United States
Environmental Protection
Agency
Enforcement and
Compliance Assurance
(2201 A)
EPA 520-F-96-004
Spring 1996
V>EPA Superfund At Work
Hazardous Waste Cleanup Efforts Nationwide
Vast segments of the Arkansas River are within the Central Flyway, a major
migratory route for thousands of birds.
Success in Brief
Cooperative Efforts Protect River
Ecosystem From Toxic Waste
A 10-minute drive from the Tulsa, Oklahoma city line, a lime-
stone quarry served as a landfill for oil refining and manufactur-
ing residues. Co-mingled with municipal garbage, industrial
wastes caught fire or erupted underground, polluting soil and
tainting area ground water. At the base of the cliff, the Arkansas
River traversed the edge of the Osage Indian Reservation where
hundreds of years ago bald eagles plucked fish from the shallow
waters.
This site, where ancient meets modern, was chosen by the U.S.
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for cleanup under a
special program called the Superfund. Effective enforcement
provisions in the law convinced a few conscientious companies
to step forward and assume responsibility for cleanup. The
remedial work took less than two years and demonstrates the
way the Superfund pro-
gram works best: protect-
ing the surrounding ecosys-
tem.
The Site Today
A protective cap seals the
old landfill with a top layer of
grasses and ground covers.
Methane gas is vented
through an underground
piping network. A five-year
review is scheduled to evalu-
ate the integrity of the cap
and other measures taken to
halt the migration of leachate
into the river.
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Superfund At Work • Compass Industries Site, Tulsa, OK • Spring 1996
A Site Snapshot
The Compass Industries
Superfund site was a 46-acre
abandoned landfill eight
miles west of Tulsa, Okla-
homa. The site perched 200
feet above the Arkansas
River; runoff from the land-
fill trickled down the bluff
to the river ecosystem be-
low.
The Compass Industries
site was originally a lime-
stone quarry from the 1950s
until the late 1960s. For more
than a decade, operators
converted the quarry into a
major municipal landfill for
the Tulsa area, accepting both
household garbage and in-
dustrial wastes. Poor operating burning at the landfill. Soil
practices led to the landfill's samples later revealed sol-
eventual closure. vents, heavy metals, pesti-
The site is directly west of cides, and polychlorinated
Chandler Park, a county softball biphenyls (PCBs). Exposure
to these toxins
Compass Industries Site
Tulsa, OK
and
recreational
area; the closest residence is
within a quarter mile. Local
residents complained about
poor air quality and noxious
smoke and soot from fires
can cause cen-
tral nervous
system disor-
ders and in-
crease the risk of
various cancers.
Seasonal precipi-
tation leached
unknown quantities of haz-
ardous substances into sur-
face and ground water caus-
ing insidious environmental
effects.
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Superfund At Work • Compass Industries Site, Tulsa, OK • Spring 1996
Bite The Bullet, Take Responsibility
Out of Sight, Out of Mind
Like so many other landfills
across the states, the site owners
saw an old quarry as the ideal
place to throw stuff away. The
City of Tulsa was growing and
expanding, trying to meet the
needs of oil drilling and refin-
ing companies that sprang up
all over the southwest. City and
county officials petitioned the
Oklahoma State Department of
Health (OSDH), which granted
a permit to the Compass Indus-
tries landfill for disposal of
municipal waste from 1972 to
1976. State investigations
would later reveal, however,
that hazardous waste dumping
may have taken place as early
as 1964. Twenty years later, the
landfill contained a volatile mix
of oily sludges, jet fuel,
bleaches, solvents, benzene,
PCBs, and pesticides.
Fires and Air Pollution Cause
Complaints
In early 1983, EPA and OSDH
investigated residents' reports
about open burning and soot in
the air and took water samples.
The site had come under scru-
tiny following passage of the
Comprehensive Environmental
Response, Compensation, and
Liability Act of 1980. Under
this new law, Congress empow-
ered EPA to begin cleaning up
uncontrolled hazardous waste
sites across the nation. Instead
of using taxpayer dollars, a
"Superfund" based on excise
taxes levied on chemical feed-
stocks and crude oil would
support cleanup efforts. States
nominated their worst sites;
Compass Industries was placed
on the National Priorities List
(NPL) in 1984.
State Conducts Field Studies
For the next two years,
OSDH contracted with EPA to
conduct comprehensive site
studies to determine the nature
and extent of site contamina-
tion. EPA weighed the options
and selected a remedy to stabi-
lize and contain the site wastes.
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Superfund At Work • Compass Industries Site, Tulsa, OK • Spring 1996
for Others
In 1987, EPA presented a pro-
posed cleanup plan to the
community that included cap-
ping the landfill, ground water
treatment, if necessary, and a
30-year monitoring program.
