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NPL Site Narrative for AT&SF (Albuquerque)
ATCHISON, TOPEKA AND SANTA FE TIE TREATMENT PLANT (AT&SF)
Albuquerque, Bernalillo County, New Mexico
Federal Register Notice: December 16, 1994Conditions at Proposal (October 14, 1992): The Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe (AT&SF) tie treatment plant is an abandoned wood-preserving facility located at 3300 Second Street SW in the South Valley area of Albuquerque, Bernalillo County, New Mexico. The plant is in a commercial area of an Albuquerque suburb. The plant, owned by the AT&SF Railway Co., treated various wood products (railroad ties, bridge timbers, fence posts, etc.) with a solution of creosote and oil from 1908 until 1972. Washdown waters, spills, and leakage were disposed of in an unlined impoundment. The facility, except for a waste water impoundment and a sump, was dismantled in 1972. The impoundment and sump cover approximately 3.4 acres.
Sludge from the impoundment contains hazardous substances, including arsenic, barium, lead, and creosote constituents (3,4-benzofluoranthene, benzo(a)pyrene, and naphthalene), according to a 1990 report of the New Mexico Environmental Improvement Division (NMEID). No sludge is present in the sump, but analyses of soil from the sump area detected hazardous substances, including barium, acenaphthylene, anthracene, fluoranthene, and benzo(a)pyrene, according to a 1990 report of an AT&SF contractor. The report indicates that fluorene, 2-methylnaphthalene, naphthalene, phenanthrene, pyrene, acenaphthene, anthracene, benzene, dibenzofuran, ethylbenzene, fluoranthene, and xylenes were detected in on-site monitoring wells. The Valley, or Basin Fill, Aquifer is the principal aquifer in the Albuquerque area. There are 15 City of Albuquerque and 3 Kirtland Air Force Base wells within 4 miles of the site.
Run-off from the site enters an irrigation ditch south of the site. From this point, the drainage water travels through a series of canals until it enters the Rio Grande River 7 miles downstream from the site. No drinking water intakes are located along the canals and river. However, they are used as recreational areas and fisheries stocked by the State. Portions of the downstream segment along the Rio Grande are also considered wetlands according to Federal and State inventories. NMEID sampling conducted in January 1987 indicates that creosote constituents may have migrated from the site to surface water. Further documentation is required to establish that surface water is indeed contaminated.
Status (December 1994): Since the site was proposed to the NPL in 1992, AT&SF has entered into an Administrative Order on Consent (AOC) with the U.S. EPA Region 6 to conduct and finance a Remedial Investigation and Feasibility Study (RI/FS) for the site. The purpose of the RI/FS is to determine the nature and extent of contamination and any threat to the public health, welfare or the environment caused by the release or threatened release of hazardous substances, pollutants, or contaminants at or from the site, and to evaluate remedial alternatives to address the contamination. Sampling activities began in December 1993.
For more information about the hazardous substances identified in this narrative summary, including general information regarding the effects of exposure to these substances on human health, please see the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR) ToxFAQs. ATSDR ToxFAQs can be found on the Internet at http://www.atsdr.cdc.gov/toxfaq.html or by telephone at 1-888-42-ATSDR or 1-888-422-8737.