Barrels, Inc.

Last updated
Barrels, Inc.
Superfund site
Geography
City Lansing
County Ingham County
State Michigan
Coordinates 42°44′59″N84°32′39″W / 42.749852°N 84.544208°W / 42.749852; -84.544208
USA Michigan location map.svg
Red pog.svg
Barrels, Inc.
Information
CERCLIS IDMID017188673
Contaminants lead, zinc, volatile hydrocarbons, PCBs
List of Superfund sites

Barrels, Inc. is a Superfund site located in Lansing, Michigan. The site's surface soils and groundwater have been contaminated from a storage tank and drum reclamation processes. Today the area is fenced in while cleanup options are being discussed in order to limit direct contact with the potential risks. In 1961, Barrels Inc. began working on the site, and continued until the owner abandoned the site in 1980. [1]

Superfund United States federal law designed to clean up sites contaminated with hazardous substances

The federal Superfund law is officially known as the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act of 1980 (CERCLA). The federal Superfund program, administered by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is designed to investigate and cleanup sites contaminated with hazardous substances. Sites managed under this program are referred to as "Superfund" sites. There are 40,000 federal Superfund sites across the country, and approximately 1,600 of those sites have been listed on the National Priorities List (NPL). Sites on the NPL are considered the most highly contaminated and undergo longer-term remedial investigation and remedial action (cleanups).

Lansing, Michigan State capital and city in Michigan, United States

Lansing is the capital of the U.S. state of Michigan. It is mostly in Ingham County, although portions of the city extend west into Eaton County and north into Clinton County. The 2010 Census placed the city's population at 114,297, making it the fifth largest city in Michigan. The population of its Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) was 464,036, while the even larger Combined Statistical Area (CSA) population, which includes Shiawassee County, was 534,684. It was named the new state capital of Michigan in 1847, ten years after Michigan became a state.

Michigan U.S. state in the United States

Michigan is a state in the Great Lakes and Midwestern regions of the United States. The state's name, Michigan, originates from the Ojibwe word mishigamaa, meaning "large water" or "large lake". With a population of about 10 million, Michigan is the tenth most populous of the 50 United States, with the 11th most extensive total area, and is the largest state by total area east of the Mississippi River. Its capital is Lansing, and its largest city is Detroit. Metro Detroit is among the nation's most populous and largest metropolitan economies.

Contents

Cleanup activities

Cleanup options are currently being evaluated. The site is being evaluated through state, federal and Potentially Responsible Party actions. For the time being, the site will stay fenced in to limit risks of further contamination. Access to the site will be restricted and future use of the site and its groundwater will be limited as well due to anticipated institutional controls. Institutional controls are activity and use limitations set in place by the EPA. By using institutional controls, exposure to contamination can be reduced, by limiting land and/or resource use, as well as guiding human behavior. For example, when land is not consistent with a certain level of cleanup, zoning restrictions may be set in place to prevent residential use.

United States Environmental Protection Agency Agency of the U.S. Federal Government

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is an independent agency of the United States federal government for environmental protection. President Richard Nixon proposed the establishment of EPA on July 9, 1970 and it began operation on December 2, 1970, after Nixon signed an executive order. The order establishing the EPA was ratified by committee hearings in the House and Senate. The agency is led by its Administrator, who is appointed by the President and approved by Congress. The current Administrator is former Deputy Administrator Andrew R. Wheeler, who had been acting administrator since July 2018. The EPA is not a Cabinet department, but the Administrator is normally given cabinet rank.

Lead and zinc has been detected at the site and has contaminated shallow groundwater. Heavy metals, volatile hydrocarbons, PCBs, oil, grease and other inorganic substances have been found to have contaminated on-site soils.

Lead Chemical element with atomic number 82

Lead is a chemical element with the symbol Pb and atomic number 82. It is a heavy metal that is denser than most common materials. Lead is soft and malleable, and also has a relatively low melting point. When freshly cut, lead is silvery with a hint of blue; it tarnishes to a dull gray color when exposed to air. Lead has the highest atomic number of any stable element and three of its isotopes are endpoints of major nuclear decay chains of heavier elements.

Zinc Chemical element with atomic number 30

Zinc is a chemical element with the symbol Zn and atomic number 30. Zinc is a slightly brittle metal at room temperature and has a blue-silvery appearance when oxidation is removed. It is the first element in group 12 of the periodic table. In some respects zinc is chemically similar to magnesium: both elements exhibit only one normal oxidation state (+2), and the Zn2+ and Mg2+ ions are of similar size. Zinc is the 24th most abundant element in Earth's crust and has five stable isotopes. The most common zinc ore is sphalerite (zinc blende), a zinc sulfide mineral. The largest workable lodes are in Australia, Asia, and the United States. Zinc is refined by froth flotation of the ore, roasting, and final extraction using electricity (electrowinning).

Groundwater water located beneath the ground surface

Groundwater is the water present beneath Earth's surface in soil pore spaces and in the fractures of rock formations. A unit of rock or an unconsolidated deposit is called an aquifer when it can yield a usable quantity of water. The depth at which soil pore spaces or fractures and voids in rock become completely saturated with water is called the water table. Groundwater is recharged from the surface; it may discharge from the surface naturally at springs and seeps, and can form oases or wetlands. Groundwater is also often withdrawn for agricultural, municipal, and industrial use by constructing and operating extraction wells. The study of the distribution and movement of groundwater is hydrogeology, also called groundwater hydrology.

To address immediate threats to human health and the environment, cleanup has also included removal actions, or short-term cleanups. [1]

Health & environment

The greatest health risk to people is through ingesting or touching contaminated soil or groundwater. In the short term, exposure pathways that could result in unacceptable risks are being controlled. Currently, there are no unacceptable human exposure pathways. The EPA has determined that the site is under control for human exposure. The EPA has reviewed all the information on known and reasonably expected groundwater contamination and has concluded the migrations of contaminated groundwater is stabilized and there is no unacceptable discharge to surface water. The physical construction of the cleanup is complete for the entire site, however, the site is not completely ready for anticipated use. [1]

See also

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The Orange Valley Regional Groundwater Superfund site is a group of wells in Orange and West Orange, two municipalities in Essex County, New Jersey, United States. The groundwater in the public wells are contaminated with the hazardous chemicals of Trichloroethylene (TCE), Dichloroethene (DCE), Tetrachloroethylene (Perchloroethene), 1,1-Dichloroethene (1,1-DCE), and 1,2-Dichloroethene (1,2-DCE). These chemicals pose a huge risk to the towns nearby population, as the wells are a source of public drinking water. In March 2012, the site was added to the National Priorities List (NPL) of the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Superfund site list.

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References

  1. 1 2 3 "BARRELS, INC. Site Profile". cumulis.epa.gov. Retrieved 2019-02-22.