Site: 4f> ^v-i-ir^.^ > , A ,^ ID #: A)^/T^9g?Ag^•;^>Ufl> Break: U.K .All^f.^ Other: ^tlBB BURLINGTON NORTHERN RAILROAD 125 ENGINEERING DIVISION 373 Inverness Drive South Englewood, Colorado 80112 .Aoril 28, 1989 U.S. Environmental Protection Agency RECEIVED Darrell Sommerhauser Superfund Branch 40219623 IVIAY 0^ 1989 Waste Management Division 726 Minnesota Avenue mUD SECTION Kansas City, Kansas 66101 SUPERFUND RECORDS Re: EPA 104e request - former BNRR property - Hastings, Nebraska Well #3 Subsite. Dear Mr. Sommerhauser: Please reference the above EPA 104e request concerning a parcel of property once owned by the Burlington Northern Railroad and described per the attached Quitclaim Deed dated February 16, 1972. Numerous individuals in the Burlington Northern Railroad (BNRR) were. contacted concerning the referenced property. Information supplied by these individuals are enclosed. Mr. Bob Farmer, Manager - Property Management, BNRR, was contacted concerning records or knowledge of the property or operations at the site once owned by Farmers Grain Storage Inc.. Mr. Farmer could not locate anyone with knowledge of the site or any files of the former BNRR lease. Mr. Gary J. Greshowak, Manager of Title Records, BNRR, was similarly contacted. Mr. Greshowak located records concerning the cancellation of the lease to Farmers Grain Storage Inc. and sale of the property. Copies of these records are enclosed. Mr. Al Micek, BNRR Director of Customer Service, was contacted concerning the Hastings site. Mr. Micek was located in Hastings for the BNRR from 1968 until 1984. Mr. Micek recalled and explained that Farmers Grain Storage, Inc. of Hastings dealt in Commodity Credit Grain. Commodity Credit Grain is a program that is under the operations of the U.S. Department of Agriculture. When farmers default on Department of Agriculture loans, the grain becomes the property of the Department of Agriculture. The Department of Agriculture then arranges for the grain to be brought to a storage facility such as the Farmers Grain Storage facility in Hastings. The Department of Agriculture pays for the storage of the grain until the prices go up. The Department of Agriculture then sells the grain they have in storage. An effort has been made to research the Sanborn Insurance files and maps concerning the Hastings area. This effort has taken longer than anticipated, Information found concerning the Hastings site in the Sanborn Insurance files and maps will be forwarded to your office when it has been received by this office. The following is in response to the questions itemized in the EPA 104e request: 1. Describe in detail the Burlington Northern Railroad's use, during its ownership, of parcels 018 and 019 which are also identified as tax lots 7 and 8 respectively. Records from the Title Services Department of the Burlington Northern Railroad indicates that the Company leased the referenced property to Farmers Grain Storage, Inc. from July 1, 1959 to Noverber 3, 1970. The property was sold to Farmers Grain Storage on February 16, 1972. No railroad employees were found who remembered any use of the property prior to 1959. We have been told that Sanborn Insurance maps indicate that between the years of 1884 and 1950 no buildings were located on the site. A 1930 Sanborn Insurance map indicated a Livestock Sales Building was located to the immediate east of the property. This building was not located on the 1924 Sanborn Insurance map. A later Sanborn Insurance map indicated that the Livestock Sales Building (date unknown) became a lumber storage building. We were also informed that the 1905 Sanborn Insurance Map for the Hastings site indicated that a Machinery Storage Building was located immediately west of the referenced property. The only known connection the railroad had with Farmers Grain Storage, other than as the lessor of the referenced property, was to deliver empty grain cars and provide transportation for loaded grain cars from the facility. 2. State all dates when the Burlington Northern Railroad utilized the above referenced properties for storage, handling or loading of grain products. Provide documents to substantiate the usage of the property for grain storage or handling. No evidence was found that the BNRR ever utilized the property for storage, handling or loading of grain products. All of these operations, including the loading of the grain, were performed by Farmers Grain Storage. 3. State all inclusive dates when the Burlington Northern Railroad leased the above referenced properties to others and identify to whom the property was leased. The only reference in BNRR files to this property being leased indicates Farmers Grain Storage, Inc lease the site from 1959 until 1970. A copy of this reference is enclosed. A copy of the BNRR-Farmers Grain Storage, Inc Offer To Purchase agreement was found in the BNRR files. A copy of this Offer to Purchase agreement is enclosed. 