EPA Negotiates for Cleanup
Having searched old records
and deposit slips maintained by
the former operators of the site,
EPA identified the major waste
contributors and transporters.
Negotiations commenced in
1988 but failed to coalesce a
group that would assume
financial responsibility. EPA
proceeded to design the se-
lected remedy using Superfund
resources, and then in 1989,
issued a unilateral administra-
tive order to seven parties.
Only Texaco, Inc., Standard
Royalties Inc., and Sun Refining
and Marketing Corporation
agreed to perform the remedial
work which mobilized in the
winter of 1990. EPA continues
SAMPLE LOCATIONS
} SURFACE WATER OR
SEDIMENT
• SEEP WATER LOCATION
® BACKGROUND SEEP LOCATION
if GAS VENTS
• CAP BOUNDARY
Compass Industries Site
Location Map
to pursue other parties to re-
cover cleanup costs and is close
to concluding agreements with
waste contributors who sent
very small quantities of hazard-
ous substances to the site.
Remedial Work Takes Less
Than Two Years
Once under way, construc-
tion crews built access roads,
began controlling surface runoff
from the site, and provided 24-
hour security. EPA entered into
an interagency agreement with
the U.S. Army Corps of Engi-
neers to oversee the work.
Crews installed a multi-layer
cover over the landfill with a
high density polyethylene liner
to exclude precipitation. Engi-
neers included a methane
ventilation system to relieve gas
buildup under the cap and
prevent recurrence of under-
ground fires. Air monitoring
equipment operated continu-
ously and served as an early
warning system to detect any
toxic vapors generated by the
work.
To control surface water
runoff, crews had to reduce
overland flows by building a
drainage system to divert water
to natural runoff channels of the
Arkansas River. They also built
an earthen berm to control
erosion below the site.
Perseverance and hard work
paid off with completion of the
remedial action in October,
continued on page 6
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Superfund At Work • Compass Industries Site, Tulsa, OK • Spring 1996
The Arkansas: River Ecosystem Supports
Impressive List of Species
One of the major western
tributaries of the mighty
Mississippi is the Arkansas, a
meandering, vital river that
drains a watershed of 160,600
square miles. Originating in
the Sawateh Range of the
Wheat is but one of the
diverse species the river ecosys-
tem supports. Vast segments
are within the Central Fly way, a
major migratory route for
ducks, geese, sandhill cranes,
warblers, and other songbirds.
At Tulsa, where the river
turns to the south, the
gable waterway for shipment
of the river basin's resources.
Not just a body of water for
wastes and industrial effluent,
the river is a living ecosystem:
a synergism of plants, insects,
aquatic animals, fish, birds,
and land species that form a
complex web of interdepen-
dency. An action taken at any
level in the food chain has a
„ potential domino effect
on every other part of
that system. The
Superfund program
recognized the delete-
rious effect a leaching
Rocky Mountains near
Leadville, Colorado, the
Arkansas drops 11,400 feet,
coursing 1,450 miles and four
states.
About 100 miles from the
headwaters, the river leaves
the mountains through the
Royal Gorge, a narrow can-
yon cut into solid granite
with vertical walls more than
1,000 feet high. The Bureau
of Land Management studied
this segment of the river for
inclusion in the National
Wild and Scenic Rivers Pro-
gram. Once on the plains, the
channel becomes wide and
shallow as the flow is di-
verted to agricultural crops
all through Kansas.
Ameri-
can bald
eagle nests
in the cliffs.
In Colorado,
where the waters are icy
cold, trout species abound. At
the opposite end in Arkansas,
the paddlefish with her spatula-
shaped snout, produces the best
caviar in the continental U.S.
The beavers of old once plied
the wetland backwaters before
fur traders nearly wiped out
this industrious aquatic mam-
mal. Today, 17 locks and dams
control the Arkansas' yearly
flooding and provide a navi-
landfill had on the segment of
the Arkansas at Compass
Industries and downriver.
The concerted efforts of all
those who worked at the site
— private, state, and federal
— helped to encourage the
return of the natural order.
The Arkansas continues the
never-ending journey and
supports biodiversity along
the way.
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Superfund At Work • Compass
, Tulsa, OK • Spring 1996
continued from page 4
1991. The community was
invited to an "open house" to
ask questions about the techni-
cal aspects of the work.
Surface water samples have
been taken quarterly ever since
and will continue under a 30-
year site monitoring program.
All samples to date have tested
to be clean. This year, the site
will be comprehensively re-
viewed for effectiveness of the
remedy and the possibility of
delisting from the NPL.
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