ILD982074783, Superfund Alternative Approach Agreements Sites | Region 5 Superfund

U.S. EPA REGION 5
COOK COUNTY
CHICAGO

Congressional District # 07

PEOPLES GAS LIGHT & COKE - DIVISION ST

EPA ID# ILD982074783
Last Updated: November, 2008

Site Description

The Division Street Station Former Manurfactured Gas Plant (MGP) site is located at 1241 West Division Street, in Section 5, Township 30 North, Range 14 East, Cook County in the City of Chicago, IL. The site currently encompasses approximately fifteen acres and is bounded to the north by West Division Street, to the south by West Cortez Street, to the west by the Union Pacific Railroad, and to the east and northeast by the North Branch of the Chicago River. The portion of the site east of Elston Avenue (adjacent to the North Branch of the Chicago River) is now owned by the City of Chicago and the owner and operator of a bar; during MGP operations, this property was used for coal and coke storage. The portion of the site west of Elston Avenue is currently in use by The Peoples Gas Light and Coke Company (Peoples Gas) as a Utility Service Center and includes a meter testing and repair shop in the main building, a maintenance building, warehouse and storage buildings, material storage bins, office buildings, one 12,000-gallon gasoline underground storage tank (UST), and one 12,000-gallon diesel fuel UST. The site and the surrounding area are zoned for commercial and industrial uses, and the properties adjoining the site are used for commercial purposes. The nearest residential properties are one block south of the site.

History and Former Operations

The Division Street Station MGP was constructed in 1883 as a gas production and storage facility. This was the first MGP in Chicago built exclusively for the production of water gas. The facility eventually included four gas holders ranging in size from 500,000 to 10 million cubic feet. Underground MGP structures included storage tanks, oil tanks, tar tanks, and tar settling tanks. Above-ground MGP structures included condensers, shaving scrubbers, oil tanks, and light oil washers. Gas production at the plant ended before the aboveground MGP structures were dismantled and removed in 1962.

Site Responsibility

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

Threats and Contaminants

Groundwater is encountered at three to eight feet below ground surface (bgs). The general direction of groundwater flow at the site is east toward the North Branch of the Chicago River. Chemicals detected in groundwater samples collected during investigations at the site include volatile organic compounds (VOCs), primarily consisting of benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene, and xylene (BTEX), semi volalile organic compounds (SVOCs), primarily consisting of polyaromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), metals (including arsenic and barium), and cyanide.

Impacted soils were found as early as 1979 when excavation for an addition to the maintenance building led to the discovery of blackish clay soil with an observed inflow of oil into the excavation area. Later, stained soils with strong odors and heavy oil sheens were observed during site investigations. Samples collected in March 2002 from soil borings and a test trench showed evidence of free phase coal tar product and oily hydrocarbons. The contaminants found in soil samples at levels above screening levels during site investigations are primarily PAHs, including benzo(a)pyrene, benzo(a)anthracene, benzo(a)fluoranthene, and dibenzo(a,h)anthracene. Soil samples collected after the recent remediation exceeded the soil ingestion remediation objectives for PAHs, arsenic, and lead; in addition, the soil inhalation remediation objectives were exceeded for benzene and naphthalene.

Sediment samples were collected as part of an Agency study in 2000, from a location in the North Branch of the Chicago River adjacent to the site. 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 concentrations that suggest 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 the Agency'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 in 2007, Peoples Energy approached EPA to address thirteen former MGPs in Illinois under the same SAS program. The Division 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

Remediation activities to address impacted materials were conducted in 2005 under IEPA's Site Remediation Program. Areas on site were excavated to at least 3 feet below ground surface (bgs) and backfill materials were brought in to replace the excavated materials. After backfilling, an engineered barrier was installed to prevent the further spread of contaminants. Approximately 164,000 tons of excavated material and over one million gallons of water associated with the excavation were disposed of as part of the remediation process. Post-remediation sampling data indicate that elevated levels of certain contaminants still exist on site, although barriers are in place to prevent direct contact exposures. In addition, impacted material was left in place between the gas holder wall and the railroad tracks where remediation was deemed impractical.

Additional investigation of the remaining contamination will take place under the RI/FS. A schedule for completion of the RI/FS will be established once more information is available to prioritize all 11 Chicago former MGP sites.

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