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Dallas RSR Site Cleanup to Continue

Release Date: 1/9/2003
Contact Information: For more information contact the Office of External Affairs at (214) 665-2200.

      RSR Corporation and two subsidiaries will undertake cleanup activities at the RSR Superfund site in west Dallas, where lead contamination has been a concern since the early 1980s.

      The companies agreed to comply with a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) administrative order issued Dec. 10, 2002, as part of EPA's ongoing enforcement efforts.  Work will be done with EPA oversight.

      Most of the property covered by the order is currently owned by RSR subsidiary Quemetco Metals Limited, Inc., and consists of vacant land located south of Singleton Boulevard and west of Westmoreland across the street from the former location of the RSR lead smelter.  

      EPA's investigations found elevated levels of lead, cadmium, and arsenic on the land surface and a closed industrial waste landfill cell on part of the property.  The remedy selected by EPA will include covering the landfill and contaminated soils to prevent human exposure to contamination above health-based levels.

      EPA estimates that the work required by the order could cost the companies as much as $5,000,000 or more.  The order requires planning activities that will probably take several months before on-site work actually begins.  When the cleanup is finished the property will be suitable for commercial or light industrial uses, consistent with its current zoning.

      Since 1992, more than $29,000,000 has been spent by EPA or potentially responsible parties to clean up contamination caused by dispersion of lead and other metals from the RSR smelter.  RSR and its subsidiaries recovered lead from used batteries at the former smelter in west Dallas. Fallout from air emissions from the RSR smelter stack deposited lead contamination in west Dallas neighborhoods.  The use of battery chips and lead slag as fill material also contributed to contamination in the community.

      More information about the RSR site is available on the Internet at https://www.epa.gov/earth1r6/6sf/pdffiles/rsr.pdf.