4. Provide information including documents which indicates that the Burlinton Northern Railroad used or arranged for the use of liquid grain fumigants, including, but not limited to, carbon tetrachloride. No information was found that the BNRR ever used, or arranged for the use, of liquid grain fumigants at this site. If fumigants were used at the referenced site, it is assumed it would have been by, and at the discretion of, the operator of the facility. 5. Provide documents indicating Burlington Northern Railroad's relationship with Farmers'Grain Storage, Inc. The BNRR leased and sold the referenced property to Farmers Grain Storage, Inc.. A reference concerning the lease was found in the sale file (a copy of the sale file with the letter referencing the lease is enclosed). However, a copy of the actual Lease Agreement was not found. The lease apparently ended in 1970. BNRR does not keep inactive lease files for more than four years. The BNRR provided transportation for grain shipped from the Farmers Grain Storage facility. There were no contracts found for this transportation service. Grain is normally moved under a published tariff and not under contract. 6. Provide information including documents that identify other parties who leased properties located on Attachment 2 before or after occupancy by Farmers Grain Storage, Inc. No evidence has been found of any occupants being on this property other than Farmers Grain Storage, Inc.. 7. Identify others who may be able to provide information to EPA regarding the above referenced properties. These include, but are not limited to, railroad employees and inspectors, either private or governmental (at city, county, state and federal levels). A list of individuals who were contacted to develop this response is attached. 8. State whether or not the Burlington Northern Railroad obtained a license from the state or federal grain inspection authorities in connection with your activities at the above referenced site. Provide copies of licenses if your answer is affirmative. There was never any reason for the Burlington Northern Railroad Company, as a transportation company and as leaser of the property, to obtain a license from the state or federal grain inspection authorities for the activities of the leasee of the property. The inspection of the grain would normally be arranged by the purchaser of the commodity. These inspections were often performed after the grain was in the railroad car, but it was not the railroad's responsibility. 9. Describe any spills or accidents involving liquid fumigants at the Burlington Northern properties identified in Attachments 2 and 3 during the period of your ownership. Specify what fumigant was involved, in what quantity, and the response to the accident or spill. No record of any spill on this property were found in BNRR files The railroad did not handle fumigants at this facility. Enclosed are copies of our file records and letters of information indicating what was known of the site by property management and title records personnel. Questions concerning these records or information provided above may be directed to Mr. CA. Culley of this office. G.G. Albin ' Y't'^'i^ Director of Engineering cc: Ann Blythe Form No. 331 jifi^f S52^fJ^i Adams^County, ss. Recorded TflQ^i.* ^^^^ at 3:35 P.M. in Book 301, paee STA^;PTAX : JUL 261972 Register of Deeds. QUITCLAIM DEED ^j?e:^Pzz- , K^ PRESENTS. That BURLINGTON: NORTHERN INC^, a corporation organized under .the laws of the istate of Delaware, successor in interest to Chicago; Burlington & Quincy Railroad Company, Grantor, in oonsidei^ation of Twenty-/ six Thousand and no/lOO ($26,000.00) DOLLARS, to it duly paid, the receipt whereof is hereby acknowledged, has granted, conveyed, remised, released and quitclaimed, and by these'presents does grant, convey, rehise, release, and forever quitclaim unto FARMERS GRAIN STORAGE, INC., of,P. O. Box 332, Hastings, Nebraska 68901, 'Grantee, and to its successors and assigns forever, all its right, title, interest, estate, claiia and demand} both at law and in equity of, in and to the following described real estate, torwit:; • •'^- •.• ; •ACtract••tB£A:landrcbmpri8ing^a'.part• of.':the'^Sou^ -.v.''^^ •::• ' west Quarter of the'^utheast Quarter (SW%SE%) of :^^ Section Eleven (11)V Tbwnahip S^ven (7) North, Range ten (10) West:of the Sixth Prlftfclpal Meridian; City ; • of Hastinga, Adams jCpuaty, Nebraska and more particu- • ^ . v'-'i'^larly:'describedTas 'follows: -Z-ZZ[ •; y.First,';.:to''aiscertainr/the^int:- of. beginning',,--start- ZyyZZy. '•:^-.;\-:y^at;the:interBectioh;;bfi'-the."cdRer .line-of:;Secondr• ^-^^•-• v^ '' '""^ the Sbutheaat Quarter (SW%'SEii); thence East along the V center line of Second Street a distance oi 4$2.35 feet ^M BHl thence South along said east line of Maple Street ay distance of 35.0 feet to a point on the south line of Second Street; thence East along the sedLd south line of Second Street a distance of 30.0'feet; thence South parallel with the e^st line of Maple Street a distance of 150.0 feetr thence East parallel with the south line of Second Street a distance of 100.0 feet; th^hc'e South -' V7 parallel with the east line of Mapl^ Street a distance 'of 8.95 feet to the center line ot the Burlington Nor­ thern Inc.