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Fact Sheet

October 2005

First Five-Year Review Completed - Sheller-Globe Corporation, Disposal Site, Keokuk, Iowa

INTRODUCTION

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) conducts five-year reviews on Superfund sites where cleanups have been conducted to make sure the remedies remain protective of human health and the environment. These reviews are required by the Superfund law [42 U.S.C. § 9621 (c)].

EPA Region 7 has completed the first five-year review of the Sheller-Globe Corporation Disposal site near Keokuk, Iowa.

SITE BACKGROUND

The Sheller-Globe Corporation Disposal site is located 4 miles northwest of Keokuk, Iowa in Lee County. It is also known as the Grimes Property Site. The site includes the primary disposal area and a smaller secondary disposal area known as the North Hill disposal area. The North Hill disposal area was subsequently considered not to be a source of contamination. The primary disposal area is a 6.6 acre portion of the site bordered by Airport Road (340th Street) to the south, 260th Avenue to the west, and unnamed intermittent streams to the north and east.

From 1948 until 1972, waste materials associated with the manufacture of rubber products and automobile components were taken to the site from the former Sheller-Globe Keokuk plant. The materials, including rubber products, wood, paper, plastics, some solvents and paint sludge, were periodically burned and the ash spread over the hillsides. In 1972, the use of the site for disposal was discontinued and the area was covered with soil. A house was constructed on the Primary disposal area portion of the site in 1980, however, the residents were permanently relocated in 1991 and the house was subsequently demolished during site cleanup activities.

The site was added to the EPA’s National Priorities List (NPL) in 1990. The NPL identifies sites that warrant further evaluation to determine the type of response that may be required to protect human health and the environment.

In October 1990, EPA and Sheller-Globe (now United Technologies Corporation) entered into an Administrative Order on Consent (AOC). The AOC required Sheller-Globe to conduct a Remedial Investigation/Feasibility Study (RI/FS) to determine the nature and extent of contamination at the site and evaluate alternatives to address contamination at the site.

The RI field activities included sampling of ash material, soil, surface water, sediment and ground water. The analytical results of the samples were used to characterize the risk that the site posed to human health and the environment. Work conducted as part of the RI and the human health and ecological risk assessments indicated metals found in the ash material at the primary disposal area portion of the site were the primary source of contamination.

In November 1999 as part of the remedial action, the house was demolished and covers of soil and vegetation were constructed over areas of exposed ash material in the primary disposal area portion of the site. An Environmental Protection Declaration of Restrictive Covenants was recorded with the Lee County Recorder’s office to prohibit the disturbance of the surface or subsurface of the primary disposal area portion of the site and prohibit residential use of the property.

Following the remedial action, semi-annual field inspections of the primary disposal area portion of the site were conducted in 2000 through 2002 and annual inspections were conducted in 2003 and 2004. The inspections have determined that there has been no significant disturbance of the ground surface, the vegetative cover has become established, and the property remains vacant. The site was deleted from the NPL in September 2001.

FIVE-YEAR REVIEW

This first five-year review determined the selected remedy remains protective of human health and the environment. To assure the remedy remains protective in the future these follow-up activities identified in the August 2005

Five-Year Review Report will be implemented:

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

The August 2005 Five-Year Review Report and other detailed site information can be found in the Sheller-Globe Corporation Disposal Site Administrative Record, housed at the following locations:

Keokuk Public Library
210 N. 5th
Keokuk, Iowa

EPA Region 7 Records Center
901 North 5th Street
Kansas City, Kansas

If you have questions or need additional information, please contact:

Fritz Hirter
Community Involvement Coordinator
U.S. EPA Region 7
901 N. 5th Street
Kansas City, KS 66101
Phone: (913) 551-7003
Toll Free: (800) 223-0425
E-mail: hirter.fritz@epa.gov

 

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