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Superfund Program

Whitewood Creek

Site Type: Deleted NPL City: Whitewood County: Lawrence Street Address: 18-mile part of stream ZIP Code: 57793 EPA ID: SDD980717136 SSID: 0806 Site Aliases: Homestake Mining Co. Gold Div. Congressional District: At Large

What's New?

Updated October 2011

The EPA is beginning the third five-year review for the Whitewood Creek Superfund Site in Lawrence, Meade and Butte counties, South Dakota. The last five-year review was completed in August 2007. The purpose of the five-year review is to determine whether the remedy at the site remains protective of human health and the environment. The third five-year review will be completed prior to August 2012.

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Site Description

The Whitewood Creek Superfund Site consists of an 18-mile stretch of Whitewood Creek, from the Crook City Bridge to the confluence with the Belle Fourche River. Since the 1870s, millions of tons of toxic tailings were deposited along the creek in Lawrence, Meade and Butte counties. By 1994, the potentially responsible party (PRP), Homestake Mining Company, had completed the cleanup, including removal and replacement of contaminated soil from 16 residences. Homestake continues to monitor surface water in Whitewood Creek.

Local residents use the creek for irrigation, watering livestock and recreation. About 280 people live within a mile of the site. The EPA listed the site on the National Priorities List (NPL) in September 1983.

Map of Whitewood Creek Superfund Site Boundaries, Operable Units and Institutional Controls, September 19, 2011 (PDF, 1 pg, 140K)

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Site Risk

Groundwater, surface water, and/or soils contain heavy metals including arsenic, cadmium, copper, silver, mercury and/or cyanide. Arsenic is the contaminant of greatest concern. Exposure to high levels of arsenic may increase the risk of skin cancer, neurological effects and vascular disease.

Media Affected	Contaminants	Source of Contamination
soil, surface water, groundwater, sludge, liquid waste	arsenic, cadmium, copper, silver, mercury and/or cyanide	mine and mine tailings in and along creek

 

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Cleanup Progress

EPA documented in the 1990 Record of Decision (ROD) that the most appropriate remedy for the Whitewood Creek Superfund Site was to remove and/or cover contaminated residential soils and restrict access to contaminated tailings and groundwater by use of institutional controls. In the 1991 Explanation of Significant Differences, arsenic contaminated materials removed from residential areas were disposed of in an on-site facility instead of an off-site facility, and the term "existing residential areas" was clarified as being those areas in which residential land use was occurring at the time of the ROD. The PRP, Homestake Mining Company, completed the following cleanup activities by 1994:

• Removal and replacement of 4,500 cubic yards of contaminated soil from 16 residential yards and disposal of contaminated soils in a landfill constructed in an undeveloped part of the site.
• Continuation of Whitewood Creek surface-water monitoring.

Remedial construction at the site was completed in March of 1993. The site was removed from EPA’s NPL in August of 1996. Subsequently, EPA conducted an ecological risk assessment to verify that the remedy is protective of the environment. Since waste is left in place which, precludes unlimited use and unrestricted exposure, EPA will continue to conduct five-year reviews. The most recent five-year review (see Site Documents below) was completed in August 2007. The review determined that the remedy is protective of human health and the environment.

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Community Involvement

Community involvement plays an important role in the Superfund process. EPA uses a number of different tools and resources to promote effective, on-going, meaningful community involvement. The goals of the Superfund community involvement program are to:

• Keep communities affected by sites informed throughout the cleanup process.
• Provide opportunities for communities to comment and offer their input about site cleanup plans.
• Facilitate the resolution of community issues tied to a site.

Community interviews were held during the second five-year review that was completed in August 2007. The second five-year review report is available to the public at the Lawrence County Register of Deeds, listed under Contacts below, and in the Site Documents section. EPA and the South Dakota Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) will be conducting community interviews as a component of the third five-year review, to be completed prior to August 2012.

Pursuant to the "Whitewood Creek Superfund Site Post-Remedy Operations, Maintenance and Reporting Plan," amended April 2003, Homestake Mining Company sent an annual update to area residents, which described the remedy including institutional controls, and contained updated maps, dated March 22, 2011.

