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Fact Sheet
July 2006
Proposed Hazardous Waste Permit Renewal and Proposed Cleanup Plan Released for Public Comment - John Deere Waterloo Works, Waterloo, Iowa
INTRODUCTION
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Region 7 invites the public to comment on the draft permit renewal and proposed cleanup plan for a portion of the John Deere Waterloo Works Westfield Avenue facility at 400 Westfield Ave. in Waterloo, Iowa. The public comment period will start July 21, 2006, and end September 5, 2006. All written comments should be sent to the address below. EPA proposes a final cleanup plan for Solid Waste Management Unit 19A (SWMU) and Southeast Area of Concern (AOC-1). Other SWMUs and AOCs at the facility will be addressed with proposed cleanup plans at a later time under the permit. The permit renewal covers the entire facility.
EPA will hold a public availability session so that community members can ask questions about the draft permit renewal and proposal. See box on page 1 for details.
BACKGROUND
The 290-acre facility is bordered by River Road and the Cedar River on the north and Westfield Avenue on the south. The facility was originally established as the Waterloo Gasoline and Traction Engine Company in 1893. Deere and Company of Moline, Illinois, acquired the facility in 1918 and has operated it since that time. In recent years operations at the facility have decreased because manufacturing activities have moved to other facilities.
In June 1991, EPA issued a federal Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) Hazardous Waste Management permit to John Deere Waterloo Works, which allowed for the operation of a hazardous waste storage facility at the site. Since issuance of the permit, all the previous permitted units have been either reclassified as Clean Water Act facilities or have been cleaned and closed under RCRA.
This draft permit renewal would be issued for the remaining corrective action activities for the identified SWMUs and AOCs and contains specific conditions pertaining to the proposed cleanup plan to address contamination at SWMU 19A and Southeast AOC-1. The other SWMUs and AOCs cleanups will be addressed under the renewed permit.
This draft permit renewal would be issued under the authority of RCRA.
CONTAMINATION
John Deere has been investigating several SWMUs for contamination in accordance with the existing permit. One of these SWMUs has been designated as SWMU 19A and was located in the southeastern part of the facility where trash had been buried in the past. Subsequently, placement of fill material and construction of plant buildings and paved areas covered SWMU 19A. During fieldwork conducted in 1993 as part of the facility's RCRA Facility Investigation, several subsurface samples were collected from SWMU 19A. Additional sampling was conducted in 2005 within SWMU 19A and within the area of the facility that John Deere is planning to donate to the Cedar valley TechWorks project. Although no material was recovered from the borings that could be considered general trash, it was found that waste foundry and casting sand had been used as fill material within the area of SWMU 19A and the area John Deere plans to donate.
Historically John Deere had used waste foundry and casting sand to fill low-lying areas prior to constructing buildings and parking areas. Because this practice had taken place at various times during the nearly 100-year history of the facility, it was not known precisely where the waste sand had been placed. It was not known until the sampling performed in 2005 that it was underlying this area in the southeast part of the facility. After the 2005 sampling indicated that the waste sand was present throughout the area, this area was designated Area of Concern No.1 (AOC-1).
The contaminants found throughout the waste foundry and casting fill sand include semi-volatile organic compounds derived from materials used in the casting sand core-making and molding processes and chromium and lead from foundry operations. In most of the samples collected from SWMU 19A and AOC-1, the concentrations of the semi-volatile organic compounds exceed EPA cleanup goals.
PROPOSED CLEANUP PLAN
Groundwater sampling indicates that the contaminants associated with SWMU 19A and AOC-1 have not migrated to groundwater. Because the primary risk involved with the contaminants at the levels found is limited to direct contact and incidental ingestion through exposure to dust, EPA proposes a cleanup plan for SWMU 19A and AOC-1 which will prevent this type of exposure. The proposal is to always keep the area of contamination covered with a barrier, such as paved parking and driving areas and buildings themselves. This proposed remedy will be enforced as part of John Deere's renewal permit and will also stay with the property itself by issuing a restrictive environmental covenant. This restriction will require that, in the future if it should be deemed necessary to remove the cover for any reason, EPA be notified before removal occurs and will have an opportunity to oversee removal activities to ensure worker safety and that contaminated material is properly managed.
Public Availability Session
August 8, 2006
4 p.m. to 7 p.m.
Waterloo Public Library Rooms A and B
415 Commercial St.
Waterloo, Iowa 50701
EPA will be available to answer questions about the draft permit renewal and proposed cleanup plan. All members of the public are welcome to attend anytime from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m.
Public Comments
Submit your written comments about the draft permit renewal
and proposed cleanup plan to:
Randy Rohrman
EPA Region 7 ARTD/RCAP
901 N. Fifth St.
Kansas City, KS 66101
Phone: 913-551-7543 or
Toll free: 800-223-0425
E-mail: rohrman.wray@epa.gov
Written comments will be accepted from July 21, 2006 to September 5, 2006.
EPA encourages the public to review the administrative record and comment on the draft renewal permit and proposed cleanup plan. Comments or request for a public hearing should be submitted by September 5, 2006. The administrative record is available at the following locations:
Waterloo Public Library
415 Commercial St.
Waterloo, Iowa 50701
(319) 291-4476
Hours of Operation:
Mon. – Thurs., 9 a.m. – 9 p.m.
Fri. – Sat., 9 a.m. – 5 p.m.
EPA Region 7 Records Center
901 N. Fifth Street
Kansas City, Kansas 66101
(913) 551-7166
Hours of Operation:
Mon. - Fri., 7 a.m. – 5 p.m.
Iowa Department of Natural Resources
502 E. Ninth Street
Des Moines, Iowa 50319
(515) 281-5918
Hours of Operation:
Mon. – Fri., 8 a.m. – 4:30 p.m.
Iowa Department of Natural Resources
Field Office #1
909 W. Main, Ste. 4
Manchester, Iowa 52057
(563) 927-2640
Mon. – Fri., 8 a.m. – 4:30 p.m.
A formal public hearing has not been scheduled but will be held if there is sufficient public interest. Request for a public hearing must be made in writing to the EPA contact listed on page 1 and must state the nature of issues to be raised at the hearing. EPA will evaluate any request and hold a formal hearing if it finds that a hearing will contribute to the decision-making process by clarifying significant issues affecting the permit renewal and cleanup remedy. EPA will make a final permit renewal decision and final cleanup plan decision only after the public comment period ends and all comments are reviewed. EPA may modify the draft renewal permit and proposed remedy or choose another one based on any new information and comments from the public.
Individuals may write to the EPA contact on page 1 to join the mailing list. Joining the mailing list will allow an individual to receive any updated information directly throughout the permit process.If you have questions or want to receive further information, please contact:
Shawntell Martin
Office of External Programs
U.S. EPA Region 7
901 N. Fifth Street
Kansas City, KS 66101
Phone: 913-551-7003 or
Toll Free: 1-800-223-0425
martin.shawntell@epa.gov
