Escambia Wood
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UNITED STATES ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY WASHINGTON, D.C. 20460 OFFICE OF SOLID WASTE AND EMERGENCY RESPONSE Date: July 31, 1995 Identification Number:FLD008168346 Site Name: Escambia Wood- Pensacola Region: 4 This notice is included in the Hazard Ranking System package located within each Regional docket and the Headquarters docket to clarify what the National Priorities Site, Escambia Wood - Pensacola, represents. This has been added to ensure that the listing is consistent with policy. When a site is listed,it is .necessary to identify or define the release (or releases) encompassed within the listing. The approach generally used is to delineate a geographical area (usually the area within the installation or plant boundaries) and define the site by reference to that Asarea. a legal matter, the site is not coextensive with that area, and the boundaries of the installation or plant are not the Ilboundaries" of the site. Rather, the site consists of all contaminated areas within the area used to define the site, and any other location to which contamination from that area has come to be located. While geographic terms are often used to designate the site (e.g., the "Jones Co. plant site") in terms of the property owned by the particular party, the site properly understood is not limited to that property (e.g., it may extend beyond the property due to contaminant migration), and conversely may not occupy the full extent of the property(e.g., where there are uncontaminated parts of the identified property, they may not be, strictly speaking, part of the llsitell).llsitewl The is thus neither equal to nor confined by the boundaries of any specific property that may give the site its name, and the name itself should not be read to imply that this site is coextensive with the entire area within the property boundary of the facility or plant. The precise nature and extent of the site are typically not known at the time of listing. Printed on Recycled Paper UNITED STATES ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION ESCAMBIA WOOD-PENSACOLA Escambia County, Florida Escambia Wood-Pensacola is located at 3910 North Palafox Street, in a primarily low-income, minority area of Pensacola, Escambia County, Florida. The facility is an abandoned wood preserving plant which operated from 1942until 1982. During its operational period the facility treated wood products with creosote and pentachlorophenol. Three open surface impoundments remained at the facility after its closure. Another backfilled surface impoundment was located in the northeast portion of the facility. In November 1980, Escambia Wood-Pensacola filed a RCRA Part A application, but there is no record of a RCRA Part B application for the facility. In 1986 the Florida Department of Environmental Regulation (FDER) determined that the backfilled surface impoundment was an unpermitted disposal area not regulated under RCRA. In 1990, a RCRA Facility Assessment was conducted at the facility, but the facility is no longer classified under RCRA. Sampling investigations were conducted at the facility by EPA in April 1982, FDER in September 1987, EPA in April and June 1991, and by EPA in May 1992. During the various investigations, pentachlorophenol and numerous other creosote constituents were detected at elevated concentrations in ground water samples. In addition, pentachlorophenol and several other organic and inorganic analytes were detected in numerous surface soil, subsurface soil, and sludge samples collected during the investigations. In 1985, Escambia Wood-Pensacola conducted a partial removal action that removed sludges from the three surface impoundments. A subsequent removal conducted in 1988 removed the contaminated wooden side walls of the two small impoundments. During both of these removal actions, the waste was taken 'offsite for proper disposal. In addition, approximately 220,000 cubic yards of contaminated soil have been excavated from two pits and stored in piles at the facility. The presence of an observed release to ground water at the facility indicates that hazardous substances were released prior to the initiation of removal activities at the site. The primary source of ground water in Escambia County is the Sand-and-Gravel aquifer, which lays beneath the facility. Approximately 20 public water supply and numerous private wells located within 4 miles of the Escarnbia Wood-Pensacola facility are completed within the Sand-and-Gravel aquifer and serve approximately 129.3 30 people. The nearest public supply well is located 1 mile northeast of the site. medescription ofthe site (releare) is based on information available atthe time the site was scored. 