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ST. CLAIR COUNTY
SAUGET
Congressional District # 12
SAUGET AREA 2
EPA ID# ILD000605790Last Updated: December, 2007
Site Description
The Sauget Area 2 site covers approximately 312 acres and is located within the corporate boundary of Cahokia, East St. Louis, and Sauget, Illinois, in the floodplain, bordering the eastern edge of the Mississippi River. The Sauget Area 2 site is the location of a release of hazardous substances, resulting from the treatment and disposal of industrial, municipal, and chemical wastes.
The Sauget Area 2 site comprises four landfills (Sites Q, R, S, and P) and four backfilled lagoons (Site O), all of which are at times in contact with the water table and are located throughout the Sauget Area 2 property. Landfill R (Site R), located directly adjacent to the Mississippi River, was used by Sauget and Company, Inc. to dispose of chemical waste products generated by Monsanto from 1957 to 1977. From 1966 to 1973, a larger landfill (Site O) was also used to dispose of municipal and hazardous wastes. In addition, beginning in 1972, Monsanto and the Edwin Cooper Company were permitted to dispose of industrial waste at a landfill known as Landfill P (Site P). Landfill S (Site S) was used as a still-bottom disposal area for Clayton Chemical Company after 1973. This disposal area allegedly was excavated by Paul Sauget of Sauget and Company for Clayton Chemical Company's use. The four sludge dewatering lagoons (Site O), located in the center of the property, were used to treat wastewater from area industries from the early 1950s to the late 1980s.
A levee, bisecting the property, was constructed in the 1950s to prevent surface water from flooding areas east of the levee, but the levee neither prevents sources west of the levee from being inundated by spring floods nor does it restrict contamination transport through the unsaturated and saturated zones under the levee.
Site Responsibility
This site is being addressed through Potentially Responsible Party (PRP) actions under federal enforcement agreements and federal actions. Potentially Responsible Parties are parties whom EPA believes may be legally responsible for the site's contamination.
Threats and Contaminants
Sampling conducted at the site has indicated levels of hazardous substances in all sources, including benzene at concentrations up to 10,000 ug/kg, polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs)) at concentrations up to 25,000,000 ug/kg, 4,4'-Dichlorodiphenyethlene (DDE) at 270 ug/kg, phenol at 2,300,000 ug/kg, and lead at 728 ug/kg. In addition, chlorobenzenes, chlorophenols, chloroanilines, nitroanilines, and metals have been found on the property, in groundwater beneath the property, and in Mississippi River sediments adjacent to the Sauget 2 property. These hazardous substances not only pose a threat to the people who consume fish from the recreation and sport fishing areas near the site, but they also threaten the wetlands and the endangered and threatened species that inhabit the area. The Sauget Area 2 property is used as habitat by at least six threatened and endangered species, including the federally-threatened bald eagle and state-endangered snowy egret and little blue heron. Furthermore, a portion of the Mississippi River within the area of observed contamination is fished for carp, catfish, and drum for human consumption.
Cleanup Progress
In 1993, a flood exposed numerous drum containers on the east bank of the Mississippi River (Site Q), resulting in flood water coming in direct contact with hazardous substances, including PCBs at concentrations up to 110,000 ug/kg. These drums contained waste with arsenic concentrations of 138 mg/kg and lead concentrations at 3,740 mg/kg. The United States Environmental Protection Agency (U.S. EPA) conducted a CERCLA removal action at the northern portion of Site Q in 1995 to stabilize the area, scoured by flood waters.
In May 1999, lead was documented in groundwater beneath the property at 238 ug/L. PCB levels were documented as high as 19 ug/L, and 4,4'-DDE levels as high as 0.52 ug/L. In October 1999, U.S. EPA initiated a CERCLA time-critical removal during which over 3,271 drums of waste and hazardous materials and approximately 17,032 tons of contaminated soil were removed from the western edge of the property, directly adjacent to the Mississippi River. However, due to the extensive amount of contamination, the removal action could not address all the contamination on Sauget Area 2 property. Sediment samples, collected in 2000 from the Mississippi River adjacent to the site, show elevated levels of chlorobenzene (up to 10,000 ug/kg), 4-chloroaniline (3,300 ug/kg), 1,4-Dichlorobenzene (1, 700 ug/kg), and 4,4'-DDD (14 ug/kg).
On November 24, 2000, an administrative order on consent (AOC) for the Sauget Area 2 site was entered into by U.S. EPA and a group of PRPs. The AOC requires the Sauget Area 2 sites group to conduct a remedial investigation (RI) and to prepare a feasibility study (FS). An RI is a study into the nature and extent of contamination at the site. An FS is a study of the cleanup alternatives at the site. RI sampling activities were initiated in 2002 and concluded in June 2003. The RI/FS report was submitted on January 30, 2004. Due to data gaps identified in the RI/FS report, further sampling was conducted at Sauget Area 2 as part of a Supplemental Investigation (SI). Sampling activities have concluded for the SI, and a revised RI/FS is being prepared. The RI should be complete in 2007.
On November 14, 2001, U.S. EPA sent a request to the Sauget Area 2 sites' group to prepare a focused feasibility study (FFS) for the Groundwater Operable Unit (OU-2) to address the known groundwater contamination problem in the vicinity of Site R.
On September 30, 2002, U.S. EPA a selected interim remedy for OU-2 and issued a unilateral order to the PRP, Solutia, to implement the selected remedy. The rationale for the remedy selection was documented in a Record of Decision (ROD). The interim ROD and order called for the installation of a 3,500-foot long, 140-foot deep U-shaped jet grout wall barrier between the down gradient boundary of Site R and the Mississippi River; installation of groundwater extraction recovery wells inside the barrier wall; installation of a groundwater treatment system; implementation of a groundwater, surface water, and sediment monitoring program to ensure acceptable performance of the interim groundwater remedy; and institutional controls. On July 30, 2003, U.S. EPA issued an explanation of significant difference (ESD) to the interim ROD. This ESD involves a change of one single component of the remedy (the use of a conventional soil-bentonite wall barrier instead of a jet grout wall barrier) and does not fundamentally alter the cleanup approach. The remedial design (RD) was completed on March 14, 2003. Construction of this interim remedial action (RA) was started on March 14, 2003, and was completed in Spring 2006. The groundwater containment system is now in operation at Site R.
Additional studies and investigations have been conducted on Area 2 by the PRPs, based on feedback from U.S. EPA, since 2004. This included vapor intrusion and groundwater modeling work. The results of these and other studies/investigation on Area 2 since 2004 will be incorporated in a revised draft RI/FS, which is expected to be completed sometime in 2008.
Aliases
SAUGET MONSANTO LANDFILLPEAVEY MARINE
EAGLE MARINE
SAUGET & CO LDFL
EAST ST LOUIS SAUGET
MONSANTO SAUGET ILLINOIS LDFL
SAUGET LDFL
SAUGET AREA 2 (SITES O,P,Q,R,S)
SAUGET SAUGET LDFL CLOSED
SITE Q
PAUL SAUGET
SAUGET & COUNTY LANDFILL
SAUGET & COUNTY LANDFILL (SITE Q)
SAUGET MUNICIPAL