Community Involvement Plan 2020
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Plating, Inc. Superfund Site--Great Bend, Kansas Community Involvement Plan U.S. EPA Region 7, Lenexa, Kansas December 2019 Plating, Inc. Superfund Site This is EPA’s plan for sharing information with community members during the investigation and cleanup of the Plating, Inc. Site. In This Plan Why EPA Created this Plan ............................ Page 2 Community Profile ........................................... Page 3 EPA Invites Your Input How EPA Became Involved ............................ Page 3 KDHE and EPA Site Activities ........................ Page 4 If you have suggestions for EPA’s Past Community Involvement Activities ........... Page 6 community involvement program, or EPA Community Interview Results ................. Page 7 Community Involvement Goals ......................... Page 8 would like more information about the EPA Community Involvement Plan ................. Page 9 Plating, Inc. site, contact Appendices ................................................... Page 13 Pamela Houston • A--Key Contacts List Community Involvement Coordinator • B--Description of Superfund Process 1-800-223-0425 or 913-551-7699 • C—Location of Site Information Repository, [email protected] Administrative Record File and Public Meeting Place • D- EJSCREEN Community Involvement Plan December 2019 Plating, Inc. Site Why EPA Created This Plan The Superfund process, which is underway at the Plating, Inc. site, includes requirements for community involvement. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) prepares a community involvement plan (CIP) for every Superfund site. Ideas from residents in site communities help shape these plans. The plan for community involvement for the Plating, Inc. site lays out the approach and activities that EPA, in cooperation with the Kansas Department of Health and Environment (KDHE), will use during EPA’s efforts to assess and address risks related to past industrial and waste management activities. This plan is designed to be flexible. We welcome the community’s input and ideas for improving communication and our involvement with the community. Preliminary Assessment and Site NPL Listing Remedia r:-:=:;-.:;-;:~i::::~------;::==::-:----~--... Investigation ----'---------j Record of Decision (RI) (ROD} and Responsiveness Summ :.;:::.~ ~ -.----, Feasibility Proposed Study Plan (FS) Operation and Maintenance NPL Deletion (O&M) The Superfund process includes opportunities for community involvement. 2 Community Involvement Plan December 2019 Plating, Inc. Site Community Profile The city of Great Bend, in the heart of Kansas on the Santa Fe Trail, was named for its location at the big bend in the Arkansas River. The Plating, Inc. Site, is in the Great Bend Airport/Industrial Park about two miles from downtown Great Bend. Great Bend has a population of about 27,510 people. The city is both the Barton County seat and the retail, service, and medical hub for surrounding Kansas communities and counties. The area around Great Bend is primarily agricultural, with some oil and gas production and associated businesses. The largest employers in Great Bend area are School District #428, Barton County Community College, Central Kansas Medical Center, the City of Great Bend, and Fuller Brush. Great Bend is known for being the boyhood home of Jack Kilby, who won the Nobel Prize for Physics in 2000 for his invention of the microchip. Other sources of community pride and tourism include the B-29 Memorial Plaza at the Great Bend Industrial Park, which commemorates military airfield operations during and after World War II; Cheyenne Bottoms & Quivira National Wildlife Refuge; and the Kansas Oil & Gas Hall of Fame and Museum. Great Bend has a Governing Body form of government. The governing body consists of the Mayor, who is elected by the city at large, and eight Council members, two elected from each of the four wards of the city. All governing body members serve two-year terms. The governing body, as the elected representatives of the people, adopts all ordinances and resolutions and determines general goals and policies. Great Bend city services are managed on a day-to-day basis by the city administrator and department heads. The Great Bend governing body meets at 7:30 pm on the first and third Mondays of each month at City Hall, 1209 Williams Street, in Great Bend. How EPA became Involved at the Plating, Inc. Site Plating, Inc. began as a chromium plating facility in 1968. In 1975, zinc plating processes were added. Facility operations ended in November 2005. The Plating, Inc. site consists of the former plating facility, as well as a groundwater plume contaminated with chromium that appears to originate at the facility. The site is located at 8801 West Sixth