Region 5 Superfund (SF)

U.S. EPA REGION 5
PORTER COUNTY
TOWN OF PINES

Congressional District # 02

TOWN OF PINES GROUNDWATER PLUME

EPA ID# INN000508071
Last Updated: June, 2008

Site Description

The Pines Site (the Site) is located in the Township of Pines, including the Town of Pines, in Porter County, Indiana. The Township is approximately 2 miles west of Michigan City, Indiana and 2 miles south of Lake Michigan. The Site is approximately 1430 acres in size and oval in shape. The Site is bounded on the northeast by County Line Road, on the northwest to about 1000 ft. northwest of the South Shore and South Bend RR tracks, on the southeast to about 1,000 ft. southeast of the Chesapeake and Ohio RR tracks, and on the southwest to about 1,300 ft. east of 500 East Road.

Locally, the Site lies within the Calumet Lacustrian Plain, which contains a series of sand dune ridge complexes parallel to Lake Michigan. The Town of Pines is characterized by a hilly and forested development.  There are about 300 residences in the dunal area and approximately 100 residences in the township where lowlying interdunal and wetland areas predominate. The northwestern portion of the Site is within the Great Marsh of the Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore National Park.

The main risk at the Site is groundwater contaminated with metals leached from flyash and bottom ash, referred to as coal combustion by-products (CCBs). CCBs are known to contain boron, molybdenum, arsenic, and other metals. The largest source of CCBs is Yard 520, a state-permitted landfill operated by Brown, Inc. located just south of the Town of Pines. The landfill received CCBs from the Northern Indiana Public Service Co. (NIPSCO) electrical generating plant in Michigan City, Indiana until 2001. In addition, CCBs were hauled from the generating plant to the Town of Pines area and were used as roadbed and fill for driveways and residential yards.

From May 2000 to May 2002 EPA and the Indiana Department of Environmental Management responded to resident complaints by sampling over 100 residential drinking water wells in and around the Town of Pines. Results showed boron values up to 16,000 ug/L (micrograms per litre) and molybdenum values up to 950 ug/L. The removal action level for boron and molybdenum in drinking water are 900 ug/L and 10 ug/L, respectively. The sampling also revealed that groundwater flows north from Yard 520, indicating that the landfill is a source of contamination for the area. Samples from Brown Ditch, a surface water body adjacent to the Yard 520 Landfill, showed upstream boron concentrations of 130 ug/L and downstream values of over 13,000 ug/L. In January 2002, IDEM recommended that EPA propose the Site for inclusion on the National Priorities List (NPL).

Site Responsibility

This Site is being addressed by Potentially Responsible Parties through federal enforcement actions. The PRPs are parties whom EPA has determined may be legally responsible for the Site's contamination.

Threats and Contaminants

The primary human health risk at the Site was from drinking groundwater contaminated with molybdenum and boron.  This risk has been addressed by providing clean municipal water and clean bottled water to those residences that are, or may be, in the area of groundwater contamination.   Other human health and ecological risks from the site groundwater, surface water and soil contamination are currently being evaluated.

 

Cleanup Progress

On January 24, 2003, EPA and the Potentially Responsible Parties (PRPs); NIPSCO, Ddalt, Corp., Bulk Transport Corp., and Brown Inc.; signed an enforcement agreement (Administrative Order by Consent [AOC]) requiring the PRPs to immediately provide bottled water to residences with groundwater contamination above EPA action levels and to design and construct a permanent municipal drinking water extension to these same residences.  

By June 2005, the PRPs brought Michigan City water to about 270 homes in Pines under the terms of the original AOC and an amended AOC. The PRPs also provided bottled water to approximately 70 additional homes to the south and west of Pines. Provisions for the group of 70 homes may be revised, following the Remedial Investigation/Feasibility Study (RI/FS) which is being performed by the PRPs under terms of a 2004 remedial AOC. The RI will define the nature and extent of the Site contamination and will assess any long-term human health and ecological risks associated with the Site. The FS will evaluate alternatives to clean up the Site contamination.  With the signing of the remedial Order, EPA determined that the Pines Site could be handled as a Superfund Alternative Site and was not listed on the NPL.

The PRPs installed 22 groundwater monitoring wells during the summer of 2006. The new wells and 12 existing wells were sampled in August 2006, October 2006, and January 2007. Surface water and sediment sampling was conducted in October 2006. Groundwater, surface water, and soil sampling was completed in 2007. Additional soil evaluation will be completed in November 2007.

On May 19, 2008, the potentially responsible parties submitted a Remedial Investigation Report to EPA and its support agency partner, the Indiana Department of Environmental Management for review. The Remedial Investigation Report should be finalized during the summer 2008. A human health and ecological risk assessment will then be generated by the potentially responsible parties.  Based on those results, EPA will determine if remedial actions are necessary at the Site.

Success Story

The EPA Removal Program eliminated residential and commercial groundwater exposures to the impacted areas of the Town of Pines by requiring the PRPs to provide municipal water. While the Remedial Investigation continues, bottled water is being provided to potentially impacted residents in the township area. The Remedial Investigation will provide valuable information on contaminant migration and potential long-term impacts to human health and the environment.

Community Involvement

A first of its kind Technical Assistance Plan (TAP), has been created by the PRPs under the terms of the remedial AOC. The recipient of the TAP funds is the community group "People In Need of Environmental Safety" (P.I.N.E.S). The TAP assists the community by providing funding for a technical expert to review and understand the RI and upcoming Feasibility Study process. The P.I.N.E.S. group has hired a technical expert that has begun compiling Site-related data.

Congressional Interest

Porter County
2nd Congressional District

Property Reuse

The Site area is predominantly residential with some commercial properties. No change in land use is anticipated.

Contacts

Remedial Project Manager, U.S. EPA
timothy drexler (drexler.timothy@epa.gov)
(312) 353-4367