QUICK REFERENCE FOR STATUS OF ENVIRONMENTAL INDICATORS Name and EPA I.D. Number Location Current Current If Current Decision (City or Town) CA725 CA750 is Negative, Decision Decision Projected Date for Positive EI CA725 CA750 Amerada Hess Corporation Purvis, MS YE YE MSD 079 461 406 4WD-RPB SUBJ: Evaluation of Amerada Hess Corporation’s status under the RCRIS Corrective Action Environmental Indicator Event Codes (CA725 and CA750) EPA I.D. Number: MSD 079 461 406 FROM: Russ McLean Environmental Engineer THRU: Doug McCurry, Chief South Programs Section TO: Narindar M. Kumar, Chief RCRA Programs Branch I. PURPOSE OF MEMO This memo is written to formalize an evaluation of Amerada Hess Corporation’s status in relation to the following corrective action event codes defined in the Resource Conservation and Recovery Information System (RCRIS): 1) Current Human Exposures Under Control (CA725), 2) Migration of Contaminated Groundwater Under Control (CA750). Concurrence by the RCRA Programs Branch Chief is required prior to entering these event codes into RCRIS. Your concurrence with the interpretations provided in the following paragraphs and the subsequent recommendations is satisfied by dating and signing at the appropriate location within Attachments 1 and 2. 2 II. HISTORY OF ENVIRONMENTAL INDICATOR EVALUATIONS AT THE FACILITY AND REFERENCE DOCUMENTS This particular evaluation is the second evaluation for the Amerada Hess Corporation, Purvis, Mississippi Terminal. The first evaluation of the facility was conducted on September 18, 1998. This initial evaluation resulted in the determination that insufficient information was available to conclude whether current human exposures or the migration of contaminated ground water were under control as defined by the corrective action event codes CA725 and CA750, respectively. A copy of this initial evaluation is attached. A second phase RFI was conducted to further delineate contamination detected during the initial phase of the investigation. The resulting Draft RFI Phase II Report has been submitted and is the basis for performing this second evaluation. III. FACILITY SUMMARY Amerada Hess Corporation (AHC) operated a 35,000 barrel per day petroleum refinery where crude oil was processed into gasoline and fuel oil. AHC also operated a land farm system to treat oily sludges generated from the production of petroleum products at the site. The refinery was decommissioned on January 17, 1994 and now serves as a bulk storage and petroleum distribution terminal. The facility is located about 3.5 miles north of the city of Purvis, Lamar County, Mississippi. The refinery was originally built by Pontiac Eastern Corporation in 1955 and purchased by Gulf Oil in 1968. AHC purchased the refinery from Gulf Oil in 1972. The facility covers approximately 335 acres and is located in a rural area. Surrounding land use is agricultural with row crop production and forestry. Wastes generated during operation of the refinery consisted of; Dissolved Air Flotation (DAF) Float (K048), Slop Oil Emulsion Solids (K049), Heat Exchanger Bundle Wash Sludge (K050), API Separator Sludge (K051), Leaded Tank Bottom Sludges (K052), Corrosive Tank Bottoms (D002), Benzene Characteristic Sludges (D018), Chromium Characteristic Wastes (D007) and Lead Characteristic Wastes (D008). Currently only characteristic wastes from current operations and very limited amounts of RCRA listed wastes are being generated as the result of ongoing maintenance, closure and investigation and/or remediation projects. These include tank bottom sludges produced when tanks or process equipment are cleaned and soils/cuttings from investigation/remediation activities. Waste management operations consisted of an onsite Wastewater Treatment System comprised of the API Separator, the DAF Unit which utilized two (2) short term storage tanks for float material and a series of surface impoundments for secondary wastewater treatment. The facility received a RCRA permit issued by the Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality in March 1988, concurrently with the HWSA permit issued by EPA. The RCRA permit authorized the operation of the land farm treatment system, a 20,000 gallon tank for sludge storage and a container storage area . Sludges from the permitted storage tank were fed to a fluid bed coker reactor for the recycling of K048-K052 wastes. The permitted storage tank, the container storage area and the coker were closed during 1997, in accordance with the closure plan contained in the facility’s RCRA permit. AHC maintains a ground-water detection monitoring system for the land farm treatment system pursuant to 40 CFR, Subpart F, §264.98. 