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Fact Sheet
March 2009
Progress Report on Site Activities, Herculaneum Lead Smelter Site, Herculaneum, Missouri
CONTAMINATED SOIL REPLACEMENT UPDATE
Under the oversight of EPA, the Doe Run Company has removed lead-contaminated yard soil from nearly all residents that have chosen to have their soil replaced. Lead-contaminated soil has also been replaced at the fairgrounds and four ballfields of Bates Park. Annual soil lead sampling is scheduled for this March. Residents who would like their property sampled should contact Dianna Whitaker, Community Involvement Coordinator by phone at 1-800-223-0425 or by e-mail at whitaker.dianna@epa.gov.
SLAG PILE UPDATE
EPA and the Missouri Department of Natural Resources (MDNR) reached an agreement with Doe Run to modify the Administrative Order on Consent for the Herculaneum Site in 2006. The modification required stabilization, erosion control, flood protection, stormwater collection and treatment, and wetland mitigation of the slag pile. Settlement of the slag storage area berm is complete. Installation of a cover over the slag pile should begin this spring.
Community Advisory Group Meeting
The next meeting of the Herculaneum Lead Smelter Community Advisory Group will be held:
Tuesday, March 17, 2009
7:00 p.m. - 8:30 p.m.
Herculaneum High School
Cafeteria
Herculaneum, Missouri
JOACHIM CREEK SOUTH BRIDGE
The City of Herculaneum has obtained the last of the permits needed for construction of a new bridge and road that crosses Joachim Creek and leads from the south end of the city and intersects with Mississippi Street. All of the right-of-way will be donated by the Doe Run Company. After final plans are submitted to the Missouri Department of Transportation for approval, it is anticipated that contract bids for construction will begin in late May or early June. Depending on the time needed for the fill to settle on the roadbed, the project could be completed in twelve to eighteen months. The new bridge will provide a route to divert smelter traffic away from residential streets and facilitate future economic development in the property purchase area and riverfront.
STATE IMPLEMENTATION PLAN
In April 2006, EPA found that Missouri's State Implementation Plan (SIP) was substantially inadequate to attain the lead National Ambient Air Quality Standard (NAAQS) in Herculaneum. This required MDNR to produce a revision to the SIP. The Missouri Air Conservation Commission adopted MDNR's revised SIP on April 26, 2007.
EPA received the official SIP package on May 31, 2007, final clarification information in March 2008, and proposed conditional approval of the SIP on October 8, 2008. MDNR had committed to adopting and submitting specific enforceable measures to EPA that are currently not defined in the SIP. EPA proposed conditional approval because the SIP provides substantial progress toward improving Herculaneum's air quality and MDNR committed to submitting a SIP revision to meet all applicable requirements of the Clean Air Act. The comment period on the proposed conditional approval closed November 7, 2008. EPA is currently reviewing comments prior to final action.
NEW OUTDOOR AIR QUALITY STANDARD FOR LEAD
On October 15, 2008, the EPA Administrator signed a revised National Ambient Air Quality Standard (NAAQS) for lead. In light of new information about the health effects of lead, the standard was changed from 1.5 micrograms of lead per cubic meter of air (ug/m3) to 0.15 micrograms of lead per cubic meter of air.
The new rule sets in motion a process for states to install additional monitoring in areas with 500,000 people or more, as well as near sources emitting above 1 ton of lead per year. Herculaneum's existing monitoring network will be re-evaluated, but no new monitors are required at this time.
Herculaneum's monitors currently show concentrations above the new standard. The state is required to submit a new designation recommendation for the Herculaneum area, including proposed boundaries, by October 2009 and EPA will finalize the designation no later than October 2010. Possible area designations include "attainment" of the standard, "nonattainment" of the standard or "unclassifiable" due to lack of adequate data. If the area is found to be in nonattainment of the new standard, the state will be required to develop and submit a new State Implementation Plan by July 2012 to provide for attainment of the new standard no later than January 2016.
For more on the new standard, visit https://www.epa.gov/air/lead/actions.html or contact Gwen Yoshimura by phone at 913-551-7073, or by e-mail at yoshimura.gwen@epa.gov.
RCRA ADMINISTRATIVE ORDER
On May 8, 2007, EPA and the Doe Run Company entered into a Resource Conservation and Recovery Act Administrative Order on Consent for Doe Run to address releases from lead bearing materials associated with truck transportation from the company's mines, mills and smelters. The Order required Doe Run to install truck wash stations at eight facilities, perform routine compliance sampling of trucks and roadways used as truck routes, and develop and implement more thorough spill cleanup procedures.
Doe Run has completed the construction of all truck wash stations and is performing routine sampling of trucks, streets and yard soil. To date, all trucks that have been sampled have met the site-specific clearance standard for lead. Statistical analysis of annual soil sampling indicates upward trending lead levels in 66 percent of the samples collected.
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
EPA encourages the community to review the Herculaneum Site administrative record, which is available at the following locations:
Herculaneum City Hall1 Parkwood Court
Herculaneum, Missouri
Windsor Branch Jefferson County Library
7479 Metropolitan Boulevard
Barnhart, Missouri
EPA Region 7
901 N. 5th Street
Kansas City, Kansas
If you have questions or need additional information, please contact:
Community Involvement Coordinator
Office of Public Affairs
U.S. EPA Region 7
901 N. 5th Street
Kansas City, KS 66101
Phone: 913-551-7598 or
Toll Free: 1-800-223-0425
whitaker.dianna@epa.gov