*>EPA

Cleanup Enforcement in Action:

Cleanup, Access to Drinking Water, and
Redevelopment Efforts Benefit the
Community and Ecosystem
in Seffner, Florida

The Value of Environmental Enforcement

At the Taylor Road Landfill Superfund Site (Site) in
the town of Seffner in Hillsborough County, Florida,
the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the
state of Florida ("State"), and Hillsborough County
("County") worked cooperatively, through enforcement
mechanisms, to pursue cleanup activities that addressed
community priorities and facilitated safe and beneficial
redevelopment of the site. This case study illustrates how
the Superfund enforcement program works collaboratively
with responsible parties, state and local governments,
and stakeholders to benefit communities.

The Superfund enforcement program in EPA Region 4
(serving Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Mississippi,
North Carolina, South Carolina, and Tennessee) identified
multiple potentially responsible parties (PRPs) associated
with the Site and successfully negotiated several
settlement agreements to get the Site cleaned up. The
cleanup work under the settlements allowed the Site to
be revitalized. The benefits to the community and the
environment include community recycling and collection
centers, recreational opportunities, and restored
ecosystems, including large ponds for wildlife habitat.

Environmental Enforcement
Benefits the Community

Environmental and public health factors affect people
most significantly where they live. The EPA works
to provide strong, effective enforcement support
to all communities. As the Agency implements
environmental and public health improvements
across the country, the EPA is looking for new ways to
assist communities in environ mentally overburdened,
underserved and economically disadvantaged areas
where the needs are greatest.

Collaborative and Proactive
Partnerships Between the EPA and Local
Governments Contribute to Beneficial
Reuse for the Community

The EPA worked with the State and County
government to address contaminated
groundwater at the Site and coordinate
redevelopment plans at the Site. This
coordination resulted in site reuse that provides
ecosystem services.



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The Site's location in Seffner, Florida.

Project History and Enforcement History

1979 - 2001

Source Control and Groundwater Cleanup

In 1979, while testing the landfill and private wells, the
EPA identified volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and
metals. In 1980, the EPA brought enforcement actions
against the County under the Resource Conservation and
Recovery Act (RCRA) for the groundwater contamination.
The County worked with the Florida Department of
Environmental Protection to clean up the contaminated
soil, which included closing the Taylor Road Landfill.

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NORTH

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Sources: Esri, DeLorme, AND, Tele Atlas, First American, UNEP-
WCMC and USGS.

The settlement agreement with the County resulted in
an extension of the municipal water system to provide
safe drinking water to nearby residences; the cleanup
of contaminated groundwater; and the safe reuse of the
Site with significant ecosystem benefits. Enforcement
staff also worked with County staff to implement
institutional controlsthat protect residents from drinking
contaminated well-water.

In 1983, the County entered into a RCRA corrective
action order with the EPA and the State to construct
landfill caps to prevent rainwater infiltration and prevent
direct contact with contaminated soil, and required
the County to connect all properties within the site
boundaries to the public water system.

In 1983, the EPA listed the site on the Superfund
program's National Priorities List (NPL) due to the
groundwater contamination. In 1993, the EPA negotiated
a voluntary agreement with the County and 13 other
PRPs to conduct a remedial investigation and feasibility
study (RI/FS) at the Site.

In 1996 and 1997, the EPA reached agreements with
approximately 40 other PRPs who had contributed minor
amounts of hazardous substances to the Site. These

Site Overview

The 252-acre site is located in Hillsborough County,
about seven miles east of Tampa, Florida. The Site
consists of three adjacent landfills owned and operated
by the County that accepted residential, commercial,
agricultural, and industrial solid waste. The County
stopped operating the Taylor Road Landfill and the
Borrow Pit Landfill in 1980, and the Hillsborough Heights
Landfill in 1984. An unknown quantity of hazardous
substances was buried in the Taylor Road Landfill,
which contaminated groundwater that later migrated
off the County's property, impacting private wells, the
primary source of drinking water in the area. Residential
homes and commercial businesses were impacted by
the contaminated groundwater plume.

