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Meeting Feb. 13, 2002

Maple Park and Victory Heights Advisory Council for the Dutch Boy Site & Former West Pullman Works Site
Wednesday, February 13, 2002, 7:00 P.M.
Edward H. White Academy, 1130 West 122nd Street, Chicago, Illinois

*The following is a Summary of the discussion of the February 13, 2002 Advisory Council meeting. It is not meant to serve as a transcript of the proceedings*

The 31st meeting of the Maple Park and Victory Heights Advisory Council for the Dutch Boy site and the Former West Pullman Works site, formerly known as International Harvester, was held at the Edward White Elementary School, 1130 South 122nd Street on February 13, 2002 from 7-9p.m. A synopsis of the meeting follows:

  1. Welcome and Introductions
  2. Review of October 17, 2001 meeting summary
  3. Dutch Boy Update
  4. Former West Pullman Works Update
  5. City of Chicago Update
  6. Question & Answer Period
  7. Next meeting date
    Contact information

Attendees included:

*Other persons may have attended, but were unable to sign the sign-in sheet.

I. Welcome and Introductions

The facilitator, Janet Pope, opened the meeting, conducted introductions and reviewed the agenda items.

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II. Review of October 17, 2001 meeting summary

(includes corrections and unfinished business)
There were a number of corrections made to the October 17, 2001 meeting minutes. Corrections will be made. After this the corrected copy will be sent to the Advisory Council then the minutes will be placed within the information repository.

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III. Dutch Boy Update

Brad Bradley of U.S. EPA, was not at the meeting. Janet Pope will get the updates from Brad, then send them to the community with the minutes of the February 13, 2002 meeting.

UPDATE: The Dutch Boy on-site cleanup under the Unilateral Administrative Order was finished in 1999. There are some remaining issues regarding areas that were still paved as of 1999 that have been uncovered by activities of the City of Chicago and/or NL Industries. There are some soils that have been uncovered that contain high lead levels. U.S. EPA is working with the City and NL to address this situation.

The off-site areas (residential yards) will be cleaned up this year. NL Industries submitted a “Remedial Design/Remedial Action Work Plan” for the residential areas that is currently under review by U.S. EPA. Copies of this document were sent to the Advisory Council c/o Tony Davenport and to Kirk Riley, TOSC. U.S. EPA has requested all comments to be submitted to U.S. EPA by April 15, 2002. According to the schedule in the Work Plan, if U.S. EPA approves the Work Plan in April, cleanup of properties should begin in July and be completed in November. U.S. EPA will oversee the residential cleanup activities.

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IV. Former West Pullman Works Update

Mark Britton (Illinois EPA) inquired as to whether a cancer cluster study has been conducted in the community. This matter will be followed up with the USEPA and the Chicago Public Health Department. Additionally, an Ecology & Environment report will be reviewed to determine if soil samples were taken on White School property.

Martin Hamper of ARCADIS provided an update on the project activities at the Former West Pullman Works site. He noted that, in an effort to determine the presence or absence of oil in the soils surrounding the sewers, piezometers (a type of monitoring well) will be installed in March 2002 around the sewers on the south side of the property. Oil has been found in sewers south of the former storage tank in Area N at the site. That oil was pumped out, but a sheen has remained.

A passive skimmer system will be installed in the sewer to remove the oil, if possible. With the aid of the skimmer process, the project team will be able to determine if the sheen is merely the result of a trace of oil left after the oil was initially pumped out, or if there is a source of oil in the sewer that needs to be addressed.

Following these tasks and a few other investigation activities, the site investigation report will be finalized. The Remedial Action Plan will be prepared as the following step. Mr. Hamper noted that in the course of the project, much of the site cleanup activities have already occurred.

A member of the Community Advisory Council asked whether the on-site sewers are connected to off-site sewers, explaining a concern because a black substance sometimes bubbles up from the drain in the second floor tub. Mr. Hamper explained that the on-site sewer connection to off-site sewers is blocked. Also, such a substance would not likely be sewer related since it is occurring on the second level of the home. A member of the Community Advisory Council asked when the next project newsletter will be issued. Gail Walker responded that a newsletter will be prepared in conjunction with the upcoming milestones that Mr. Hamper noted (the site investigation report and the Remedial Action Plan). It is expected that these milestones will occur in the spring/summer 2002 timeframe and the newsletter will be issued at that point.

