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Two Hanford Areas Cleaned Up: Delisting Proposed

Release Date: 6/2/1998
Contact Information: Dennis Faulk
faulk.dennis@epamail.epa.gov
(509) 376-8631

June 2, 1998 - - - - - - - - 98-31


FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

More than 150 square miles of the Hanford reservation is being proposed for deletion from The National Priorities List NPL)by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. The proposed deletion encompasses two operable units in the 100 Area: The Wahluke Slope(IU-3) and Riverland Rail Yard(IU-1)

The EPA is inviting public comment on the deletion proposal, which was published in the Federal Register on May 22, 1998. The deletion -- to be completed following a public comment period --signifies that no further clean up are necessary.

The Riverland Rail Yard served previously as a rail maintenance facility, pesticide disposal area and a munitions cache. The Department of Energy removed contaminated soils and performed general cleanup at the site until sampling showed contamination levels below all applicable standards.

The Wahluke Slope is the boundary for the Reservation north of the Columbia River. This area contained former “Cold War” anti-aircraft and missile batteries. An Expedited Response Action was executed between 1992 and 1994, removing contaminated soil from past disposal sites, leaving each at levels satisfying state residential cleanup standards. In 1997, buried tanks and soils contaminated with dioxin and the pesticide 2,4-D were discovered and removed.

The Notice of Intent to Delete, (Summary) which explains EPA's decision to delete, was published in the Federal Register on Friday, May 22, 1996, and an ad was placed in The Tri-City Herald on Sunday, May 17,1998. The Notice of Intent to Delete is also available from four major repositories: Portland State University in Portland, OR; Suzzalo Library at the University of Washington in Seattle, WA; U.S. Dept of Energy Public Reading Room at Washington State University/Tri-Cities, in Richland, WA; and at Gonzaga University’s Tri-Party Information Repository, in Spokane, WA.

Public comment regarding this intended deletion is invited and will be accepted until June 20, 1998. Written comments should be sent to:
since June 5, 1998

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