Distler Brickyard

• Site Profile
• Administrative Record Index: OU1 (PDF, 20 pp., 497K)
• 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 Distler Brickyard site covers an area of approximately 3 acres and is a portion of an abandoned brick manufacturing plant operated from the late 1800s to mid 1970s. In 1976, the Kentucky Liquid Recycling Inc. leased and began to use the property for storage of waste. Waste disposal at the site continued until 1979, when the Kentucky Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Protection ordered the operations to cease. During the initial inspection, approximately 2,300 drums were found at the site, most of which contained chemicals in form of liquid, sludge, and solids. Stressed vegetation, stained soil as well as dead grass, trees and birds were observed during the inspection, indicating the effects of leaking and deteriorated containers on the environment. Soil and groundwater were contaminated with volatile organic compounds and heavy metals which potentially could pose human health threats through direct contact with or accidental ingestion. The contaminated groundwater plume could threaten the city drinking water wells and the nearby Ohio River. Portions of the site are within the 50 and 100-year flood plain of the river. Approximately 3,000 people live within a 4-mile radius of the site and 70,000 people depend on wells within a 3-mile radius for drinking water. A railroad track runs through the site. Sparks from the railroad caused a fire at the site in 1980.

Cleanup Progress: Construction Completed
In 1979, the State served the operator with an Order to Abate and Alleviate Operations. This action prompted a partial removal of drummed wastes and stopped the illegal on-site storage activities. Between 1979 and 1981, several follow-up Orders were issued to the operator by the State for additional site cleanup but were ignored. The State requested EPA to perform an emergency removal action at the site. A Superfund response action followed in March 1982, during which 2,310 drums of hazardous waste were removed. The contents were determined to be toxic, corrosive, volatile, and/or flammable. Soils contaminated by leaking drums were removed also at that time. EPA completed site evaluation for permanent remedial action in fall 1986, and the remedial design was conducted between April 1987 and October 1988. As part of the final cleanup at the site, 42 tractor trailers of contaminated soil were excavated and transported to a permitted out of State facility for incineration. Clean soil was brought to the site for backfilling, followed by grading and grass-seeding. Installation of a pilot groundwater treatment facility was accomplished in 1989. This was followed by a series of field sampling and hydro-geologic studies which lasted until the middle of 1993. The results were used to design the permanent water treatment system which went into operations in September 1994. Groundwater cleanup by pump and treat at the site utilized wells to extract contaminated water which was cleaned on-site using activated carbon filters. The clean water was pumped back into the ground through a set of on-site disposal wells. The cleanup is funded by the PRPs.

The first Five-Year Review of the site which was conducted in 1998, indicated that the clean-up project was progressing satisfactorily as concentrations of several contaminants were at acceptable levels then.  The Review recommended site re-evaluation and use of supplemental remedial measures to address the contaminants that were still persistent.  Therefore, an innovative remedial technology was developed and applied at the site.  The technology combined hydraulic fracturing with injection of chitin (i.e. a slurry of shrimp and crab shells) to enhance bio-degradation of the remaining site contaminants.  As the first of its kind in field application of the technology, the project received partial funding of five hundred dollars ($500,000) from the National Science Foundation through the EPA contractor who successfully demonstrated the technology.  The pilot application of the technology was initiated at the site in October 2001, and the full scale project was conducted during 2003 and 2004.