£EPA
United States
Environmental Protection
Agency
For more information
about this site contact:
Mike Joyce
EPA Community Involvement
Coordinator
312-353-5546
joyce.mike@epa.gov
Tim Prendiville
EPA Remedial Project Manager
312-886-5122
prendiville.timothy@epa.gov
Region 5 toll-free: 800-621-8431,
8:30 a.m. - 4:30 p.m., weekdays
Information Repositories
Official documents about the
South Station site can be viewed
at the following branches of the
Chicago Public Library:
Richard J. Daley Branch
3400 S. Halsted St.
McKinley Park Branch
1915 W. 35th St.
Lozano Branch
1805 S. LoomisSt.
Site documents can also be read at
the EPA Region 5 Records Center,
77 W. Jackson Blvd., Chicago
On the Web
www.epa.gov/region5/sites/
peoplesgas
www. epa.gov/region5 superfund/
npl/sas_sites/ILN000510191 .htm
Sampling Begins as Part
of Cleanup Investigation
Peoples Gas Plant South Station Site
Chicago, Illinois
May 2009
Contractors for Peoples Gas have started to investigate an 8.3-acre former
manufactured gas plant site along the south branch of the Chicago River
once known as South Station. This investigation is being done to determine
if contamination is present on the site and, if so, what must be done to clean
it up. U. S. Environmental Protection Agency is overseeing this investigation
and all work that will be done at South Station. This site is divided into two
main sections. The eastern section is slightly less than half of the site and
is owned by Peoples Gas. It contains a storage warehouse constructed in
the early 1970s and a parking area (see parcels A and B in aerial photo on
reverse). The western section, a bit more than half of the site, is owned by the
City of Chicago. It is an open area where the city plans to create a residential
park (see parcels C and D on reverse). This western section of the site was
cleaned up several years ago under an Illinois Environmental Protection
Agency voluntary program.
In October 2008, Integrys Energy Group, the parent company of Peoples
Gas, entered into an agreement with EPA to investigate and study 11 former
manufactured gas plant sites in Chicago as part of the Agency's Superfund
Alternative Sites program. South Station is one of those sites.
Site history
The South Station site is located on the southwest side of Chicago near the
intersection of Eleanor and Loomis streets. Land use along the river next to
the site is industrial, but the neighborhood is mostly residential, including
the north side of Eleanor Street just across from the site. South Station was
used to manufacture gas from coal from 1874 to 1941. From 1941 to 1961,
the property was used to support Peoples' natural gas operations. In 1961,
Peoples closed and dismantled the plant. A portion of the site was later used
to manufacture wood pallets.
In the late 1990s, an investigation found that soil on the site contained coal-
tar contamination including polyaromatic hydrocarbons or PAHs and other
chemicals. Ground water under the site was also found to be polluted by
similar contaminants. In 2000, sediment samples were collected from the river
next to the site at various depths. These samples also contained high levels of
coal-tar contamination.
From 2001 to 2006, Illinois EPA performed cleanup work on the portion
of the site now planned to become a city park. This included removing the
contents of underground storage tanks, demolishing and removing buried
structures, excavating soil as deep as 30 feet and dredging contaminated
sediment from the river.
Next steps
After Peoples Gas and EPA have completed a thorough investigation of the
entire South Station site, a study will be undertaken to determine the best
way to clean up any remaining contamination.
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