Eagle Zinc Hillsboro, III. Site Description The 132-acre Eagle Zinc site is located in a mixed commercial/industrial/residential area in the northeastern part of Hillsboro, Illinois. EPA added the site to the National Priorities List in 2007. A series of companies owned and operated the site over its 90-year history with the last being the Eagle Zinc company. It contains many large structures and waste piles containing lead and other metals left over from the manufacturing process. The buildings and large portion of the land are contaminated with those substances. The contamination presents an unacceptable risk to human health and the environment. Currently, the site is fenced and vacant, and people are not exposed to threatening levels of contamination from the site. Before the site can be reused, it must be cleaned up to industrial/commercial standards. Current Site Status and Cleanup Actions to Date • In 2008, Illinois EPA conducted sampling surrounding the site's buildings and associated structures; the results indicated high levels of lead contamination inside and around the buildings. • In 2009, EPA signed a decision document to raze the contaminated buildings and manage the debris with an on-site containment cell. • In 2010, EPA completed the design for the building demolition activities. • In 2012, EPA signed a decision document to address contaminated land. The remedy calls for the treatment of characteristically hazardous waste; consolidation of treated and solid waste; sediment excavation and stream realignment; wetland removal and replacement; institutional controls; and monitoring and assessment of groundwater and surface water. • EPA has broken the site's cleanup activities into discrete projects or phases called operable units (OUs). EPA began cleanup work on the first phase, OU1, of the site's remedy in 2014. This work involves the demolition of all site structures with building debris to be either safely buried on site under a protective cap or recycled. • The site's second and final cleanup phase, OU2, involves digging up contaminated soil and sediment and placing it safely on site under a protective cap. This work will begin as soon as federal funding is available. Unfunded Action The FY 2014 unfunded action consists of excavating or immobilizing contaminated soil and sediment, consolidating and covering waste on site and reconstructing the wetland. Current Funding Status To date, EPA has spent approximately $6.1 million on construction work at the site. For more information on this site, please read the Eagle Zinc site information on the Region 5 Superfund web site. ------- |