Region 5 Superfund (SF)

U.S. EPA REGION 5
MADISON COUNTY
GRANITE CITY

Congressional District # 12

JENNISON-WRIGHT CORPORATION

EPA ID# ILD006282479
Last Updated: September, 2008

Site Description

The Jennison-Wright Corporation site includes approximately 20 acres of land, within the corporate boundaries of Granite City, Madison County, Illinois.  The site is in a low income, mixed industrial/residential neighborhood.  The population within one mile of the site is 31,280.  Facility operations began prior to 1920 and continued until 1989.

The Jennison-Wright site is an abandoned facility that engaged in wood treatment of railroad ties and wood blocks, using creosote, pentachlorophenol, and zinc naphthanate on the southern portion of the site.  The southern portion of the site also had a railcar that contained waste and contaminated soil stockpiles, called 'Area H'.  Jennite, an asphalt sealant, was manufactured on the site.  The Jennite pit (a lagoon) was an on-site disposal pit where Jennite and creosote wastes were dumped.  Other features in the southern part of the site included the 22nd Street Lagoon, the Jennite Building (which had 2 silos), a tank farm (including a buried railcar), and other operations buildings.  The northern portion of the site was mainly used as a drying and storage area for the treated railroad ties and wood blocks.

Jennison-Wright Corporation filed for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy in November 1989.  An auction was held in 1990 to sell the remaining equipment and materials.  The site has remained vacant since 1990.

Site Responsibility

This site is being addressed through federal and state actions

Threats and Contaminants

Site surface soils are contaminated with dioxins/dibenzofurans and carcinogenic polynuclear aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs).  The subsurface soils are contaminated with benzene and naphthalene.  The groundwater is contaminated with PAHs and pentachlorophenol (PCP) in numerous locations around the site including the northeast corner of the site (Area H) and the Jennite pit.  The Jennite pit contained creosote wastes and was the source of surface and subsurface soil contamination as well as groundwater contamination.  After operations ceased, wastes were left at the site in a railroad tank car, a buried railroad tank car, two aboveground storage tanks, and two lagoons (22nd Street and Jennite Pit).  Site contaminants are above acceptable levels for direct contact or ingestion exposures; however, the site is fenced and no known unacceptable human exposures have been identified.

Cleanup Progress

The Illinois Environmental Protection Agency (Illinois EPA) has undertaken three separate cleanup actions: one in 1992, to stabilize contaminants on the site; a second in 1994, to remove the most critical of the contaminants; and a third in 2003, to demolish onsite structures and remove some of the drip track residue.  The 1992 action was funded by proceeds from the 1990 Jennison-Wright Corporation bankruptcy sale.  No other financially viable responsible parties have been identified.  The 1994 removal action and the 2003 action were federally funded.

EPA began a fund-financed engineering evaluation/cost analysis (EE/CA) in April 1997 to properly quantify the impact of the site contaminants and determine the most effective cleanup approach.  The final EE/CA report was received and approved by IEPA in July 1999.  Illinois EPA scheduled a public hearing to solicit public comment on a federally-funded proposed cleanup plan.  The record of decision (ROD), a public document that explains the site cleanup plan, was signed in September 1999 by both U.S. EPA and Illinois EPA.  The cleanup plan described in the ROD includes: (1) off-site disposal of various site wastes at a hazardous waste disposal facility; (2) an on-site biological treatment land farm to treat contaminated soil; (3) steam injection/concentrated contaminant recovery to address groundwater concerns; and (4) injection of a substrate (Hydrogen Release Compound (HRC)) into the subsurface to address the less contaminated groundwater.

The remedial design for the site cleanup was completed on July 21, 2003.  Partial funding for the cleanup was received in 2004.  This funding was used to remove hazardous and special wastes on the north side of the site and to treat groundwater in this area.  Cleanup of the northern portion of the site was completed in 2005.

In December 2005, in lieu of using on-site biological land farming to address soil contamination, EPA decided to change this component of the remedy and ship contaminated soils to an off-site landfill instead.  The change was documented in an Explanation of Significant Differences (ESD) signed in 2005. 

The remaining cleanup activities currently under way at the site include removal of dioxin-contaminated soils; excavation of the Jennite Pit and the 22nd Street lagoon; completion of the Area H cleanup; excavation and disposal of soils in the former PCP process area; additional injection of the HRC substrate to promote anaerobic biodegradation of groundwater contaminants; use of air sparging to treat the highly contaminated groundwater plumes; and construction of a steam flushing system to remove dense non-aqueous phase liquids (DNAPL) from groundwater. 

Contacts

Remedial Project Manager, U.S. EPA
mary tierney (tierney.mary@epa.gov)
(312) 886-4785

Community Involvement Coordinator, U.S. EPA
virginia narsete
(312) 886-4359

Aliases

JENNSION WRIGHT CORP
JENNSION WRIGHT CORPORATION

 

Site Profile Information

This profile provides you with information on EPA's cleanup progress at this Superfund site.