ILN000510193, Superfund Alternative Approach Agreements Sites | Region 5 Superfund

U.S. EPA REGION 5
COOK COUNTY
CHICAGO

Congressional District # 09

PEOPLES GAS NORTH SHORE AVENUE STATION FORMER MGP

EPA ID# ILN000510193
Last Updated: November, 2008

Site Description

The North Shore Avenue Station Former MGP Site (NSMGP) is located in the Rogers Park Township of Chicago, Cook County, Illinois. The site occupies three parcels of land totaling approximately 10.2 acres in Section 36 of Township 41 North, Range 13 East. The site is bounded to the north by recently-constructed single family homes, to the west by North Kedzie Avenue, to the south by residential properties, and to the east by North Whipple Street. The North Shore Channel (part of the Chicago River system) is approximately 350 feet west of the western property line. Two of the three parcels are currently owned by The Peoples Gas Light and Coke Company (“Peoples Gas”). The Main Parcel, which encompasses approximately 5.4 acres, is currently used as a natural gas regulator station (the “North District Sub-Shop”) and as a vehicle maintenance shop and fueling facility for the north district of Chicago. The East Parcel, approximately 3 acres in size, is a vacant lot covered by vegetation and an unused paved entrance to the property. The remaining Pond Parcel, which is currently being developed as residential property, is approximately 1.8 acres in size.

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. Disposal of waste and spills and leaks often resulted in contaminated soil and groundwater. MGPs were often located near waterbodies and sediment contamination is also common.

Peoples Gas built the North Shore Avenue Station and began operating it as a storage facility for manufactured gas in 1926. A 15 million cubic foot tar-sealed gas holder located on the west side of the Site was used for storage of manufactured gas from the time the station began operations. Later, the holder was used to store natural gas and/or a combination of natural and manufactured gas. The gas holder was taken out of service in 1956 for inspection and repairs. The gas holder sealant was changed from tar to oil at this time, and nearly 200,000 gallons of tar were removed from the Site. The gas holder and most of the tar tanks associated with it were removed in 1971, but additional underground tar tanks may have been left in place at this time. The main gas storage facility buildings are currently used for the sub-shop operations.

Site Responsibility

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

Threats and Contaminants

Soil, groundwater and sediment at former MGPs are often contaminated. At the North Shore Avenue Station soil cleanup was conducted in 1997 and 2001 under the State of Illinios' voluntary cleanup program. Soil contained residuals of polynuclear aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and cyanide. Groundwater is expected to flow towards the North Branch of the Chicago River. Chemicals detected in groundwater samples collected at the Site include barium, cyanide, and PAHs (naphthalene and fluorene). Deeper groundwater conditions at the site have not been investigated. Currently all properties are connected to municipal water service. Sediment samples collected farther downstream in the Chicago River system contain high levels of PAHs, PCBs, oil and grease, and metals.

Cleanup Progress

EPA was approached by Wisconsin Public Service Corp. (WPSC) in 2005 to investigate and clean up seven former Manufactured Gas Plants (MGPs) throughout Wisconsin under EPA’s Superfund Alternative Sites (SAS) program. The SAS Program takes sites that might otherwise be eligible for the National Priorities List, but which will be investigated and cleaned up by a cooperative responsible party, without formally listing the Site on the National Priorities List (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 North Shore Avenue 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
Soils in the northern portion of the site were removed to address chlorinated solvent impacts from releases on the adjoining property in 1997. Some of the solvent-impacted soils left in place had levels of contamination that exceed the Illinois residential standards, so land use in this portion of the Site is restricted. Further site investigations led to the excavation of approximately 26,000 tons of soils impacted with lead and PAHs in 2001 and 2002. The tar-stained soils observed below the groundwater level in soil borings installed along the western border of the Site were not removed during this remediation effort, which was completed under the IEPA Site Remediation Program.

Additional investigation of the remaining contamination will take place under the RI/FS which is scheduled to begin in the Spring of 2010

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