Fact Sheet

May 2011

Proposed Remedy to Address Soil, Groundwater, and Indoor Air Contamination, Dudley Dry Cleaning Facility, Norfolk, Madison County, Nebraska

INTRODUCTION

The U. S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is proposing for public review and comment a remedy to address contamination of soil, groundwater, and indoor air at the Dudley dry cleaning facility located at 126 N. 3rd Street in Norfolk, Nebraska, now operating as Appeara. This remedy is being proposed under the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act, a law that requires cleanup of environmental contamination.

The proposed remedy is included in a document called the Statement of Basis and is available at the Norfolk Public Library. A public comment period will be held from May 9 to June 8, 2011, to give the public an opportunity to comment on the proposed remedy. EPA will hold a public meeting on May 26, 2011, to give the public another opportunity to ask questions and provide comments.

The remedy is being proposed to address contamination in soil, groundwater, and indoor air and requires the following actions of the facility:

Design and operation of a soil vapor extraction system that will remove contamination from soil beneath the existing building;
Reduction of indoor air contaminant concentrations;
Continued groundwater monitoring and pumping at the facility;
If groundwater pumping ceases, increase groundwater monitoring to determine if concentrations increase; and
Institutional controls to protect against exposure to environmental contamination by restricting the facility from residential use.

Mark Your Calendar

EPA will hold a public meeting, in order to give the community the opportunity to ask questions and comment on the proposed Statement of Basis.

When: May 26, 2011, at 6:30 p.m.
Where: Norfolk Public Library
308 Prospect Ave.
Norfolk, Nebraska

All comments must be submitted in writing, postmarked no later than June 8, 2011, and sent to:

Mary Grisolano
EPA Region 7 (AWMD/RCAP)
901 N. Fifth St.
Kansas City, KS 66101
Email: grisolano.mary@epa.gov

If you have questions about the meeting, please contact:

Beckie Himes
Community Involvement Coordinator
EPA, Region 7, Office of Public Affairs
901 N. Fifth St.
Kansas City, KS 66101
Phone: 913-551-7253
Toll-free: 1-800-223-0425
Email: himes.beckie@epa.gov

EPA Region 7 is committed to providing reasonable accommodation to individuals with disabilities. If you require a reasonable accommodation to participate in the meeting, please notify the EPA Reasonable Accommodations Coordinator, Jonathan Cooper, 800-223-0425 or cooper.jonathan@epa.gov. Speech or hearing impaired individuals should email or call using the local relay service.

BACKGROUND

Dudley operated as a laundry and dry cleaning business for approximately 80 years. They currently operate as Appeara, a commercial laundry, no longer using dry cleaning chemicals. In the past, petroleum-based and chlorinated chemicals used for dry cleaning were released to the soil and groundwater under the building. Upon discovery of the release, EPA required that Dudley immediately begin to monitor the City's East Water Supply Field, which is in the direction the contamination from the Dudley facility is moving.

The public's water supply continues to meet the Safe Drinking Water Act requirements. While monitoring the water supply, Dudley has been collecting soil, water, and air samples for chemical analysis to evaluate the exact nature and extent of contamination at the facility. Sufficient information is available to allow EPA to propose a remedy to address facility-related contamination. This proposed remedy is discussed in further detail in the Statement of Basis, available in the Administrative Record file.

The investigation at the facility determined that the use of groundwater at the facility and by the City of Norfolk is acceptable under current conditions. In addition, the contamination from the facility has not significantly impacted the businesses near Dudley. The air inside the Dudley building requires action to reduce concentrations.

The primary source of contamination to the groundwater and indoor air is from the contamination in soil beneath the building. Dudley (as Appeara) plans to continue its laundry operation in the existing building, therefore, demolition of the building and soil removal are not practical. As such, the primary response required in the remedy is active cleanup of soil under the building, while the building remains in place. Soil vapor extraction is a proven technology that can remove site-related chemicals from the soil and can be operated while the building remains in place.

PUBLIC COMMENT

EPA encourages the public to become familiar with the documents that support the Statement of Basis for the proposed remedy. The documents can be found in the Administrative Record file at the following locations during normal business hours:

Norfolk Public Library
308 Prospect Ave.
Norfolk, Nebraska
(Statement of Basis and Administrative Record index and electronic copy of remaining documents)

Nebraska Department of Environmental Quality
214 N. Seventh St., Suite 4
Norfolk, Nebraska
(Electronic copy of documents)

EPA Region 7 Records Center
901 N. Fifth St.
Kansas City, Kansas
(Electronic copy of documents)

EPA may modify the proposed remedy based upon new information and comments from the public. All comments received during the public comment period will be summarized in a Response to Comments document. This document will be mailed directly to individuals providing the comments and will be incorporated into the Administrative Record for public viewing.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
If you have comments on the proposed remedy described in the Statement of Basis, you may submit them in writing to:

Mary Grisolano
EPA Region 7 (AWMD/RCAP)
901 N. Fifth St.
Kansas City, KS 66101
Email: grisolano.mary@epa.gov

For more information on the meeting or if you have questions about the facility, please contact:

Fact Sheet

May 2011

Proposed Remedy to Address Soil, Groundwater, and Indoor Air Contamination, Dudley Dry Cleaning Facility, Norfolk, Madison County, Nebraska

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