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EPA PROPOSES PLAN TO CLEAN UP SOIL, GROUNDWATER AT TUCSON AIRPORT

Release Date: 7/15/1997
Contact Information: Lois Grunwald, U.S. EPA, (415) 744-1588

     (San Francisco) -- The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (U.S. EPA) is proposing a plan to clean up soil and groundwater at Tucson Airport Superfund Site in Tucson, Arizona.

     "We believe this plan will continue the progress that has been made addressing soil and groundwater contamination at the Tucson Airport site," said Keith Takata, U.S. EPA’s Superfund director.

     The public is invited to attend two community meetings -- which will cover the same information -- and provide comments on the proposed plan and other cleanup alternatives. The meetings will be held from 6 to 9 p.m. on Tuesday, July 22, at the Faith Assembly of God Church; 335 E. El Vado Road; and on Wednesday, July 23, at the El Pueblo Neighborhood Center, Room F; 101 W. Irvington Road, both in Tucson.  

     The U.S. EPA’s plan addresses soil and groundwater contamination at the airport and at two nearby properties in four proposed cleanup actions. They are: 1)to remove trichloroethylene and other volatile organic compounds (VOCs) from soil; 2) to excavate soil and sludge contaminated with polychlorinated biphenyls and treat the most highly contaminated of these materials. These excavated materials would then be disposed of in an approved landfill away from the Tucson Airport site; 3) to close the Tucson Airport Authority landfill by grading the landfill and capping it with about two feet of clean soil seeded with drought-resistant vegetation to minimize erosion; and,4) to extract and treat VOC-contaminated groundwater. This groundwater is not used as a source of drinking water.

     Previous U.S. EPA cleanup actions at this site have resulted in the construction of four groundwater treatment systems which have cleaned up more than 40 billion gallons of contaminated groundwater. In combination with aggressive soil cleanup, these actions have removed over 60 tons of solvents from the environment.

     The site encompasses sections of southwest Tucson, as well as adjoining lands south of the city. It includes industrial, commercial, residential, and undeveloped property. The site was placed on the U.S. EPA National Priorities List (NPL) in 1983 after organic compounds seeped into and contaminated the groundwater as a result of waste disposal practices at and around the airport site.

     The NPL is U.S. EPA’s list of hazardous waste sites potentially posing the greatest long-term threat to public health and the environment. U.S. EPA identifies and ranks NPL sites according to threats to nearby populations through actual or potential contamination of groundwater, surface water or air.

     Comments on the proposed plan must be made by August 20, 1997. Written comments can be sent to:

     Craig Cooper
     U.S. EPA, Mailcode SFD7-1
     75 Hawthorne St.
     San Francisco, Calif. 94105  

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