Settlement With Current And Former Owners Of Chemical Facility In Pleasant Hill, Iowa, To Address Groundwater Contamination

EPA Region 7 has reached a proposed settlement with the current and former owners of the former Townsend Industries Facility, a chemical storage and handling site in Pleasant Hill, Iowa, to address hazardous waste contamination in groundwater resulting from business operations in the 1970s and 1980s.

An administrative order on consent, proposed by EPA Region 7 in Lenexa, Kan., requires the operation and maintenance of on-site containment and remediation systems to reduce contamination in groundwater at, and coming from, the site. The site includes approximately 12 acres of land and a 45,000-square-foot industrial building at 4400 Vandalia Road in Pleasant Hill.

Respondents in the proposed settlement include TH Agriculture & Nutrition, L.L.C., formerly known as Thompson Hayward Chemical Company, which generated hazardous wastes at the facility from June 1975 to June 1981; Elementis Chemicals, Inc., formerly known as Harcros Chemical Company, which acquired the facility in June 1981 and discontinued operations there in 1985; and DD#1, L.L.C., an Iowa company that currently owns the site.

Under the proposed settlement, TH Agriculture & Nutrition and Elementis, as former owners/operators of the facility, will be required to operate and maintain the on-site groundwater containment and remediation systems to reduce volatile organic compound contamination. DD#1, L.L.C., will be required to provide site access so the necessary environmental work can be done.

EPA will require the operation and maintenance of the groundwater containment and remediation systems to continue as long as needed to clean up an off-site contaminant plume and reduce the mass of on-site contamination. On-site land use controls and an assessment of vapor intrusion risks on- and off-site will also be required, under the proposed settlement.

A variety of hazardous wastes or hazardous constituents have been detected at the facility, including acetone, benzene, methyl ethyl ketone, 1,1-dichloroethane, 1,1-dichloroethene, 1,2-dichloroethene (cis), 1,4-dioxane, ethylbenzene, methylene chloride, tetrachloroethylene (PERC), toluene, 1,1,1-trichloroethane, trichloroethene or trichloroethylene (TCE), vinyl chloride and xylenes.

EPA will receive written comments relating to the proposed settlement for a 30-day public comment period that begins today. Comments must be submitted in writing to Mr. Dan Gravatt, EPA Region 7, AWMD/RCAP, 11201 Renner Boulevard, Lenexa, KS 66219. Comments should reference EPA Docket No. RCRA-07-2015-0017. A copy of the proposed settlement will be posted online at www.epa.gov/region7/public_notices.