.EPA Headquarters.

1.   Residential Property Access – Access agreements between the US EPA and homeowner representatives will be utilized to provide US EPA and its contractor representatives.

2.   Establish and Maintain a Project Staging Area – A staging area will be used to manage stockpiled lead impacted soil to be consolidated prior to transportation and disposal to the permitted land disposal facility. 

3.   Erosion Control – Install silt fencing around the soil staging area and down slope perimeter of residential yards to control the possible migration of lead impacted soil.

4.   Removal of Lead Impacted Soil - Removal of all contaminated soils to controlled stockpile location. Arrange for and transport all lead impacted soils for off-site for disposal. 

5.   Restoration – backfill of excavated areas with clean material, re-vegetation as necessary.

Continue excavation of low-level lead impacted soils from residential properties.

Site activities will be shut-down from November 19 – 26, 2011.

* The above accounting of expenditures is an estimate based on figures known to the OSC at the time this report was written. The OSC does not necessarily receive specific figures on final payments made to any contractor(s). Other financial data which the OSC must rely upon may not be entirely up-to-date. The cost accounting provided in this report does not necessarily represent an exact monetary figure which the government may include in any claim for cost recovery.