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DUPAGE COUNTY
DUPAGE COUNTY
Congressional District # 14
KERR-MCGEE (KRESS CREEK/WEST BRANCH OF DUPAGE RIVER)
EPA ID# ILD980823991Last Updated: July, 2009
Site Description
The Kerr-McGee Kress Creek/West Branch of DuPage River site is one of four National Priorities List (NPL) sites in the West Chicago area that were contaminated with radioactive thorium wastes. The radioactive waste originated from a nearby facility known as the Rare Earths Facility (REF). The REF, operated by Lindsay Light and Chemical Company and its successors from 1932 until 1973, produced non-radioactive elements known as rare earths and radioactive elements such as thorium, radium, and uranium along with gas lantern mantles for private entities and the United States government's use in federal atomic energy programs. The REF produced these elements by extracting them from monazite sands, bastnasite (rare earth ore), and other ores, using an acid leaching process. Production of these elements resulted in the generation of radioactive mill tailings that contained residual levels of thorium, radium, and uranium as well as certain other insoluble metals. Kerr-McGee purchased the REF in 1967 and maintained operations until closing the facility in 1973.
At the Kress Creek/West Branch of DuPage River site, creek and river sediments and banks and floodplain areas are contaminated with radioactive thorium wastes. The site became contaminated when radioactively-contaminated surface runoff and discharges from the REF were carried by a storm sewer into nearby Kress Creek and, from there, downstream to the West Branch DuPage River. The site includes approximately 1.5 miles of Kress Creek from the storm sewer outfall to the creek's confluence with the West Branch DuPage River and approximately 5.2 miles of the river from the confluence downstream to the McDowell Dam, for a total of 6.7 miles of river.
Approximately 20,000 people live within three miles of the site. Drinking water in the area is obtained from municipal or private wells and is not impacted by site contaminants.
Site Responsibility
This site is being addressed through potentially responsible party (PRP) actions.
Threats and Contaminants
Sediments and soils at the site contain low-level radioactive contamination. People who are exposed to radioactively-contaminated soils or sediments may suffer adverse health effects.Cleanup Progress
U.S. EPA began a remedial investigation/feasibility study (RI/FS) in 1993 to determine the nature and extent of contamination at the site and to evaluate various cleanup alternatives. Around 1997, Kerr-McGee and parties representing the affected communities asked U.S. EPA for time to negotiate an agreement regarding cleanup of the site. As part of the negotiations between Kerr-McGee and the affected communities, Kerr-McGee conducted extensive, additional characterization work at the site. U.S. EPA gave the parties time to negotiate, and the parties eventually reached a conceptual agreement for cleanup of the site. The proposed cleanup approach was contingent upon Kerr-McGee, U.S. EPA, and other governmental agencies resolving certain technical and legal issues regarding the cleanup.
In October 2003, the federal government and Kerr-McGee reached a non-binding agreement in principle which resolved the main outstanding technical and legal issues regarding the proposed cleanup approach. The agreement in principle also described the steps that would have to occur for Kerr-McGee and the government to reach a formal, binding agreement, known as a consent decree, for site cleanup.
Following the agreement in principle, Kerr-McGee and U.S. EPA signed an Administrative Order on Consent, effective November 21, 2003, for Kerr-McGee to complete the RI/FS at the site. The order specified that Kerr-McGee would incorporate U.S. EPA's prior data as well as Kerr-McGee's extensive site characterization data into the RI and FS documents. Kerr-McGee prepared the RI and FS reports, and U.S. EPA prepared the human health and ecological risk assessment reports. Those documents were finalized in May 2004.
On May 24, 2004, U.S. EPA issued for public comment a proposed plan for site cleanup. U.S. EPA held a public meeting on June 2, 2004, regarding the proposed cleanup plan. The federal government and Kerr-McGee resolved all major negotiation issues related to the federal consent decree by the end of September 2004, but the document was not finalized until spring 2005. Because Kerr-McGee was entering into two separate consent decrees (one with the federal government and one with the local communities), both decrees had to be finalized around the same time. As a result, U.S. EPA signed the Record of Decision (ROD) on March 24, 2005, and the federal consent decree was finalized on March 30, 2005.
The ROD selected excavation and off-site disposal as the cleanup method for targeted sediments and soils at the site. Under the federal consent decree, Kerr-McGee agreed to design and carry out the cleanup at the site, with the cleanup estimated to cost $71.9 million. The design and cleanup is being conducted under a phased approach, proceeding sequentially from upstream to downstream, with the site divided into several different sections or "reaches" as described below:
Reach 1: creek from storm sewer outfall to May Street
Reach 2: creek from May Street to Joy Road
Reach 3: creek from Joy Road to Route 59
Reach 4: creek from Route 59 to the confluence with the River
Reach 5C: river from confluence to Mack Road
Reach 5D: river from Mack Road to River Oaks subdivision
Reach 5E: river from River Oaks subdivision to Williams Road
Reach 6: river from Williams Road to Butterfield Road
Reach 7: river from Butterfield Road to Warrenville Dam
Reach 8: river from Warrenville Dam to McDowell Dam
Cleanup work at the site began in the summer of 2005. During 2005, Kerr-McGee completed cleanup work in Reaches 1 and 2 of the creek, including cleanup in the residential neighborhood located closest to the source of the contamination and having the highest concentration of contamination at the site. During 2006, cleanup work was completed in Reaches 3 and 4 of the creek, as well as in the river portion of the Kerr-McGee Sewage Treatment Plant Site (a related NPL site). In 2007, cleanup work was completed in Reaches 5C, 5D, and most of 5E. In the summer of 2008, work was completed in Reach 5E and all of Reach 6. Work was scheduled to resume in late April 2009 on Reach 7 of the river cleanup. There is now some uncertainty whether that work will be completed this year since Tronox (formerly Kerr-McGee) is in Chapter 11 bankruptcy. The cleanup of the remaining portions of the river was expected to continue through 2010, although this could be delayed due to the Tronox bankruptcy.
The cleanup work is being conducted by Tronox and its contractors under the oversight of U.S. EPA, the State of Illinois, and the local communities.
Community Involvement
The local community has been very involved in site issues for more than a decade. The Thorium Action Group (TAG) is a very active and vocal community group that has fought hard for the removal of the thorium materials from the West Chicago and DuPage County area. EPA participates in regular meetings of the West Chicago Intergovernmental Forum, which includes representatives of state and federal regulatory agencies, local community representatives, members of TAG, the PRP, and other interested stakeholders.
In addition, the local community entities (including West Chicago, Warrenville, DuPage County, the DuPage County Forest Preserve District and the West Chicago Park District) entered into a separate consent decree with Kerr-McGee regarding the cleanup of the site, and have retained a technical representative who is conducting daily oversight of the cleanup on behalf of the local communities.
Property Reuse
Land use along the creek and river is primarily a mixture of residential and forest preserve properties. Future land use is expected to remain the same.Contacts
Remedial Project Manager, U.S. EPAtimothy fischer (fischer.timothy@epa.gov)
(312) 886-5787
Community Involvement Coordinator, U.S. EPA
janet pope
(312) 353-0628
Aliases
KERR-MCGEE (KRESS CREEK/W BRANCH DUPAGE)KERR-MCGEE (KRESS CREEK/WEST BRAND OF DU
WEST BRANCH OF DUPAGE RIVER
KERR-MCGEE KRESS CREEK & WEST BRANCH