7he description may change as additional information is gathered on the sources and extent of contaminarlorr. See 56 FR 5600, February 11, 1991, or subsequent FR notices.] UNITED STATES ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY WASHINGTON, D.C. 20460 OFFICE OF EMERGENCY AND REMEDIAL RESPONSE HAZARDOUS !SJTE EV&UATION DIVISION SITE ASSESSMENT BRANCE HRS DOCUMENTATION RECORD COVER SEIEET EarEy in the evaluation of this site (and in some cases elsewhere in the docwnentation nco4, its name may have been different than what is shown here. At the end of the evaluation, however, EPA mnduded that the following name is more approphte: Escambia Wood--Pensacola Region 4 This package has undergone and passed EPA quality assurance for proposal to the National Priorities List. ERS DOCUHENTATION RECORD--REVIEW COVER SHEET Name of Site: Escambia Wood - Pensacola (also known as Escambia Treating Company) EPA ID No.: -008168346 Contact Persons EPA Region IV Contacts:Tillman McAdams ~ DocumentationRecord: William E. Vasser, Dyxmt'IaC Corporation Pathwavs. Components or Threats not Evaluated The pathways listed below were not evaluated due to expected minimal impacts on the site score.Explanations are provided inthe following paragraphs. Surface Water Migration Pathway: When the facility was inoperation, surface water runoff from thefacility was containedwithin the boundaries of the facility (Ref 8. 4, p. 1; 5, p. 2). Water was discharged from onsitesurface impoundments to the citysewer system, but there were no known discharges to any surface water bodies(Refs. 5, p. 2; 6, p. 9; 7, p. 7; 8, p. 39; 9, p. 7). The nearest perennial surface water body is located more than 1 mile northeast of the facility, and the facility is not within a 100-year flood plain (Refs. 3; 7, p. 2) Soil Exposure Pathway: Removal operations are in progress at thefacility. Approximately 220,000 cubic yards (yd3) of soil have been excavated from two pits and storedin piles at the facility (Refs. 10, pp. 57, 61; 11). Contamination of surface and subsurface soil at the facility has been documented; however, the facility is not active, no resident individuals were identified and no offsite contaminationattributable to operations at thefacility has been documented (Refs. 12, p. 1; 12A; 13, p. 2; 14, pp. 5, 12-14, 16, 17, 19-29, 31, 32; 10, pp- 15, 16, 19, 20, 32, 33, 35, 36, 46, 47, Appendix B [pp. B5, B9, B10, B12, B13, B24, B25, B30, B31, B40-B42, B49, B50,B521) .. According to the Agency for Toxic Substances andDisease Registry (ATSDR), analytical results for samples collected in the nearest residential area, located 200 feet north of one of the excavation areas at the facility, indicate that contamination present in the residential area does not pose a human health threat (Refs. 3; 10, pp. 57, 61; 14, pp. 2, 5, 8, 12-14, 16, 17, 19-29, 31, 32; pp.15, 1, 2). Approximately 9,629 persons live within 1 mile of the facility,. and three schools are located within 1 mile (Refs. 3; 18; 19; 20; 61). 1 Air Migration Pathway: During October and December1991, the EPA Environmental Response Team/Response Engineering and Analytical Contract(EPA ERT/REAC) team (Roy F. Weston, Inc.) conducted air sampling atthe facility (Ref. 58, pp. I, 7, 26-28). According to an ATSDR Health Consultation report,the levels of air contaminants migrating offsite are unlikelyto cause adverse health effects (Refs. 58, pp. 7-12, 14-24, 26-28, 68-82, 173-187; 59, pp. 2-6). The Escambia Wood - Pensacola facility locatedis in an industrial/residential (Refs.area 3; 17, p. 5). Approximately 111,138 persons live within4 miles of the facility (Ref. 18). A total of 15 schools are located within2 miles of the facility . ..(Refs. 3;.19; 20; .61). Nesting areas of the least tern (Sterna antillarum), a State-designated threatened species, have been observed within4 miles of the facility, but no designated sensitive environments are present4 miles within of the facility (Refs. 3; 21, pp. 1-5; 62, attachment [pp. 65-68]; 63, p. 3). -Freshwater wetlands are locatedfrom 2 to 4 miles west of the facility, and saltwater wetlands are located from2 to 3 miles to the south (Ref. 3). Removal Criteria The EPA Environmental Services Division(ESD) and Field Investigation Team(FIT) contractor, Ecology and Environment,Inc., conducted a sampling investigationat the Escambia Wood- Pensacola facility in April1982 (Ref. 4, p. 1). Hazardous constituents were detected in samples collectedfrom source areas duringthe investigation (Ref. 4, pp. 10, 29, 31, 32, 35, 36, 37, 43, 44, 45). In 1985, Escambia Wood- Pensacola conducted a partial removal action which ofconsisted the removal of sludges from the three surface impoundments (Refs.22, p. 4; 23, p. 1; 24; 55). A subsequent removal was conducted1988 in which consisted ofthe removal of the contaminated wooden side walls ofthe two small impoundments. During both of these removal actions, the waste was taken offsite for proper disposal (Refs. 24). EPA approved an Action Memorandumon April 11, 1991 which authorized a Removal Action at the facility (Ref. 57, pp. 1, 6-9). Further removal activities are now in progressat the facility. Approximately 220,000 yd3 of contaminated soil have been excavated twofrom pits and stored in piles at the facility (Refs.