Region 5 Superfund (SF)

U.S. EPA REGION 5
MUSKEGON COUNTY
DALTON TOWNSHIP

Congressional District # 02

OTT/STORY/CORDOVA CHEMICAL CO.

EPA ID# MID060174240
Last Updated: August, 2006

Site Description

The Ott/Story/Cordova site located in Muskegon, Dalton Township, Muskegon County, Michigan, is a former organic chemical production facility that operated under at least three owners from 1957 until 1985 and used as many as five unlined seepage lagoons to dispose of industrial wastewaters and production vessel residues. These practices resulted in contamination of groundwater, soils, and nearby Little Bear Creek and its unnamed tributary. Approximately 10,000 drums of waste material, some of which contained phosgene gas, were also stockpiled onsite. The former production area is approximately 20 acres in size, surrounded by wooded undeveloped land and a semirural residential area with approximately 300 to 500 residents in a one-mile radius of the site. 

Site Responsibility

This site is being addressed through federal and state actions. 

Threats and Contaminants

Among the most dangerous contaminants are groundwater: vinyl chloride, 1,1-dichloroethene, and 1,2-dichloroethane; soils: benzoic acid, 1,2-dichlorobenzene, 4-chloroaniline, 1,1,1- trichloroethane, xylene, toluene, 1,4-dichlorobenzene, hexachlorobenzene, 4,4'-DDT, and dioxin; and Little Bear Creek: 1,1-dichloroethane. 

Cleanup Progress

A partial removal was conducted between 1977 and 1979 by the State of Michigan and former site owner Cordova Chemical Co. By that time a contaminant plume, containing at least 40 organic chemicals, migrated approximately one mile to the southeast, contaminating the Creek and several private wells. Residents received bottled water until the 1982 installation of a municipal water system by potentially responsible parties in settlement of a citizens' suit. The United States Environmental Protection Agency (U.S. EPA) completed a Remedial Investigation/Feasibility Study and signed a Record of Decision (ROD) on September 29, 1989, for groundwater containment by at least five extraction wells. A second ROD signed on September 29, 1990, requires aquifer restoration by using additional extraction wells and treatment by a Groundwater Treatment Facility (GWTF). On September 27, 1993, U.S. EPA signed a third ROD, selecting Low Temperature Thermal Desorption as the remedy for approximately 10,000 cubic yards of soil and sediment. A ROD Amendment for Creek monitoring and excavation and offsite disposal of approximately 4,000 cubic yards of that soil was signed on February 26, 1998. The soil cleanup was completed under the authority of the State of Michigan. Except for the soil remedy, all cleanup activity has been done under federal and state cost share agreements. The GWTF design was completed on September 29, 1992, which started treating contaminated groundwater on February 24, 1996, and has removed approximately 9200 pounds of contaminants from approximately 4,265,000,000 gallons of groundwater; system operational and functional status was achieved on September 14, 2000. The Long-Term Response Action (LTRA), started on that date, should be completed by September 30, 2030, and also estimates approximately 31,000 pounds of contaminant, removed from approximately 14,500,000,000 gallons of water treated. The soil RA (Operable Unit #3) under the authority of the State of Michigan was completed on March 21, 2002.  The State of Michigan is scheduled to assume 100 percent of the remedy's operation in the year 2010.

Contacts

Remedial Project Manager, U.S. EPA
john fagiolo (fagiolo.john@epa.gov)
(312) 886-0800

Community Involvement Coordinator, U.S. EPA
dave novak
(312) 886-7478

Aliases

OTT/STORY/CORDOVA CHEM
OTT STORY & CORN PROD CHEM CO
CORDOVA CHEM CO OF MICHIGAN

 

Site Profile Information

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