Region 5 Superfund (SF)

U.S. EPA REGION 5
WEXFORD COUNTY
CADILLAC

Congressional District # 02

KYSOR INDUSTRIAL CORP.

EPA ID# MID043681840
Last Updated: September, 2008

Site Description

The Kysor Industrial Corporation (Kysor Industrial) site is located within the Cadillac Industrial Park which covers approximately a square mile along the northern border of the city of Cadillac, Wexford County, Michigan. Kysor Industrial Corporation, an active manufacturing plant, began operations in 1959. Waste disposal practices in the past that led to current contamination problems included dumping of barrels of spent solvent and degreaser directly onto the ground behind the plant. Impacted groundwater has also migrated northward to a residential area north of the industrial park in Haring Township.

The groundwater contamination from the Kysor Industrial site is commingled with that from other facilities in the industrial park, including another facility designated as a National Priorities List (NPL) site, the Northernaire Plating Company (Northernaire) site. Contamination in the groundwater has also migrated downward, impacting both the shallow and intermediate aquifer in the vicinity of the site. The municipal well field for the city of Cadillac draws groundwater from the deep bedrock aquifer and is not being affected by the contamination from the Kysor Industrial site.

 

Site Responsibility

This site is being addressed through federal, state, and potentially responsible parties' actions.

 

Threats and Contaminants

Soil contaminants included the volatile organic compounds (VOCs) trichloroethylene (TCE), trichloroethanoic acid, and xylenes which subsequently contaminated the groundwater. The main contaminants of concern in groundwater are TCE and tetrachloroethylene (PCE). Ingestion or coming into contact with water in the shallow and intermediate aquifers may pose a health risk.

 

Cleanup Progress

In 1981, Kysor removed 700 cubic yards of contaminated soil from behind the plant and backfilled the area. However, state personnel noted strong odors and measured more than 100 parts per million of several VOCs remaining in soils. During the 1980s and early 1990s, the entire Cadillac Industrial Park was extensively investigated, predominantly by the State of Michigan.  A Remedial Design for addressing contamination related to the Kysor Industrial and Northernaire sites was prepared by a group of potentially responsible parties (PRPs) under a United States Environmental Protection Agency (U.S. EPA) order. In 1995, U.S. EPA issued three enforcement orders to six industrial and individual PRPs for soil and groundwater cleanup. These orders address cleanup for the entire Kysor Industrial site and the contaminated groundwater portion of the Northernaire site. 

Cleanup activities included construction of an 18-well groundwater extraction system; a groundwater treatment system, including air stripping (for VOC contamination from the Kysor site) and carbon adsorption (for chromium contamination from the Northernaire site); a soil vapor extraction system with vapor phase carbon adsorption for contaminated soils at the Kysor plant; and removal of approximately 1,000 cubic yards of contaminated soils at another property in the industrial park. All construction and soil removal work were completed by September 1996. 

Currently, the groundwater treatment system is treating approximately two million gallons of water per day for discharge to the Clam River. The system continues to operate as designed.  The second five-year review for the Kysor Industrial site was completed in 2005. The review determined that the site remedy remains protective of human health and the environment in the short term but made several recommendations to ensure that the remedy remains protective in the long-term. The recommendations include implementing land use restrictions in the part of Haring Township affected by the plume area to prevent the use of groundwater for drinking and completing a private well survey in the area. 

As a follow-up to this recommendation in the 2005 five-year review, an inventory of the private wells in the North Park and Pine View subdivisions in Haring Township was completed.  The inventory consisted of reviewing a number of information sources, including water meter readings obtained from the Wexford County Department of Public Works (DPW) for approximately 140 residences in the subdivisions, historical file information on wells that had been abandoned since the 1980s, and well logs in the State of Michigan well database.   In addition, a door-to-door survey was conducted, written questionnaires were mailed to residents, and officials at the City of Cadillac, Haring Township and Wexford County DPW were interviewed.  The inventory indicated that 20 homes in the subdivision might use private wells as their primary or secondary source of drinking water.  Another 50 homes appeared to still have a private well that was used for non-drinking water purposes such as watering the lawn.

EPA contacted the 20 residents that potentially used their private well for drinking and was able to obtain signed agreements from 16 of the residents that would allow EPA to collect and analyze a sample from the wells.  The well water samples from the 16 residents were collected in May 2008.  Only one well contained a site related contaminant, TCE, but the concentration detected, 0.2 ug/l, was below the maximum contaminant level (MCL) drinking water standard.  This concentration of TCE does not cause a health concern.  Other contaminants not related to the Kysor site detected at low levels in the wells included methylene chloride, carbon disulfide, chloroform, and bromodichloromethane.  Some of the contaminants are considered to be lab artifacts and are not likely to have been present in the original well samples.  None of the compounds, however, were present at concentrations that would cause a health concern.  

Property Reuse

An automotive part manufacturing facility is currently operating at the site. 

Contacts

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

Community Involvement Coordinator, U.S. EPA
stuart hill
(312) 886-0689

Aliases

JOMARC PROPERTIES
KYSOR INDUSTRIAL CORP
KYSOR CADILLAC
KYSOR INDUSTRIAL CORPORATION

 

Site Profile Information

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