Seffner,
Florida

f Taylor
Road Landfill
Site

x>EPA

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency

Office of Site Remediation Enforcement

Responsible Parties Clean Up
Under CERCLA

The Comprehensive Environmental Response,
Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA,
commonly known as Superfund), establishes a
comprehensive liability scheme to require certain
categories of parties to conduct or pay for cleanup of
contaminated lands. These parties include owners,
operators, generators, transporters and others
involved in the disposal of hazardous substances.
CERCLA's liability scheme ensures that wherever
possible, PRPs, rather than taxpayers, clean up the
contamination, thus conserving taxpayer money for
sites where there are no financially viable PRPs.

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T« TO

Site boundaries.

agreements helped achieve the EPA and seven other
PRPs' mutual objective to simplify enforcement activity
at the Site by resolving potential liability under the
Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation
and Liability Act (CERCLA, commonly referred to as
Superfund) for a substantial number of PRPs.

In 1998, the County and another 16 PRPs signed a
consent decree with the EPA, agreeing to clean up the
contaminated groundwater through natural attenuation
(a process that relies on natural processes to decrease
or "attenuate" pollution in soil and groundwater).
The agreement also provided for modifying a ring of
monitoring wells and extending additional water service
to residences within the ring of wells and a 270-foot buffer
zone. Finally, the PRPs agreed to put in place institutional
controls that restrict the land use and prohibit the use or
further construction of private wells.

In 2001, the County began operation and maintenance
efforts for the landfill cap and the groundwater cleanup
remedy to make sure the cleanup work remained
protective of human health and the environment. Today,
groundwater data clearly indicates the effectiveness of
the cleanup in reducing contamination at the Site.

2001 - Present

Working Together to Facilitate Redevelopment

While cleanup work was underway at the Site, the
EPA's regional Superfund enforcement team worked
with the County to coordinate multiple redevelopment

Monitoring well at the Site.

plans for the Site. The County collaborated with the
Tampa Radio-control Aircraft Club and the Academy of
Model Aeronautics to build a new park for flying model
airplanes that includes a paved runway and covered
work areas for the model planes. About 1,000 people
visit the airfield each year.

By 2010, the County had established several community
facilities on the Site, including a recycling center, a
community collection center, a household chemical/
electronics collection center, a site maintenance facility
and an environmental field office.

Additionally, the County and the U.S. Department
of Energy conducted a study to evaluate the use of
methane from the landfills to create a renewable energy
source. This study provided valuable information on the
use of landfill gas for power generation.

The Tampa Radio-control Aircraft Club and the Academy of
Model Aeronautics have established flying space and work
areas on the Site.

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Hillsborough County has established several community and
county resources on the Site, including a waste collection area.

Ecosystem Services

Ecosystem services are important environmental
benefits provided to communities such as clean
drinking water, wildlife habitat, energy resources, and
recreation areas. Ecosystem service benefits are an
additional way to measure successful cleanups. Direct
ecosystem benefits for people at this Site include the
provision of clean drinking water to area residents
(replacing well-water sources with connections to
public water supply lines) anc a recreational use of the
created greenspace. Indirect ecosystem benefits at
the Site include the incidental use of the stormwater
retention ponds for wildlife habitat.

The County's collection and recycling facilities.

The model airplane runway.

Throughout cleanup and redevelopment planning,
the EPA provided support to the County to ensure
that plans to reuse the Site would be compatible with
the Site's cleanup plan and maximize community and
environmental benefits.

Redevelopment Success and the
Excellence in Site Reuse Award

In June 2010, the EPA's southeast regional office
gave the County its Excellence in Site Reuse Award in

recognition of its leadership and creative reuse of the
Site for multiple purposes that benefit the community
and enhance the cleanup work.

Enforcement Makes a Difference

The EPA's enforcement program has helped make a
difference in thousands of communities affected by
hazardous waste contamination. At sites such as the
Taylor Road Landfill Site, the program helps ensure
liable parties perform and pay for prompt and protective
cleanups and facilitates revitalization. In Hillsborough
County, Florida, enforcement actions held approximately
57 PRPs accountable to fund a site cleanup that resulted
in clean drinking water for area residents as well as
ecosystem and community benefits. Significant and
sustained cooperation and communication among the
County, the EPA, the PRPs, and the Florida Department
of Environmental Protection enabled a timely cleanup
that laid a strong foundation for long-term benefits at
and near the Site.

For More Information, Contact:

Elisabeth Freed

Office of Site Remediation Enforcement
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency

freed.elisabeth@epa.gov I (202)564-6331

vvEPA

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency

Office of Site Remediation Enforcement

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