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V. Chicago Department of Environment Update

Amforge Site - Completed demolition of concrete slabs. Concrete was crushed into aggregates for re-use onsite during site development. City plan to complete remediation spring 2002 by removing PCB impacted soils onsite.

Parcel 12-1 Site (property southeast corner of 120th and Peoria) - City recently acquired the property and fenced it. City is pricing the removal of concrete onsite. Expect to receive bids on March 25, 2002. DOE will then request authorization to proceed from Department of Planning and Development.

Dutchboy Site - Results of EPA field sampling conducted late 2001 confirmed presence of elevated lead onsite. EPA informed the City that it plans to hold a meeting between the EPA, the City, and National Lead to discuss final clean-up of the property.

Church Property - City expecting NFR letter soon.

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VI. Question & Answer Period

  1. Do you have a map or a list of all the Brownsfield sites in Chicago (Cook County)? We do have a list of the brownfield sites in Chicago. This information can be obtained through the Freedom Of Information Act, but a current listing (February 2002) has been placed in the repositories and will be provided at the next Advisory meeting on April 24, 2002.
  2. Has something been done to measure the depth of the contamination at the Dutchboy Site? Yes, the City is in the process of determining both the horizontal and vertical extents.
  3. What need to be done to clean up this site? Any contamination above state clean-up levels need to be removed or treated. The high lead levels are driving the clean-up.
  4. How much clean up is enough?
    When soils meet the Illinois Environmental Protection's Tiered Approach to Corrective Action guidelines under the Site Remediation Program. No further clean-up actions at the site will be required. Any newly discovered contamination would be handled as needed.
  5. Why did the city remove the concrete, after indicating they would not?
    At that time, USEPA had forbidden the City to remove the concrete as it was preventing exposure to the lead contamination. Also, the City was exploring potential re-use of the concrete surface. The City decided to proceed with the concrete removal as it was determined to be a hindrance to future redevelopment.
  6. Can't USEPA make National Lead clean up the contaminated areas? USEPA is currently considering this option.
  7. Why didn't they know what was under the concrete? Earlier investigations by National Lead showed lead levels under the concrete to be less than the required EPA clean-up level of 1400 ppm.
  8. Has something been found in the area under the loading dock? Yes, lead hazardous waste and free oil product.
  9. Will the community be notified of the final report? Yes.
  10. Will this be the last time you go in and clean up? That is the goal but not a guarantee.
  11. If developers come in and start testing soil, what are the city's responsibilities?
    The City will transfer the property to the developer “as-is” with a No further Remediation letter from IEPA. Ultimately, it depends on the redevelopment agreement between the City and the developer.
  12. Has the NFR come back from the Amforge Site? Not yet. The City is responding to IEPA comments of the City's Risk Assessment report.
  13. Is more sampling required in this community? Yes, there will be more sampling for lead as the residential cleanup progresses. Some residents refused access for sampling, and these residents will be given another chance to have their property sampled.
  14. Do you know about a high lead report for 122nd street? No, EPA is not aware of this. We would like more details if they are available.
  15. Please clarify what the HEPA Vacuum is? HEPA stands for High Efficiency Particulate Air. This vacuum traps very fine dust, including lead particles that may be present in the home, especially in high outside traffic areas.
  16. Have soil samples been done around the Edward White School? Not yet. USEPA will continue to pursue this sampling until it gets done.

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VII. Next meeting date

The next meeting will be at 7:00pm on Wednesday, April 24, 2002, at the Edward White Elementary School, 1130 West 122nd Street, Chicago

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For more information, please contact:

Brad Bradley, Remedial Project Manager
U.S. EPA
77 West Jackson Boulevard
Chicago, Illinois 60606
(312) 886-4742
bradley.brad@epa.gov

Janet Pope, Community Involvement Coor.
U.S. EPA
77 West Jackson Boulevard
Chicago, Illinois 60606
(312) 353-0628
pope.janet@epa.gov

Renante Marante
City of Department of Environment
30 N. LaSalle
Suite 2500
Chicago, Illinois
(312) 742-0123
rmarante@cityofchicago.org

Mark Britton, Community Relations Coor.
Illinois Environmental Protection Agency
1021 North Grand Avenue East
Springfield, Illinois 62794-9276
(217) 524-7342
mark.britton@epa.state.il.us

Gail Walker, Public Affairs Consultant
Environmental Communications
801 South Plymouth Court
Suite 1002
Chicago, Illinois 60605
(312) 939-7640
envirocom2000@aol.com

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