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Fact Sheet
April 2008
Public Comment Period Announced, Madison County Mines Superfund Site, Fredericktown, Missouri
INTRODUCTION
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Region 7 has released the Proposed Plan for the Madison County Mines site. The Proposed Plan is intended to inform the affected community of EPA's preferred alternative or remedy, and elicit comments. The Proposed Plan is now available for public comment. The EPA is issuing this Plan as part of its public participation responsibilities under Section 117(a) of the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act, as amended, (CERCLA), and Section 300.430(f) (2) of the National Oil and Hazardous Substances Pollution Contingency Plan (NCP). Following the comment period, EPA, in consultation with the Missouri Department of Natural Resources (MDNR), will select a remedy after reviewing and considering all comments and information submitted about the Proposed Plan.
BACKGROUND
The Madison County Mines site is part of the Old Lead Belt in southeastern Missouri, where mining has occurred since the 1700s. Past mining operations left mine waste deposits within the county. EPA has been working in the local community since 1995, after initially detecting elevated heavy metal levels (lead) in mine waste, soil, groundwater and sediment.
Public Meeting
EPA invites you to a public meeting:
Tuesday, April 29, 2008
6:30 p.m. - 8:30 p.m.
Black River Electric Cooperative, Inc.
County Rd. 517
North of U.S. 67/72 Intersection
Fredericktown, Missouri
EPA staff members will be available to discuss site activities and answer your questions.
Elevated lead levels in the environment can pose a threat to public health, especially for children seven years old and younger, pregnant women, and the elderly.
Due to historical mining in the area, the EPA collected soil samples at residences and public areas frequented by children. To date, approximately 3,100 residential properties have been sampled in Madison County. Based on the sampling results, EPA determined that numerous residential yards within the county were contaminated with elevated levels of lead and required cleanup actions. Presently, more than 800 residential properties have been cleaned up.
The site has been divided into six (6) operable units (OUs), which are generally geographically-based. The Proposed Plan addressed by this Fact Sheet focuses on the residential properties in Madison County, which are part of OU-3. The OUs are described in detail in the Plan.
Based on a site-specific risk assessment (as summarized in the Proposed Plan), a cleanup level of 400 parts per million for lead in residential soil was determined to be protective of human health. Based on this cleanup number and previous residential soil sampling, there are expected to be approximately 1,100 residential properties that may require a response action and are addressed within this Proposed Plan.
A summary of all remedial alternatives is listed in the Proposed Plan, along with EPA's criteria to compare the alternatives.
PREFERRED REMEDY
The Preferred Alternative for this interim proposal is four-fold, and is defined as Alternative 2 in the Proposed Plan. It includes excavation (digging up contaminated soil), disposal (placement of contaminated soil in an approved repository), vegetative cover (seeding on top of replaced soil in yards and public areas), and institutional controls. Institutional controls (ICs) are often used to reduce the risk of exposure to hazardous substances. Examples of ICs include: easements and health education. The preferred alternative is a continuation of previous response actions where EPA excavated and disposed of residential soil that contained elevated lead levels and replaced it with clean soil.
In the future, there will be a final remedy chosen for this OU. At that time, institutional controls will be identified after EPA consults with officials from Madison County and MDNR.
PUBLIC COMMENT PERIOD
EPA is now accepting comments from the public for a period of thirty (30) days beginning April 16, 2008. Comments must be received by May 15, 2008. Upon completion of the public comment period, the agencies will review all comments and determine whether any modification to the preferred remedy should be made.
AVAILABILITY OF DOCUMENTS
The Proposed Plan, Administrative Record File, and site-related documents for the Madison County Mines site are available for review at:
Ozark Regional Library - Fredericktown Branch
115 South Main Street
Fredericktown, Missouri
(Open during regular business hours)
- AND -
EPA's Record Center
901 North 5th Street
Kansas City, Kansas
(Open during regular business hours)
The Proposed Plan is also available online at:
http://www.epa.gov/region07/factsheets/2008/fs_madison_county_mines_mo0408.pdf
COMMENTS
Written comments on the Proposed Plan should be submitted to:
Debbie Kring
Community Involvement Coordinator
U.S. EPA - Region 7
901 North 5th Street
Kansas City, Kansas 66101
kring.debbie@epa.gov
