LENEXA, KS, Oct. 22, 2013 -- The Peoples Natural Gas Superfund Site in Dubuque, Iowa, was recently issued an amendment to its Record of Decision (ROD) by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Region 7.
The selected remedy for the amended ROD includes institutional controls, along with extraction wells to prevent movement of the contaminants in the groundwater and monitoring natural degradation of the contaminants. Impurities of concern at the Peoples Natural Gas Superfund Site include volatile organic compounds and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs). Accidental ingestion of, or direct contact with, contaminated soil or groundwater may pose health threats to individuals.
The EPA signed the original ROD for the site in January of 1991 to address soil and groundwater contamination. The selected remedy for the 1991 ROD was excavation and incineration of contaminated soils as well as groundwater extraction, monitoring and treatment of soils on-site. Further, the ROD was modified in 2001 and 2004 to exclude the installation of the groundwater extraction system for an area where groundwater contamination was found to be very limited, and to change the cleanup level for benzene, respectively.
A Technical Impracticability (TI) waiver will be implemented for groundwater within the TI zone. Groundwater cleanup levels must be met outside this area; however, institutional controls will prevent exposure to contaminated groundwater in the TI zone, as well as exposure to contamination in subsurface soils and vapor intrusion.
The site was added to the National Priorities List in August 1990.
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