COMMUNITY INVOLVEMENT PLAN ^^^Td Sr,,^^
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
COMMUNITY INVOLVEMENT PLAN MALONE SERVICES COMPANY SITE TEXAS CITY, TEXAS UPDATED MAY 2005 ^^^tD sr,,^^ >, 'N?***.!*;-^ CD U. S. ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY REGION 6 865363 007925 THE U. S. ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY'S (EPA) SuPERFUND COMMUNITY INVOLVEMENT PROGRAM IS COMMITTED TO PROMOTING COMMUNICATION BETWEEN CITIZENS AND THE AGENCY. ACTIVE PUBLIC INVOLVEMENT IS CRUCIAL TO THE SUCCESS OF ANY PUBLIC PROJECT. EPA'S COMMUNITY INVOLVEMENT ACTIVITIES AT THE MALONE SERVICES COMPANY SITE ARE DESIGNED TO INFORM THE PUBLIC OF THE NATURE OF THE ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES ASSOCIATED WITH THE SITE, INVOLVE THE PUBLIC IN THE DECISION-MAKJNG PROCESS THAT WILL AFFECT THEM. INVOLVE THE PUBLIC IN THE RESPONSES UNDER CONSIDERATION TO REMEDY THESE ISSUES, AND INFORM THE PUBLIC OF THE PROGRESS BEING MADE TO IMPLEMENT THE REMEDY. 007926 Note: The Community Involvement Plan is an EPA site document that is considered as an ongoing draft. The CIP is an overview of public involvement at a Superfund site and highlights certain site milestones such as the Proposed Plan and Record of Decision. The CIP for the Malone site will continue to be updated as site activities get accomplished, and schedules change. Table of Contents Section Page 1.0 Overview of the Community Involvement Plan 2.0 Capsule Site Description 1 2.1 Site History and Description 1 2.2 Site Inspections and Cleanup Activities ' 2 2.3 Enforcement Activities 2 3.0 Community Background 3 3.1 Community Profile 3 3.2 History of Community Involvement 4 3.3 Key Community Concerns 4 3.4 Response to Community Concerns 4 3.5 Summary of Communication Needs 4 4.0 EPA's Community Involvement Program 4 4.1 The Plan 5-10 4.2 Time Frame Summary for Community Involvement Activities 1,1 Appendices: A EPA Regional Contacts 12 B Local Officials 13 C State Officials 14 D Federal Elected Officials 15 E Environmental and Active Citizens Groups 16 F Potentially Responsible Parties 17 G Media Contacts 18 H Meeting Locations 19 I Repository Locations >. 20 007927 Other Local Resources 21 Malone Service Company Site Community Involvement Plan Page 4 October 2004 007928 Section LO Overview of the Community Involvement Plan EPA developed this Community Involvement Plan to facilitate two-way communication between the community surrounding the Malone Services Company (MSC) Superfund Site and EPA and to encourage community involvement in site activities. EPA is using the community involvement activities outlined in this plan to ensure that residents are continuously informed and provided opportunities to be involved. This Community Involvement Plan addresses Malone Services Company Site's relationship to the community and EPA (Section 2.0), provides a background of the community (Section 3.0), presents EPA's community involvement program (Section 4.0), and provides a listing of resources available (Appendices). EPA drew upon several information sources to develop this plan, including community interviews, EPA staff, news media reports and site files. EPA's Regional Office is overseeing the implementation of the community involvement activities outlined in this Plan. EPA in cooperation with the site PRP group. State, and local officials will implement community involvement activities during the timefi"ame of the site cleanup. EPA also anticipates the industry representatives to participate in an active, ongoing role in public participation. However, EPA will maintain ah oversight role for all community involvement activities, and shall be kept informed in a timely basis of all public outreach conducted by the site industry representatives. Section 2.0 Capsule Site Description 2.1 Site History and Description The Malone Services Company Site is located in Texas City, Galveston County, Texas, at 5300 Campbell Bayou Road. The Site is located in an industrial and petrochemical area, on the shores of Swan Lake and Galveston Bay, approximately 1.6 miles southeast of the intersection of Loop 197 and State Highway 3. The MSC was a reclamation, storage and disposal facility for waste oils and chemicals that included acid and caustic compounds, solvents, and gasoline and crude oil tank bottoms. The MSC site covers approximately 150 acres in a marsh/wetlands area. Approximately 100 acres of the northeastern portion of the 150-acre Site were developed for the storage, processing and disposal of industrial hazardous wastes. The developed acreage contains numerous waste handling areas; which include 83 holding/storage/blending tanks, 2 API (American Petroleum Institute) separators, a ±5 acre settling pond, a closed ±0.5 acre waste collection pond, and two Malone Service Company Site Community Involvement Plan Page 1 October 2004 007929 deep subsurface injection wells. The remaining undeveloped 50 acres (northwestern portion of the Site) contain a ±7 acre storm water collection pond. The facility operated from 1964 until 1997. MSC was originally permitted as a