Pepper Steel and Alloys, Inc.

• Site Profile
• Administrative Record Index (PDF): OU1 (21 pp., 327K)
• Reuse Ready Fact Sheet (PDF, 1pp., 127K)
• Additional Site Documents including Five Year Reviews, Records of Decisions (ROD) and Explanation of Significant Differences (ESD).
• For documents not available on the website, please contact the Region 4 Freedom of Information Office (http://www.epa.gov/region4/foiapgs/submit.htm).

Site Background:
The Pepper’s Steel & Alloys, Inc. (PSA) site (Site) is located in a commercial/industrial area of Medley, FL.  The Site consists of three property parcels totaling approximately 25 acres.  Past on-site operations included manufacturing of batteries, pre-cast concrete products, and fiberglass boats, as well as the repair and service of trucks and heavy equipment.  Also, sandblasting and painting services, a concrete batching plant, and an automobile scrap operation were located on-site.  Activities at PSA included recycling of electrical transformers, where waste oil containing polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) was dumped on the ground.  Various trash and waste products from these activities, including parts of rusted machinery, vehicles, aircraft, oil tanks, transformers, underground storage tanks, and batteries were deposited at the site.  Area topography is flat.  Groundwater is 5-6 feet below land surface and is part of the sole-source Biscayne Aquifer.  The site endangerment assessment identified PCBs, lead, and arsenic present in site soils in concentrations posing a significant threat to public health, welfare, or the environment.

Cleanup Progress:  Construction Complete
In early 1983, EPA conducted a geophysical survey of the site and identified about a dozen zones requiring further investigation.  Soil sample analysis identified that PCBs were present in at least two zones.  EPA initiated Immediate Removal actions to address soil and free floating oil at the Site.  EPA also drilled observation wells and sampled on-site wells and surface water in the immediate area. 

The Site was added to the Superfund National Priorities List (NPL) in September 1983.  The 1986 Record of Decision (ROD) selected the following cleanup actions for the site: collection and off-site disposal of all free oil; excavation of soils containing PCBs, lead, and arsenic exceeding cleanup levels; solidification/stabilization of the contaminated soil with a cement-type mixture and placement on-site with a crushed limestone cover; institutional controls to ensure that future land use is compatible with the remedy; and monitoring groundwater to ensure the effectiveness of the solidification/stabilization remedy.  The Potentially Responsible Party (PRP) began construction of the remedy in 1987 pursuant to a Consent Decree.  Construction was completed in 1989.

EPA settled with property owners of the Site in 1997.  A portion of the money from the settlement was placed in a special account, administered by EPA, to fund future operation and maintenance (O&M) activities.  Initial O&M efforts, funded by the special account, included clearing the crushed limestone cover of vegetation and tree growth, which occurred in late 2002, and surveying to identify the location of the drainage collar which had been disturbed by the tree clearing effort in some locations.  Evaluation of the collar design and options to repair/restore the collar, where damaged, were performed.  Mechanisms to ensure long-term implementation of O&M at the Site are being evaluated.

Reuse of the Site has received significant interest since initiating clearing of the on-site tree growth.  Appropriate reuse that is compatible with the remedy is viewed as a positive solution to the long-term O&M requirements at the Site.  The remedy design and subsequent EPA evaluation of the solidified monolith concluded that the monolith had sufficient load-bearing strength to support compatible reuse operations.   The properties are strategically located to highway systems. Commercial utilization of the surrounding area has increased significantly since the site was discovered.  A 5-acre Site parcel has sold and is in temporary reuse as a truck staging area.  Another 10-acre parcel has sold and is now a concrete forming operation.  The remaining 10-acre parcel has a lease/purchase agreement and is in temporary reuse.

The third Five-Year Review of the remedy was completed in September 2007.  The remedy continues to be protective of human health and the environment based on monolith sampling and ground-water sampling results over the preceding five-year time period.  In the March 2007 ground-water sampling event, two monitoring wells were found to be exceeding the ground-water protection goals (for arsenic and lead) established for the remedy.  Re-sampling of these wells in November 2007, continued to show ground water exceedances for arsenic and lead in one monolith monitoring well.  This well has shown historical issues which raise questions about its ability to accurately reflect monolith impacts to the surrounding ground water.  Revised Ground-water Monitoring and O&M Plans are to be developed to ensure continued long-term protectiveness of the Site.  The revised Ground-water Monitoring Plan will address the continued ground-water exceedances in the monolith monitoring well.  Ground water in the immediate area is not used for drinking water purposes.  Institutional controls are being developed for all three parcels to ensure future use does not adversely affect the remedy.