Arizona Superfund Site: Hassayampa Landfill
Fight Air Pollution & Water Pollution With an Environmental Toxic Tort Lawsuit

Do you need a Toxic Tort Attorney in The Grand Canyon State? The US EPA has designated Hassayampa Landfill in Arizona as a Superfund site because of its amounts of toxic pollution and harm to the natural world. You can read the report for the site below.

Some Superfund sites are on the National Priority Site Lists. The National Priorities List ("NPL") is the list of hazardous waste sites in the United States eligible for long-term remedial action financed under the federal Superfund program. Environmental Protection Agency regulations outline a formal process for assessing hazardous waste sites and placing them on the NPL. The NPL is intended primarily to guide the EPA in determining which sites warrant further investigation.

Sites are listed on the NPL upon completion of Hazard Ranking System (HRS) screening, public solicitation of comments about the proposed site, and after all comments have been addressed. EPA may delete a final NPL site if it determines that no further response is required to protect human health or the environment. Sites where a remediation was completed through the Superfund program are typically deleted from the NPL.

Living near Superfund Sites in Arizona may place you and your family at higher risk of getting sick from exposure to the site and experiencing a loss of value for your property, but there are steps you can take to fight back: The EPA says,

[We have] set up a "Post Construction Completion" (or PCC) strategy to ensure that Superfund response actions provide for the long-term protection of human health and the environment. EPA's Post Construction Completion activities also involve optimizing remedies to increase effectiveness and/or reduce cost without sacrificing long-term protection of human health and the environment.

Below you can read the EPA report for the Hassayampa Landfill Superfund site. If you, a loved one, or someone in your community has suffered due to toxic pollution in Hassayampa Landfill, or if your property has lost value because of contamination, you will need a toxic tort attorney who knows the people of the State of Arizona . Learn more about your legal options by filling out this simple form. There is no obligation, and your case will be evaluated within one day. To refer a friend, neighbor, or loved one, follow this link to let them know about the environmental toxic tort attorneys at Weitz & Luxenberg.

Hassayampa Landfill

This site is not a Federal Facility.

Updated: December 15, 2003

HASSAYAMPA LANDFILL
AZIZONA
EPA ID# AZD980735666

EPA Region 9
City: 40 miles west of Phoenix
County: Maricopa
Other Names:

Site Responsibility:

This site is being addressed through federal, state, and potentially responsible party actions.

NPL LISTING HISTORY

Proposed Date:06/10/1986

Final Date:07/22/1987

Deleted Date:

Contaminants of Concern (COCs) detected at Hassayampa which exceeded the Federal Maximum Contamination Levels (MCLs) for groundwater include: 1,1-dichloroethene; trichlorotrifluoroethane (Freon 113); 1,1,1-trichloroethane; 1,1-dichloroethane; trichloroethene; tetrachloroethene; trichlorofluoromethane (Freon 11); 1,2-dichloroethene; 1,2-dichloropropane; and toluene.

Ambient air contains very low levels of VOCs. Soils beneath the waste pits contain VOCs, heavy metals, pesticides, and lime wastes. Risk assessment results indicate that potential health risks may exist for individuals who ingest the contaminated groundwater or come into direct contact with hazardous wastes present in several of the trenches. Currently, there does not appear to be any potential for adverse health effects due to inhalation of VOCs in the air.

Results of sampling and analysis conducted during the remedial investigation, as well as additional investigations conducted later, indicated that soil and groundwater in the hazardous waste area of the landfill were contaminated by VOCs and semi-volatile organic compounds (SVOCs). Several disposal pits were identified within the hazardous waste portion of the landfill, with elevated levels of VOCs and SVOCs present in waste, soil, and soil gas beneath Pit 1. Substantial downward percolation of these compounds was also discovered in this area. Metals (including chromium, copper, and lead) were detected in waste and soil beneath several pits with concentrations of chromium and copper exceeding State hazardous waste regulatory levels. Groundwater samples from several monitoring wells indicated that groundwater in the uppermost water-bearing unit beneath portions of the hazardous waste area were contaminated with VOCs and SVOCs. Additionally, groundwater monitoring wells installed south of the hazardous waste area indicated a southerly VOC and SVOC contaminant migration away from the area.

A Record of Decision (ROD) for the Hassayampa Superfund site was signed on August 6, 1992 and detailed EPA’s selected cleanup remedy. The selected remedy for the contaminated groundwater at the site set forth by the ROD included: pumping the groundwater; treating the contaminated water using an air stripping system; reinjecting the treated water back into the groundwater in the vicinity of the site; and performing continued groundwater monitoring to measure the ongoing effectiveness of the remedy. EPA selected the federal and state MCLs as cleanup standards for the groundwater. MCLs indicate the maximum level of a contaminant EPA considers safe in drinking water. For those contaminants for which MCLs had not been established, proposed MCLs or Health Based Guidance Levels (HBGLs) identified by the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality were selected as groundwater cleanup levels. HBGLs were developed by the ADHS and represent human ingestion levels in water which are unlikely to result in adverse health effects during long-term exposure.

The ROD also identified the removal and treatment of contaminated vapor present in the soil through the use of Soil Vapor Extraction (SVE) vents, and a treatment system that was determined during the remedial design. The soil vapor cleanup standards were to be established by the EPA and be protective of groundwater quality. Finally, the ROD called for a protective cover (landfill cap) meeting federal requirements to be placed over the entire ten acre hazardous waste portion of the landfill. The cap system was chosen to reduce infiltration of rainwater, thereby limiting continued movement of soil contaminants to groundwater and also improving the efficiency of the soil vapor extraction system. The selected remedy also included the use of deed and access restrictions to control future use of the property. The cap and deed and access restrictions were also chosen to prevent people from coming into contact with contaminated soil at the site.