3 IV. CONCLUSION FOR CA725 It is recommended that the status code YE be entered into RCRIS for CA725, as human exposures are controlled. Though ground-water monitoring of the surficial aquifer underlying the site has detected lead and benzene above relevant action levels, no plausible human exposures to this contamination currently exist. A lead plume is associated with Landfill No. 2, located in the northwestern corner of the facility. This plume has been delineated and is limited to a small area immediately down-gradient of the unit. Chromium was detected above the relevant action level of 100 µg/l in several wells during the Phase I RFI. Subsequent sampling conducted as part of the Phase II RFI, utilizing the low-flow sampling procedure, in accordance with EPA guidance, has resulted in only isolated detections of chromium which can not currently be associated with a discrete source. These detections, though above background, are not above the relevant action level. Benzene has been detected above the relevant action level of 5 µg/l in only two wells in different areas of the facility. These detections have preceded or followed sampling events in each of these wells in which benzene was non-detect. The facility has operated a detection monitoring system, associated with a regulated land farm unit, since 1988 with no detections above background concentrations for any of these constituents. No water supply wells in the surficial aquifer are utilized on-site, and none are identified within a one-mile radius of the facility. Sediments within the on-site treatment and collection ponds contain PAH constituents and chromium above relevant action levels. These sediments are below water level and contained within the bermed area of the ponds. Surficial soils within the bermed area of storage tanks are contaminated with PAH constituents and lead above relevant action levels. Access to this area is limited to workers who are not required to be in this area as refinery operations are shut down. Access to this area is also controlled by fencing. V. CONCLUSION FOR CA750 It is recommended that the status code YE be entered into RCRIS for CA750, as ground-water releases are controlled. Ground-water monitoring has defined the extent of the contamination, which is limited to onsite areas of the facility. No water supply wells are located on-site, nor are any identified within a one-mile radius of the facility. No ground-water contamination is currently being discharged into surface water bodies. Attachments: 1. CA725: Current Human Exposures Under Control 2. CA750: Migration of Contaminated Groundwater Under Control 3. Initial EI Evaluation Current Human Exposures Under Control Version: Interim Final Environmental Indicator (EI) RCRIS Event Code (CA725) 2/5/99 ATTACHMENT 1 DOCUMENTATION OF ENVIRONMENTAL INDICATOR DETERMINATION RCRA Corrective Action Environmental Indicator (EI) RCRIS Code (CA725) Current Human Exposures Under Control Facility Name: Amerada Hess Corporation Facility Address: Highway 11 North, Purvis, Mississippi Facility EPA ID #: MSD 079 461 406 1. Has all available relevant/significant information on known and reasonably suspected releases to soil, groundwater, surface water/sediments, and air, subject to RCRA Corrective Action (e.g., from Solid Waste Management Units (SWMU), Regulated Units (RU), and Areas of Concern (AOC)), been considered in this EI determination? X If yes - check here and continue with #2 below, If no - re-evaluate existing data, or If data are not available skip to #6 and enter“IN” (more information needed) status code. BACKGROUND Definition of Environmental Indicators (for the RCRA Corrective Action) Environmental Indicators (EI) are measures being used by the RCRA Corrective Action program to go beyond programmatic activity measures (e.g., reports received and approved, etc.) to track changes in the quality of the environment. The two EI developed to date indicate the quality of the environment in relation to current human exposures to contamination and the migration of contaminated groundwater. An EI for non-human (ecological) receptors is intended to be developed in the future. Definition of “Current Human Exposures Under Control” EI A positive “Current Human Exposures Under Control” EI determination (“YE” status code) indicates that there are no “unacceptable” human exposures to “contamination” (i.e., contaminants in concentrations in excess of appropriate risk-based levels) that can be reasonably expected under current land- and groundwater-use conditions (for all “contamination” subject to RCRA corrective action at or from the identified facility (i.e., site-wide)). Relationship of EI to Final Remedies While Final remedies remain the long-term objective of the RCRA Corrective Action program the EI are near-term objectives which are currently being used as Program measures for the