Street in the Great Bend Airport/Industrial Complex, about one-and-a-half miles west of Great Bend and about two miles north of the Arkansas River. Land surrounding the Airport/Industrial Complex is used mainly for agriculture. Beginning in the late 1980s, KDHE required Plating Inc. to conduct investigations and take various removal actions to address chromium contamination related to the facility’s operations. Groundwater under the site has been contaminated with chromium. KDHE also identified three public supply wells in Great Bend that were threatened by the contaminated groundwater plume associated with the Plating Inc. site. In 2005, Plating, Inc. went out of business and this ended their investigations and planning for dealing with the contamination. In 2006, KDHE discovered that several abandoned tanks of plating solution could be leaking and requested EPA’s help to address site issues. Additional 3 Community Involvement Plan December 2019 Plating, Inc. Site assessments were completed. Domestic water supply wells for two businesses were found to be affected. In September 2007, KDHE began providing bottled water to these businesses. In October 2007, EPA, in cooperation with KDHE, removed plating solutions from the abandoned tanks. September 2007, EPA proposed the Plating, Inc. site be added to the National Priorities List (NPL). The NPL is a list of the nation’s hazardous waste sites with the highest priority for cleanup. NPL sites are eligible for extensive, long-term, funding under the federal Superfund program. The Plating, Inc. site was added to the NPL on March 19, 2008. The Superfund program provides for community involvement, including developing and implementing a site- specific community involvement plan, such as this one for the Plating, Inc. site. KDHE and EPA Activities for the Plating, Inc. Site KDHE activities began at the Plating, Inc. site in 1990; EPA activities began in 2007. 1990 : Under KDHE oversight, contaminated soil was excavated at the Plating, Inc. site, and a fume scrubber was installed on the ventilation system to prevent recontamination of the soil. 1998 : Plating, Inc. owner installed a shallow groundwater well to intercept the contaminated groundwater plume before it reached public water supply wells. In 2001, an additional remedial well was installed. 2005: KDHE began operating and maintaining the groundwater interceptor wells. 2007 : EPA used its emergency response authority to remove plating solutions, including chromic acid, muriatic acid, and sulfuric acid. Tanks and drums that contained the plating liquids were cut up and taken offsite for disposal. 2008 : EPA listed Plating, Inc. on the NPL, making it eligible for federal funding for addressing contamination. 2009: The federal Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR) drafted a public health assessment for the site, offered a public comment period on the assessment, conducted two joint public availability sessions with EPA and KDHE, and prepared a final health assessment report. 2009 to 2017: EPA contractors performed field activities including sampling existing monitoring wells and private wells in the Great Bend area, as well as collecting soil samples at former Plating, Inc. facility. The sampling efforts were periodically performed over several years. EPA installed new monitoring wells in various locations in the Great Bend area to support site assessment efforts. 2018: EPA completed remedial investigation efforts to assess the extent to which contamination from the Plating, Inc. site is present and assess possible risks to human health or the environment. The results of the remedial investigation and risk assessment were provided in the Remedial Investigation Report (November 12, 2018). 4 Community Involvement Plan December 2019 Plating, Inc. Site MR"TON COIJNTY, Kil GraalDond..,, 2 !.f., $J._ __ _,_ ___M... ila_s ___._ _ __. Plating, Inc. Site Location Map 5 Community Involvement Plan December 2019 Plating, Inc. Site Past Community Involvement Activities for Plating, Inc. Site EPA community involvement activities for the Plating, Inc. site began in 2007. September 2007 EPA issued a press release to the media announcing that the Plating, Inc. site was proposed for the federal cleanup priorities list. A fact sheet was prepared and mailed, as well as placed on the EPA website: www.epa.gov/superfund/platinginc to announce the proposed listing and public comment period. EPA also published this information in a display ad in the Great Bend Tribune . October 2007 EPA issued a press release to the media announcing an availability session scheduled at the site to discuss the upcoming cleanup removal action. In addition, a fact sheet about the upcoming removal action was mailed to the site mailing list and placed on the EPA website: www.epa.gov/superfund/platinginc.