ILD982074767, Superfund Alternative Approach Agreements Sites | Region 5 Superfund

U.S. EPA REGION 5
COOK COUNTY
CHICAGO

Congressional District # 05

PEOPLES GAS LIGHT & COKE - 22ND ST

EPA ID# ILD982074767
Last Updated: November, 2008

Site Description

The 22nd Street Station site is located at 2200 South Racine Avenue in Section 29, Township 39 North, Range 14 East in the West Township of the City of Chicago, Illinois. The site, which is 7.2 acres in size, is bounded to the west by commercial property, to the north by Cermak Road followed by mixed residential and commercial properties, to the east by an electrical substation owned by Commonwealth Edison, and to the south by the South Branch of the Chicago River. Throop’s Canal and Allen’s Canal previously bordered the site to the west and the southeast, respectively; both canals have been filled in. The site is no longer owned by The Peoples Gas Light and Coke Company (Peoples Gas). It is comprised of four parcels, which are currently owned and/or operated by Commonwealth Edison, GRM, Supercartage, and Midwest Generation LLC.

Manufactured gas plants (MGPs) were industrial facilities that produced gas from coal, oil, and other feedstocks. MGPs started operating in the U.S. in the early 1800s, typically in urban areas where gas was needed for lighting, cooking, and heating. The processes used to produce the gas also produced waste and by-products such as tars, purifier waste, oils, sludges, and acidic waste.

The site was initially developed by Peoples Gas in 1862 to produce coal gas. The above-ground structures associated with the manufactured gas plant included four gas holders with capacities of 4.2 million cubic feet, 450,000 cubic feet, 290,000 cubic feet, and 200,000 cubic feet. Beginning in 1922 the MGP was used as a peaking unit to produce gas only when customer demand was high. The MGP was modified to produce carbureted water gas and oil gas in 1934. Some of the MGP facilities were retired in 1938, and in 1944 two production sets were modified to produce reformed natural gas. Peoples Gas began leasing portions of the site to Commonwealth Edison in 1931 and sold the last portion of the site to Commonwealth Edison in 1959. The MGP stopped operating in 1958 and the entire plant was dismantled by 1960.

Site Responsibility

The site is being addressed through federal and potentially responsible parties actions.

Threats and Contaminants

Coal tar, free product, staining, and odors were observed in the soil at various locations during site investigations, and sheens were observed in borings installed in the fill in the former Throop's Canal (on property adjacent to the site). Metals (arsenic, chromium, lead, silver, and selenium), polynuclear aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), a group of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) called benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene, and xylene (BTEX), were detected at concentrations exceeding the state standards in soil samples collected at the site.

Sediment samples were collected from a location in the South Branch of the Chicago River, approximately 2,000 feet downstream of the site in 2000. These samples contained high levels of PAHs, polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), oil and grease, and metals; the concentrations of these substances generally increased with depth. Many of the reported concentrations of total and individual PAHs, PCBs, and metals are at levels which may cause toxicity to organisms that live in the sediment (benthic invertebrates).

Cleanup Progress

The Agency was approached by Wisconsin Public Service Corp. (WPSC) in 2005, to investigate and clean up seven former MGPs in Wisconsin under EPA’s Superfund Alternative Sites (SAS) program. The SAS Program takes sites that might otherwise be eligible for the National Priorities List (NPL), but which will be investigated and cleaned up by a cooperative responsible party, without formally listing the site on the NPL. When WPSC merged with Peoples Energy to form Integrys Energy Group, EPA was approached by Peoples Energy in 2007, to address thirteen former MGPs in Illinois under the same SAS program. The 22nd Street Station is one of those thirteen sites.

EPA and Integrys entered into an Administrative Order on Consent (AOC) for Remedial Investigations and Feasibility Studies at the two Waukegan site and an AOC for Engineering Evaluations and Cost Analyses (EE/CAs) at the eleven Chicago sites. Since the twenty sites have similar conditions and contaminants, and Integrys is responsible for each, the agreements allow a streamlined approach to site investigation and remedy development. Some benefits of the agreement include the use of multi-site documents, a mechanism to review the adequacy of past work, and scheduling flexibility to allow progress on the worst problems first. By the end of 2008, all of the mult-site documents had been approved, and site-specific work had begun on several of the sites. On October 31, 2008 EPA and Integrys entered into an AOC which converted the EE/CA AOC for the 11 Chicago former MGP sites to an RI/FS AOC.

To more effectively manage all 11 original Chicago sites, the RI/FS AOC organizes them into 4 sites: the North Shore Avenue Site, the North Branch Site, the South Branch Site. and the Crawford Site. Both the North Branch Site and the South Branch Site have several operable units. The North Branch Site is comprised of the Division Street Station Operable Unit (OU), the North Station OU, and the Willow Street/Hawthorned Avenue Station OU. One site is the the North Shore Avenue Station Site. The South Branch Site is comprised of the 22nd Street Station Upland OU, the Hough Place Station Upland OU, the Pitney Court Station Upland OU, the South Station Upland OU, the Throop Station Upland OU, and the South Branch River OU.

Investigations and Remediation Previously Performed

A preliminary assessment of the site was conducted by the Illinois EPA (IEPA) in 1988; further investigation was recommended. Additional investigations occurred under the state's oversight in 2000 and 2002 culminating in the cleanup of portions of the site in 2006. Remediation activities, consisting of excavation and disposal of contaminated soils, were begun by Peoples Gas in April 2006 under the IEPA Site Remediation Program.

Site activities by the PRP include excavation to depths ranging from 3 feet to 30 feet below ground surface (bgs). Other site activities by the PRP include daily air monitoring, continuous 24-hour perimeter air monitoring and sampling, confirmation soil sampling, and water treatment and discharge to Metropolitan Water Reclamation District (MWRD) sanitary sewer.

Impacted material in portions of the former Throop’s Canal have been excavated and removed to a depth of approximately 30 feet bgs. Remediation of the site by excavation and off-site disposal of impacted materials is continuing. Additional investigation of the remaining contamination will take place under the RI/FS.

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