Airco

• Site Profile
• 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 2.75-acre Airco site is an industrial landfill that lies adjacent to the B.F. Goodrich Site landfill, near the southern bank of the Tennessee River. It is located approximately 2 miles northeast of Calvert City, Marshall County, Kentucky off of highway 1523. From the mid-1950s until 1971, it is estimated that the landfill accepted 18,000 tons of caustics, acids, volatile organic compounds (VOCs), zinc, mercuric acetate, and mercuric chloride. From 1971 to 1980, an industrial lessee dumped 14,000 tons of metal-contaminated coal ash at the landfill, as well as polyvinyl chlorides (PVCs), ferric hydroxide sludge, and construction wastes. The landfill was unregulated until 1968, when it received a permit under Kentucky's new solid waste management program. The landfill was capped and closed in 1981. Ground water, sediments and soil are contaminated with polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), and VOCs including benzene and toluene from the former waste disposal practices.

Another Superfund site, the B.F. Goodrich, borders the Airco property on the west. Because of their proximity and a common history of use, these two sites were studied together and have undergone a combined cleanup under the collective name, the B.F. Goodrich /AIRCO Sites (Site).

Cleanup Progress: Construction Completed
Site remediation was conducted from 7/96 to 12/96 under a 6/92 Consent Decree (Decree) with the remedy based on a 1988 ROD. The Decree was entered into by the B.F. Goodrich Company and the BOC Group, Inc.

Site construction activities associated with the soils remediation were conducted from 7/96 to 12/96 and primarily consisted of the following: (1) upgrade of the vegetative cap over the entire B.F. Goodrich and the AIRCO landfills; (2) construction of a dike along the river that abuts the landfills in order to protect the landfill caps from seasonal flooding: (3) excavation of PAH-contaminated surface soils and drainage ditch sediments for placement within the Burn Pit Area (under a RCRA cap); and (4) installation of a leachate extraction system to collect pooled leachate from beneath the landfills and the Burn Pit Area. The extracted leachate is then piped to the B.F. Goodrich groundwater treatment plant, where recovered, contaminated site groundwater is also treated via steam stripping. Approximately 1,225 cubic yards of surficial soil and 25 cubic years of ditch sediment were excavated and transferred to the burn Pit Area for burial. Construction was completed September 27, 1997.

The ground-water portion of the Selected Remedy has been operational since 1/92. Five (5) groundwater extraction wells were installed to recover contaminated groundwater from beneath the landfill in order to intercept the discharge of contaminants into the adjacent Tennessee River. These wells were installed at the B.F. Goodrich/AIRCO site concurrently with other wells constructed within the RCRA-regulated portion of the B.F. Goodrich plant site. Quarterly ground-water monitoring is currently being performed to evaluate the effectiveness of the system. During the 1999 season, the PRPs estimated that  more than 920 pounds of VOC contaminants were removed.

A five-year review of the remedy was conducted in 2001 and concluded that the remedy had been implemented in accordance with the ROD and Consent Decree and that the remedy was protective of human health and the environment.  The first five year review changes the ARARs for EDC, carbon tetrachloride, benzene, and trichloroethane.  The review also documented the limited effectiveness of the groundwater treatment system.  As a result, the SVE system was expanded in the burn pit area.  Ten new dual phase wells were installed along with the installation of sipper tubes in wells in the burn pit area.

The second five year review was conducted in 2006 and concluded that the remedy was protective in the short-term, but that additional actions were needed to ensure that the remedy is protective in the long-term.  Deficiencies identified include deed restrictions to prevent residential use and the installation of private wells; groundwater cleanup goals have not been achieved in the estimated timeframe; no further decrease of EDC levels in the shallow plume; limited effectiveness of the source area groundwater extraction wells; and uncertainty regarding the extent of the principal source of EDC contamination.

The PRP submitted a proposal in April 2009 designed to assess the effectiveness of the current remedy.  The investigation is also intended to assess whether the Airco Landfill is a significant contributor to non-aqueous phase and dissolved-plume groundwater contamination that has been observed at the BF Goodrich Site.   Field work is planned for late-summer 2009.  Data from this study will be used to evaluate whether modifications to the remedy are appropriate and if cleanup of the Airco Landfill should continue in conjunction with cleanup of the BF Goodrich Site, or if site conditions pose different environmental issues that should be addressed separately.