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Fields Brook

Background

Fields Brook site, located about 55 miles east of Cleveland in the city and county of Ashtabula, Ohio, is a six square-mile watershed of a brook where up to 19 separate facilities have operated since 1940. Activities range from metals-fabrication to chemicals production. Fields Brook flows into the Ashtabula River, which flows into Lake Erie approximately 1-1/2 miles downstream of the site. Fields Brook sediment and soil from the Fields Brook floodplain/wetlands area are contaminated with a wide variety of contaminants including PCBs, chlorinated solvents and metals. Several industrial properties surrounding Fields Brook are potentially recontaminating Fields Brook sediment, which has contaminated Ashtabula River sediment.

Update - October 2007

A new source of PCBs was discovered in Fields Brook in late September as contaminated sediment was being excavated from the brook.  This new area of contamination is a pool of heat transfer fluid that contains PCBs.  The fluid may have been buried for a long time but was found during an excavation project to address localized soil and sediment contamination identified during ongoing environmental monitoring.

The new PCB contamination appears to be coming from under the Millennium Inorganic Chemical Co. TiCl4 Plant.  The Fields Brook channel has been rerouted around the problem area as plans are being finalized to investigate and dig up the source of the contamination and any affected soil and sediment within the floodplain.  An EPA emergency response team will be on hand to monitor the cleanup. 

EPA has ordered Millennium to do this work to remove the risk of recontaminating the nearby Ashtabula River that was recently cleaned up separately under the Great Lakes Legacy Act.   Fields Brook flows into the Ashtabula River and eventually into Lake Erie.

The Fields Brook cleanup, which has been ongoing for about 10 years, is comprised of four miles of brook and six industrial areas.  Cleanup will be done this year in three of those areas:

• In the area known as the Detrex Corp. facility, two more “extraction” wells will be installed this spring to pull out liquid containing high levels of volatile and semi-volatile contaminants such as trichloroethylene or TCE, hexachlorobenzene and hexachlorobutadiene from underneath the property.  Because this liquid is so heavy, it has a tendency to sink when it enters water.  If this updated well design is successful, more wells will be added to the system.
• In Fields Brook, in an industrial area near State Road, work plans are being prepared to remove sediment and soil contaminated with PCBs and heavy liquids this summer.
• The Ashtabula River is being addressed outside of Superfund through a program called the Great Lakes Legacy Act . Although Superfund staff is monitoring the progress of the river cleanup, EPA’s Great Lakes National Program Office is overseeing the actual work.
• Cleanup at the other five areas has been completed
  • Conrail in 1998
  • Millennium Inorganic Chemicals TiC14 Facility in 1999
  • Acme Scrap Iron and Metals/South Sewers in 2000
  • North Sewers in 2000
  • RMI Metals in 2001

You will need the free Adobe Reader to view some of the files on this page. See EPA's PDF page to learn more.

Site Updates

• EPA orders cleanup of new PCB contamination found at Fields Brook Superfund Site, News Release October 23, 2007
• Contamination release found at Fields Brook Superfund site, August 2, 2005
• Five-year review of Fields Brook cleanup, announcement, April 2004
• EPA Reaches Agreement with Muskegon Development Co. August 2001
• EPA Proposes Plan for New Contamination Found at Fields Brook Site; Meeting May 10, 7 P.M. May 2001
• U.S. EPA Evaluates On-Site Treatment Proposal for Additional Contamination Found Last Fall (PDF) (160K) May 2001
• Substantial Progress Made in Industrial Cleanups; Additional Contamination Found in Brook & Floodplain (PDF) (167K) November 2000
• Majority of Cleanup Work to be Finished This Year (PDF) (179K), March 2000
• Project Update: Millenium Soil Cleanup Completed (PDF) (106K), December 1999
• Project Update (PDF) (212K) July 1999
• Project Update (PDF) (61K) November 1998
• Proposed Plan Summary: Fields Brook Superfund Site Source Control Operable Unit (PDF) (414K) July 1997
• Proposed Plan for Remedial Action: Fields Brook Superfund Site Floodplain/Wetland Area (PDF) (153K) November 1996
• Questions and Answers: Fields Brook Superfund Site Information Availability Session and Public Meeting, September 26, 1996 (PDF) (220K) November 1996
• Proposed Plan Summary: Fields Brook Superfund Site Floodplain/Wetland Area (PDF) (58K) November 1996

Legal Documents

• Administrative Order; Docket No. V-W-08-C-883 (PDF) (16pp., 650K)

Links

• FAQ for Trichloroethylene (TCE)
• FAQ for Hexachlorobutadiene
• FAQ for Hexachlorobenzene
• FAQ for Polychlorinated Biphenyls (PCBs)
  
  

  
  

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