AEROJET GENERAL CORP.
^ CDA SUPERFUND SITE ^

Sy trir\ Rancho Cordova, CA

UNITED STATES ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY • REGION 9
STATE OF CALIFORNIA ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY • SEPTEMBER 2 00 1

Government agencies seek public comment
on changes in legal agreement

CONSENT DECREE MODIFICATION WOULD SPEED CLEANUP, ALLOW
EASIER DEVELOPMENT OF SOME PROPERTY

Aerojet has been negotiating with several government agencies on changing the legal agree-
ment, called the Partial Consent Decree or Decree, that covers the study of pollution at the
Aerojet General Corp. Superfund site. This fact sheet describes the proposed changes to the
Decree and addresses some of the issues raised.

You can express your views on the proposed changes to the Decree during the public com-
ment period during October 2001 (see Meetings and Public Comment on page 6 for details).

CHANGES TO THE CONSENT DECREE

The modified Decree for the Aerojet site would:

•	divide the site into different areas, called operable units

or OUs, to speed up cleanup;

•	provide an alternative water supply for the area covered

by the Western Groundwater Operable Unit, de-
scribed in EPA's fact sheets of November 2000;

•	provide for Aerojet's parent company, GenCorp, to pay
for cleanup costs if necessary;

•	require Aerojet to submit an annual list of cleanup

projects for agency approval;

•	redefine the boundaries of the site subject to the

Decree to remove some surface areas where no con-
tamination has been found;

•	require use restrictions on the land that will be re-
moved from the site definition in the Decree;

•	require Aerojet to pay certain fees and judgements

against State agencies resulting from future lawsuits
regarding the property that will be removed from the
Decree;

•	specify that Aerojet remains responsible for investigat-
ing groundwater contamination and associated con-
taminated media under the removed land.

Regulating Agencies

U.S. Department of Justice

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency

State of California Attorney General's Office

Central Valley Regional Water Quality Control Board

State of California Department of Toxic Substances
Control

PUBLIC COMMENT
PERIOD

octobH 2001


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AEROJET SITE
BOUNDARIES

Aerojet's ability to develop its prop-
erty depends partly on what property
is within the boundaries of the
Superfund site. The first legal agree-
ment between Aerojet and the regulat-
ing agencies used the Aerojet property
boundaries for the initial studies of
the site. This Decree placed condi-
tions on land transfers within those
boundaries.

However, a Superfund site is defined
as "any site or area where a hazardous
substance has ... come to be located".
Therefore, the Aerojet site includes
groundwater pollution from the
Aerojet property that has moved
outside of the property boundaries.
Nevertheless, investigation of the
surface above the groundwater pollu-
tion indicates that some of the surface
areas were never contaminated. The
modified Decree clarifies that these
surface areas are not part of the site or
subject to the Decree. This will make
it easier to re-use this land for the
benefit of the community. The
excluded areas of uncontaminated soil
(see the map on page 3) are known as
"carve-out lands".

DEVELOPMENT OF THE
CARVE-OUT LANDS

Under the modified Decree, Aerojet
could transfer or develop carve-out
lands with some limited EPA and
State review. This would be consistent
with EPA's commitment to return
Superfund sites to productive re-use as
soon as it is safe to do so, while
protecting the public's health. How-
ever, any development proposal would

have to pass through the normal local
planning and review process, includ-
ing input from the public.

People who might live or work in
future developments would not be
affected by pollution, since the
contamination is underground.
Restrictions on the use of the carve-
out lands would prevent contact with
the polluted groundwater and subsur-
face soil vapor.

WATER FOR CARVE-
OUT LAND
DEVELOPMENT

New development in the carve-out
lands would require a source of
drinking water. Aerojet could furnish
the carve-out lands with surplus water
from its plant operations. But if
development requires more water than
Aerojet has available, Aerojet would
have to find new supplies. Possible
sources of that water are:

•	new water supply wells,

•	contracts with near-by water
purveyors, or

•	reuse of water discharged from the
Aerojet treatment plants.

