Plating Inc. timeline:
• The Environmental Protection Agency reported in 1988 the Kansas Department of Health and Environment detected soil contamination from blowers and documented that the facility had been operating without air pollution control systems. The KDHE ordered the facility to address state and federal violations for the handling and storage of hazardous wastes and remove the contaminated soil.
• In 1991 sampling revealed that the ground water was contaminated with chromium.
• In 1994 KDHE and Plating Inc. signed an order which lead to the facility installing a shallow remedial well to contain and remediate the shallow plume.
• In 1998, Plating Inc. installed a shallow remedial well to control and remediate a contaminated groundwater plume (an underground mass of contaminated water). After determining the remedial well was not fully containing the plume, the company installed an additional remedial well in 2002.
• In 2005, the facility ceased operations and in 2006, the company filed for bankruptcy. A Time Critical Removal Action was conducted by the EPA to remove the hazardous waste the was left behind.
The KDHE worked with the EPA and its contractor to develop the Remedial Investigation and Feasibility Study field sampling plan, which was implemented in February 2010.
• The KDHE conducted a walkthrough of the facility on March 8, 2006, and an inspection on Jan. 5, 2007. Based upon the findings of the inspection, the facility was closed.
Approximately 6,400 gallons of chromic acid was noted on site, along with other acids and hydroxides. The concrete in the secondary containment was pitted and inadequate.
Chromic acid was leaking onto an outside concrete pad, which, in turn was seeping to the soils. A groundwater plume of hexavalent chromium, approximately two miles long, has impacted domestic wells and is moving toward Great Bend public water supply wells.
The site consists of Plating, Inc. and the groundwater plume. It also includes two abandoned settling basins which received waste water from the facility and other nearby industries about one mile south.
The Site was placed on the National Priorities List in March 2008.
• Two additional phases of Supplemental Field Investigations were completed in 2013 to characterize the soil and groundwater contamination plume. Additional sampling (monitoring wells, and public and private well) was completed in 2016, 2017 and 2018.
• A Feasibility Study was completed in 2019 and a Record of Decision was completed in September 2020. A Remedial Design was finalized in December 2022.
• Domestic water supply wells for two businesses have been impacted by the contamination and bottled water is being supplied to these businesses.
• A remedial action to remove the building and the hazardous soil beneath the building is planned to begin operations this fall.
• The Remedial Design for the excavation and removal of the contaminated source area has been completed. The next steps will be to find a contractor to complete the remedial action.
EPA anticipates this work will begin this summer.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Friday announced the second wave of approximately $1 billion in funding from the bipartisan Infrastructure Law to start new cleanup projects at 22 Environmental Protection Agency Superfund sites, including Plating Inc. in Great Bend which dates back 35 years.
An issue with roots in 1988, this is a former chromium and zinc plating facility located in the Great Bend Industrial Park west of town at 8801 W. 8801 West Sixth St. Chemicals, including hexavalent chromium, from the now-defunct business have contaminated the surrounding groundwater are the subject of an ongoing remediation effort (see timeline).
Working with the Kansas Department of Health and Environment, an EPA-approved cleanup plan is expected to be implemented this year, the EPA reported.
It joins 57th and North Broadway streets in Wichita, and Caney Residential Yards in Caney covered by the Friday announcement. In addition, the funding will expedite over 100 other ongoing cleanups across the country.
“This funding from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law enables crews in our Region to begin new construction at three Superfund sites in Kansas,” said EPA Region 7 Administrator Meg McCollister, who is based in Lenexa. “Cleaning up sites throughout Region 7 helps ensure that we continue to protect the environment and the health of residents in our nation’s heartland.”
“We’re excited to receive this funding so we can begin - or accelerate - work to prepare these sites in Kansas for construction,” said EPA Region 7 Superfund and Emergency Management Division Director Bob Jurgens. “Our teams are committed to the EPA mission to protect human health and the environment through cleaning up the contaminated soil and groundwater.”
This second wave of funding comes from the $3.5 billion allocated for Superfund cleanup work in the Infrastructure Law. With the first wave of funding announced in December 2021, EPA deployed over $1 billion for cleanup activities at over 100 Superfund National Priorities List sites across the country.
With this funding, EPA started 81 new cleanup projects in 2022, including projects at 44 sites previously on the backlog.
About the Superfund
In 1980, Congress passed the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act, known as Superfund. This law gave EPA the authority and funds to hold polluters accountable for cleaning up the most contaminated sites across the country.
When no viable responsible party is found or cannot afford the cleanup, EPA steps in to address risks to human health and the environment using funds appropriated by Congress.
Second local EPA Superfund site remediated
Beginning in September 2013, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency conducted a removal of contaminated soil at the O’Neill Tank Superfund Site at 511 C St. in the Great Bend Industrial Park adjoining the Great Bend Municipal Airport. Removal actions began in September 2013 and concluded in June 2014, said Lenexa-based EPA Region 7 spokesperson Kellen Ashford.
This was focused on addressing the release of the hazardous substance radium-226 into the environment at the 9.6-acre site.
According to information from the EPA, radium-226 is a naturally occurring radioactive material which can become concentrated due to human activities. Radium-contaminated soils and other material were removed from the O’Neill Tank Site and replaced with clean soil.
In all, 2,415 tons of soil was excavated and transported to a disposal facility.
The Kansas Department of Health and Environment detected radium contamination at the site during a 2008 investigation, the EPA reported. Subsequent investigations by KDHE and EPA confirmed the presence of the contamination and defined its extent.
Environmental officials is believed the contamination resulted from the storage of oil field pipe at the site, as residues that build up in oil field pipe often contain radium-226.
The levels of radium-226 detected at the site exceeded EPA’s and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s health-based screening levels, and were considered to pose a risk to persons who currently work at or near the area.