waste oil reclamation facility, but later added hazardous waste underground injection/disposal wells. Wastes were received by the facility from a variety of industries. Wastes from the reclamation process were disposed down the onsite deep injection wells. The original operation, which began in 1964, consisted of two unlined earthen pits which received incoming wastes. The larger pit, which served as a settling pond, was used for wastes with high solids and /or water content. The oil fraction would rise to the surface of the large pit where it was skimmed off and pumped to a smaller oil pit (which is closed). Oils in the oil pit were then pumped to one of several tanks for treatment. The oil was then resold as waste oil for , energy recovery. API separators were installed in 1979 and 1987 to replace the setthng pond and oil pit. However, the pond and pit were never cleaned/removed, and hazardous liquid wastes and solids still remain in the open large pit and closed small oil pit. Oils separated in the two API units were pumped to holding/treatment tanks; waste water was pumped to the injection wells for disposal; and the solids were sent to an offsite hazardous waste landfill for disposal. The entire facility is encircled by an 18-foot high flood control levee. Wetlands, Galveston Bay and Swan Lake border the northeast and east sides of the Site. Industrial and waste disposal facilities are located outside the northwestern and western boundaries of the Site. The southwestern, southern and southeastern boundaries of the facility border on marsh land/wetlands. Surface drainage directs rainwater runoff on the developed acreage to one collection point within the Site. Runoff on the undeveloped acreage is collected in the southwest storm water pond. In the past, this collected runoff from the developed acreage was discharged to Galveston Bay. Presently, this runoff is disposed of down one of the facility's injection/disposal wells. 2.2 Site Inspections and Cleanup Activities In 1986 and 1989, the Texas Natural Resource Conservation Commission (TNRCC) collected samples of material in the earthen impoundment and the oil pit as part of compliance inspections. ~ (The TNRCC is now the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, or TCEQ.) TNRCC returned to the Site in 1997 to evaluate the potential contamination of groundwater and sediment at the Site. During this inspection, samples were collected from an oil/water separator, an earthen impoundment consisting of a sludge pit and the five-acre settling basin, and a monitoring well located on the southeast side of the pit. Organic and inorganic contaminants were detected in waste materials fi-om the separator and earthen pit. Arsenic was found in the groundwater sample fi"om the monitoring well. Malone Service Company Site Community Involvement Plan Page 2 October 2004 007930 EPA conducted removal actions at the site from 1999 to 2000. The removal acUon provided stability and protection of the people of Texas City from a major release in the event of a hurricane or major tropical storm threat. The removal action involved dewatering the wastes and disposing of the liquids in an on-site injection well. Solids, oily liquids and other non-aqueous materials were transported to a permitted off-site waste disposal facility. The site was listed on the NPL on June 14, 2001. The Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry, in cooperation with the Texas Department of Health, completed a Public Health Assessment for the Site in 2002. The assessment concluded that the MSC Site does not pose a public health hazard. Until date, TNRCC contractors conducted periodic inspections of storm water controls at the Site. EPA Removal staff have now assumed that responsibility. Storm water runoff is directed to one collection point within the Site, analyzed, and depending upon analytical results, discharged to Galveston Bay or injected into the onsite deep injection well. The Remedial Investigation/Feasibility Study (RI/FS) phase is underway. Upon completion of the RI/FS and a baseline risk assessment, a Proposed Plan will provide EPA's proposed remedy for the Site. After the Agency obtains public comments on the proposal, the selected remedy will be presented in a Record of Decision (ROD). The ROD will detail the cleanup measures determined to be protective of human health and the environment. 2.3 Enforcement Activities EPA has issued General Notice Letters to the current owner and major generators, which are defined as those who contributed 0.6% or greater of total waste delivered to the Site. Several of the Potentially Responsible Parties (PRPs) have formed a Steering Committee, the Malone Cooperating Parties (MCP), and have signed the Administrative Order on Consent (AOC) to conduct the Remedial Investigation and Feasibility Study discussed previously. The MCP has agreed to assume Site storm water management activities fi^om EPA Region 6 Removal. The MCP will assume these activities following a signed amendment to the existing AOC, which will incorporate MCP's storm water responsibilities.