Public comment and/or concerns can be addressed to the attention of the EPA Community Involvement Coordinator listed in the Contacts section below.

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Reuse

The EPA places a high priority on land redevelopment as part of its Superfund response program mission. The agency tries to select cleanup options that encourage and support future use of a site. The EPA uses two fundamental methods to facilitate redevelopment of Superfund sites:

• Exploring future uses before the cleanup remedy is implemented, an approach that gives the Agency the best chance of designing cleanup remedies to support likely future use of a site.
• Working with communities to remove barriers not considered necessary for the protection of human health or the environment at those sites where remedies are already in place.

One option for redevelopment is the siting of clean and renewable energy projects on contaminated (or formerly contaminated) lands. As part of this effort, the EPA is evaluating the potential for energy projects on these properties and working with communities to identify barriers to such projects. In cooperation with the EPA, towns and villages around the country are recovering idle properties and returning them to productive use.

During the third five-year review, due in August 2012, EPA will evaluate options for reuse at this site.

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Land Use Controls and Other Institutional Controls

Land use controls are the most common type of institutional control (IC). ICs are administrative or legal controls that help reduce the likelihood for human exposure to contamination. ICs can also help protect the integrity of the remedy. Examples of ICs are:

• Zoning ordinances.
• Environmental covenants.
• Deed notices.
• Well-drilling restrictions.
• Building permits.
• Informational advisories.

ICs play an important role in site remedies because they reduce exposure to the contamination remaining on site by limiting land or resource use and guiding human behavior at a site. Zoning ordinances are often used at sites to restrict land use consistent with the level of cleanup. The National Contingency Plan (NCP) emphasizes that ICs are meant to supplement engineering controls and that ICs will rarely be the sole remedy at a site.

There is a Lawrence County Building Permit Handbook, dated February 1, 1994, that limits construction or placement of buildings on tailings deposit areas.

In addition, the Lawrence County Zoning Ordinance, effective on November 2, 2009, was amended on June 9, 2010. This ordinance provides county staff and landowners in the Whitewood Creek Tailings Area with guidance on how to proceed with residential construction. It also details those activities prohibited or restricted by land use ordinances applicable to the area. These documents can be found in the Site Documents section below.

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Five-Year Reviews

The EPA or the lead agency conducts five-year reviews following the start of a Superfund cleanup when contamination is left on the site. These reviews are repeated every five years. We use these reviews to determine:

• How the remedy is working.
• If the remedy remains protective of human health and the environment.

The most recent five-year review was completed in August 2007 and can be found in the Site Documents section. The next five-year review is scheduled to be completed in August 2012.

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Site Documents

You will need Adobe Reader to view some of the files on this page. See EPA's PDF page to learn more.

Note: Best way to open a very large file: right-click and save it to a folder.

Update to the Five-Year Review, May 2012 (PDF, 3 pp, 54K)

Map of Whitewood Creek Superfund Site Boundaries, Operable Units and Institutional Controls, September 19, 2011 (PDF, 1 pg, 140K)

Lawrence County Zoning Ordinance, amended June 9, 2010 (PDF, 4 pp, 40K)

Five-Year Review Report, August 2007 (PDF, 167 pp, 6.7MB)

Federal Register Notice of Deletion from the National Priorities List, August 13, 1996

Lawrence County Building Permit Handbook limiting construction or placement of buildings on tailings deposit areas, February 1, 1994 (PDF, 35 pp, 1.6MB)

South Dakota Administrative Rule prohibiting groundwater well installation/construction, July 16, 1992 (PDF, 1 pg, 40K)

Explanation of Significant Differences, June 11, 1991 (PDF, 8 pp, 120K)

Record of Decision, March 30, 1990 (PDF, 51 pp, 106K)

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Contacts

 

View Documents at:

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Links

Whitewood Creek Narrative at the South Dakota Department of Environment & Natural Resources

South Dakota State Library: Federal Government Publication Depository Libraries

Lawrence County, South Dakota, Planning & Zoning Department

 

 

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