Seymour Recycling Superfund Site
A Brief History of an Early Superfund Site in Seymour, Indiana
The contamination at the former Seymour Recycling Corporation Superfund site in Seymour, Indiana has resulted in one of EPA's most successful remedial action plans.
The Seymour Recycling Corporation Superfund site is located in Seymour, Indiana, on land owned by the City near the Freeman Field Municipal Airport.
The now defunct company, Seymour Recycling Corporation, processed waste chemicals from manufacturing companies, government agencies, and industries at the site from approximately 1970 to 1980. Inadequate waste management practices resulted in contamination of soil and water at the site.
Also during this period, drums containing waste products exploded on several occasions. Area residents were evacuated as a precaution on March 28, 1980 as fumes rose from the site. The following day, the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) emergency response team was on the scene and began operations to stop surface water containing contaminants from running off the site.
In 1980, EPA closed the Seymour Recycling Corporation (SRC) waste recycling operation when an investigation revealed that activities at the site had caused environmental contamination.
The EPA found approximately 60,000 55-gallon drums and roughly 100 large tanks containing chemicals. Many of the drums and tanks were leaking resulting in organic chemicals and other waste to leach into the ground, causing soil contamination, vapor emissions, fires, explosions and odor problems. Based on its findings, the EPA placed the site on the National Priority list in 1980.
The site was placed in receivership, and EPA conducted an environmental investigation to determine the extent of the contamination and to identify those parties potentially responsible for the clean-up of the site.
In 1982, EPA entered into an agreement with some of the potentially responsible parties (PRPs) to clean up the surface of the site. This initial cleanup involved removing drums and tanks, some of which were leaking chemicals, and approximately one foot of contaminated soil. EPA then performed additional investigations to determine the extent of contamination. The PRPs and the City developed a plan for clean-up of the site with the approval of EPA, and entered into agreements for implementation of the remedy plan.
Over 100 PRPs were ordered to finance and conduct the cleanup activities, agreed to in a negotiated Consent Decree. The Consent Decree was implemented on December 1, 1988 and this represents the first case resolved after Congress strengthened and reauthorized the Superfund Act. The entity created to manage the cleanup is known as the Seymour Site Trust.
The steps involved in addressing the contamination are the same as those for any Superfund site. The long and intricate studies and plans, the decisions and decrees all follow a set pattern. These legal processes include a (1) Remedial Investigation; (2) a Feasibility Study; (3) lodging of a Record of Decision; (4) development of a Remedial Action Plan, and (5) signing of a Consent Decree.
The Remedial Action Plan (RAP) implemented by the Seymour Site Trust has been very successful and this case represents one of EPA's most successful long-term cleanups.
