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U.S. EPA REGION 5
MONROE COUNTY
HANNIBAL

Congressional District # 06

ORMET CORP.

EPA ID# OHD004379970
Last Updated: December, 2008

Site Description

The Ormet Corp. facility, located along the Ohio River in Monroe County, Ohio, is an aluminum processing plant that began operating in 1958. Between 1958 and 1968, about 85,000 tons of spent potliner material from the reduction plant were stored in an unlined open storage area to the east of the plant. The spent potliner was also placed in an unlined landfill adjacent to the Ohio River and to the east of the plant.

At the time of the remedial investigation, about 1500 people lived within a three-mile radius of the site. Over 3,000 employees of Ormet Corp. and the nearby aluminum rolling mill plant to the west, which was subsequently purchased by Ormet, obtained drinking water from a well that is about 2,000 feet from the reduction plant on the rolling mill property.

There are two interceptor wells, installed by Ormet in 1973, which extract contaminated groundwater before it reaches the process water well on the reduction plant property.  This contaminated groundwater is sent to an on-site treatment plant. 

The rolling mill equipment has been sold and moved. Following the shutdown of the potlines during bankruptcy proceedings, Ormet has now restarted all six potlines in the reduction plant.

Ormet had about 1000 employees in January 2008, most at the Hannibal facility. Potable water for the plant is now obtained from a local water company. The estimated population of Monroe County in 2007 was about 14,000; this population has been decreasing.

Site Responsibility

This site is being addressed through federal, state, and potentially responsible party (PRP) actions.

Threats and Contaminants

The groundwater is contaminated with cyanide, fluoride, arsenic and manganese. The soils and sediments in a backwater area were contaminated with cyanide, fluoride and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs). Groundwater migration is controlled by a pump-and-treat system. The contaminated sediments and some of the contaminated soils were removed and placed in an on-site landfill, which was capped. Other soils are being treated by in-situ soil flushing.

Cleanup Progress

A remedial investigation and feasibility study (RI/FS) was completed in September 1994.  A Record of Decision (ROD) was issued on September 12, 1994 and an Explanation of Significant Differences was issued on April 1, 1997 that specify the remedy for the site. 

The Consent Decree between the United States Environmental Protection Agency (U.S. EPA) and Ormet Corp. for design and construction was entered with the court on December 18, 1995. Ormet has completed the remedial design and the construction of the remedy. A Preliminary Close-Out Report documenting completion of construction was signed on August 4, 1998. The remedy included: 

Long-term monitoring of the site is continuing. The flushing system is being operated, except during the coldest weather. The second five-year review was issued in May 2007. The report stated that the remedy is functioning as anticipated, except that restrictions on groundwater use are not as extensive as the ROD anticipated. The remedy is protective of human health and the environment in the short term. The remedy will be protective in the long term once effective institutional controls preventing potable use of contaminated groundwater have been expanded to cover the entire reduction plant property.

Contacts

Remedial Project Manager, U.S. EPA
bernard schorle (schorle.bernard@epa.gov)
(312) 886-4746

Community Involvement Coordinator, U.S. EPA
virginia narsete
(312) 886-4359

Aliases

ORMET CORP

 

Site Profile Information

This profile provides you with information on EPA's cleanup progress at this Superfund site.

 

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