Ceremony Marks End of Soil Cleanup at Tucson Site
Soil Removal Begins at Torrance Superfund Site

Ceremony Marks End of Soil Cleanup at Tucson Site

Tucson Mayor Robert Walkup and U.S. EPA Waste Management Director Jeff Scott officially marked the completion of the cleanup of petroleum soil contamination at a downtown Tucson, Arizona site by shutting off the environmental cleanup system in a December ceremony at the site.

In 2003, the EPA gave the City of Tucson a $200,000 brownfield cleanup grant for the petroleum-contaminated property located in Tucson’s Historic Warehouse District. The cleanup system, which has been operating since September 2005, has removed approximately 1,000 pounds of gasoline compounds.

“The transformation of a contaminated site into a school for art demonstrates the tremendous potential of all brownfield properties,” said Scott. “Thanks to the outstanding efforts of all who completed the recent cleanup, Tucson will soon enjoy the benefits of a revitalized arts district.”

“This has been a wonderful cooperative effort between the staffs from EPA, City of Tucson and the State’s Voluntary Remediation Program,” said Francis LaSala, environmental manager for the city of Tucson. “It’s rewarding to see that three levels of government can work together with limited funding and in a relatively short time frame to cleanup this property.”

In 1993–94, several underground storage tanks containing petroleum-based products, primarily gasoline, were removed from the ground, revealing petroleum contamination. The city used the EPA grant funds to design and install a cleanup system to remove and destroy the gasoline contamination. The city has received EPA grants totaling more than $2 million.

Soil Removal Begins at Torrance Superfund Site

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is overseeing contaminated soil removal from an industrial parcel outside Torrance, California. The work is being conducted by three entities under EPA order and the soil will be disposed at a regulated hazardous waste landfill in Nevada.

In November, the EPA ordered Montrose Chemical Corporation, Ecology Control Industries (ECI) and Ronald Flurry to remove up to 5,000 tons of excavated DDT-contaminated soil piles from the ECI property. The estimated cost of disposal is $1.6 million.

“The agency issued the order to prevent DDT contaminated soil from blowing into the air or washing into storm drains,” said Keith Takata, director of the EPA’s Superfund Division in the Pacific Southwest region. ”The EPA is pleased that the responsible companies have stepped up to the plate and that work is under way.”

The soil piles, located at an industrial property several blocks from the Montrose Plant Property, were created when the landowner was conducting environmental assessment activities in preparation for a potential sale last year.

The DDT-contaminated soil is being transported in covered truck containers to the U.S. Ecology-regulated hazardous waste landfill in Beatty, Nevada. The removal and hauling work is expected to take up to three weeks. The Nevada Department of Environmental Protection approved the transfer of the soil.

Montrose Chemical Corporation of California manufactured DDT from1947 until 1982. The 13-acre plant property, located in the Harbor Gateway area of Los Angeles, was named a federal Superfund site in 1989. The EPA believes that DDT was released into storm drains from the 1950s through the 1980s. BFN