If the California Department of
Health Services approves, Aerojet
could reuse treated groundwater
directly to supply drinking water for
new development. Or, Aerojet could
discharge treated water to surface
waterways, and eventually to the
American River or Lake Natoma.
Aerojet could then withdraw up to the
discharged amount from the American
River or Folsom South Canal below
the discharge point and use this water
for new development.

FUNDING THE
CLEANUP

Currently, Aerojet is doing the work at
the site and paying the regulating
agencies' costs to oversee the cleanup,
and the Department of Defense is
reimbursing Aerojet for a large part of
their cleanup costs under an agree-
ment. Under the new Decree, Aerojet
would agree to provide financial
information each year to show that
they can fund cleanup work for the
year. Aerojet's parent, GenCorp,
would also agree to pay cleanup costs
of up to $10 million per year up to a
total of $75 million, should Aerojet
become unable to fund the cleanup.

BENEFITS FROM
CHANGING THE
DECREE

The public could benefit in several
ways from the new agreement.

•	faster site cleanup from dividing
the site into operable units

•	new legal guarantee of cleanup
funding

•	beneficial re-use of properties,
subject to the local planning
process, potentially increasing
housing, jobs, and the local tax
base

•	new interim water supply contin-
gency plan, which currently
proposes a new well in Rossmoor
Bar Park

Page • 2	Aerojet General Superfund Site


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Figure 1: Aerojet General Superfund Site, showing "carve-out" lands

MEETINGS



The community, the Regional Water Quality Control Board and the EPA will be holding meetings to discuss the

modified legal framework for the Aerojet site.



• Aerojet Community Advisory Group

• Water Board hearing for public

Tuesday October 23, 2001, 7:00 PM

comment

Sacramento County Sheriffs East Division

early in November, 2001* 7:00 PM

Substation

Mills Middle School

10361 Rockingham Blvd.

10243 Coloma Road

Sacramento, CA

Rancho Cordova, CA



*for exact date, call 916-255-3000

PUBLIC COMMENT



The U.S. Department of Justice and the State of California Regional Water Quality Control Board will accept

written comments on the Consent Decree for thirty days, from the end of September to the end of October.

Send comments simultaneously to:



Assistant Attorney General

Alex MacDonald

Environment and Natural Resources Division

Central Valley RWQCB

U.S. Department of Justice

3443 Routier Road

P0 Box 7611

Sacramento, CA 94822

Ben Franklin Station



Washington, DC 20044



D0J Ref. No. 90-7-1-74



September 2001

Page • 3


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IF YOU HAVE QUESTIONS

INFORMATION REPOSITORIES

For overview information and site documents, visit the
Region 9 Superfund Site Information web page: http://
www.epa.gov/region09/waste/sfund/npl/siteinfo.htm
For technical information:

Alex MacDonald

Regional Water Quality Control Board
(916) 255-3025
Charles Berrey
EPA Project Manager
(415) 744-2223
For legal information:

Thelma Estrada
EPA Office of Regional Counsel
(415) 744-2223

For information on how you can get involved:

Janis Heple, Chair

Community Advisory Group on Aerojet Superfund Issues
916-739-6361 (after October 11, 2001)

Don Hodge, EPA Community Involvement Coordinator
(415) 744-2427

Community Involvement toll-free number
(800) 231-3075

Documents pertaining to this issue, including the original
1989 Partial Consent Decree, the July 2000 Site Assess-
ment Report for Candidate Carve-out Lands, and the
proposed modified Partial Consent Decree, are available at
the document repositories for the Aerojet site.

Superfund Records Center

95 Flawthorne Street, Suite 403S
San Francisco, CA 94105-3901
415-536-2000

California State University - Sacramento Library

2000 State University Drive East
Sacramento, CA 95899-6039
916-278-5672

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United States Environmental Protection Agency
Region 9
75 Hawthorne Street (SFD-3)

San Francisco, CA 94105
Attn: Don Hodge

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Address Service Requested


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