Following issuance of the ROD, EPA commenced negotiations with over 89 PRPs toward a proposed settlement agreement, called a Consent Decree, under which the PRPs would implement the remedy selected in the ROD. Consent Decree negotiations were prolonged due to complications. As a result, EPA issued a Unilateral Administrative Order (UAO) on March 30, 1993 to eleven of the parties to conduct additional investigation activities and to begin remedial design (RD) and remedial action (RA) activities on the groundwater treatment system and soil cap while Consent Negotiations continued.

Following the Consent Decree, the Hassayampa Steering Committee PRPs have undertaken the majority of the work at Hassayampa. A soil cap was constructed in 1994 to prevent erosion and infiltration of contaminants into the groundwater. A pump and treat groundwater remediation system was completed and has been in operation since March 1994. To date, this system has pumped and cleaned over 25 million gallons of contaminated groundwater. A soil vapor extraction system was constructed and began operation in 1996, and has since treated (using thermal oxidation methods) approximately 3,700 pounds of VOCs.

A Preliminary Close-Out Report (PCOR) was completed in September 1997 and EPA certification of the completion of construction of the remedial action was issued in April of 1998. The groundwater extraction and treatment system and soil vapor extraction and treatment system will continue to be run by the PRPs until the groundwater and soil meet cleanup levels.

In September of 2001 a review of the cleanup remedy was completed. Every five years EPA evaluates the performance of its on-going cleanup remedies and issues a report of its findings in a document called a Five-Year Review. EPA has determined that the groundwater remedy, the soil cap portion of the vadose zone remedy (for the dry soils above the water table) and the deed and access restrictions are protective of human health and the environment. A protectiveness determination for the soil vapor extraction and treatment portion of the vadose zone remedy will require additional analysis and can not be made at this time. Over the next six months, EPA will evaluate whether the soil vapor cleanup levels are protective of groundwater. EPA will then make a final protectiveness determination. When EPA concludes that a cleanup remedy is protective, this means that the various parts of the system are operating in such a way that contaminants are not coming into contact with people or other living systems.

After adding this site to the NPL, the EPA performed preliminary investigations and determined that the Hassayampa Landfill site does not pose an immediate threat to public health or the environment while cleanup activities are being designed and built at the site.

The selected remedy is protective, meets Applicable and/ or Relevant and Appropriate Requirements (AZAZs), is effective for the long-term, and is permanent. The State of Arizona has concurred with the EPA’s selected remedy.

A Preliminary Close-Out Report (PCOR) was completed in September 1997 and EPA certification of the completion of remedial action was issued to the PRPs in April of 1998. The PRPs will continue to operate the remediation systems at the site.

The public information repositories for the site are at the following locations:

Buckeye Library
310 North 6th Street
Buckeye, AZ 85326
(602) 386-2778

The most complete collection of documents is the official EPA site file, maintained at the following location:

Superfund Records Center
Mail Stop SFD-7C
95 Hawthorne Street, Room 403
San Francisco, CA 94105
(415) 536-2000

Enter main lobby of 75 Hawthorne street, go to 4th floor of South Wing Annex.

EPA SITE MANAGER:

Jim Sickles

ADDRESS:

75 Hawthorne St., SFD-8-2
San Francisco, CA 94105

PHONE NUMBER:

(415) 972-3256

E-MAIL ADDRESS:

sickles.james@epa.gov

EPA COMMUNITY INVOLVEMENT COORDINATOR:

David Cooper

ADDRESS:

PHONE NUMBER:

1-800-231-3075

E-MAIL ADDRESS:

PUBLIC INFORMATION CENTER:

(415) 947-8701

E-MAIL ADDRESS:

r9.info@epamail.epa.gov

STATE CONTACT:

Lou Minkler

ADDRESS:

PHONE NUMBER:

(602) 207-4187

PRP CONTACT:

ADDRESS:

PHONE NUMBER:

COMMUNITY CONTACT:

ADDRESS:

PHONE NUMBER:

State Environmental Protection Agency

US Environmental Protection Agency

(800) 852-7550

(800) 424-8802

STATE:

AZ

CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICT:

03

EPA ORGANIZATION:

SFD-8-2

• Site Description and History

•  Maps
•  Images

•  Description
•  Environmental Data

•  Response Action Status

EPA SITE MANAGER:

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PHONE NUMBER:

E-MAIL ADDRESS:

EPA COMMUNITY INVOLVEMENT COORDINATOR:

ADDRESS:

PHONE NUMBER:

E-MAIL ADDRESS:

PUBLIC INFORMATION CENTER:

E-MAIL ADDRESS:

STATE CONTACT:

ADDRESS:

PHONE NUMBER:

PRP CONTACT:

ADDRESS:

PHONE NUMBER:

COMMUNITY CONTACT:

ADDRESS:

PHONE NUMBER:

STATE:

CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICT:

EPA ORGANIZATION:

source: U.S. Environmental Protection Agency

Act Now! It is essential that you inquire about your pollutant lawsuit as soon as possible. Arizona law may limit your time to bring a legal claim to protect your rights. Your legal review is free and there is no commitment. You case will be evaluated immediately, so get started on your claim today!

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see also:

Tucson International Airport Area Environmental Pollution in Arizona- Site: Tucson International Airport Area
Tucson International Airport Area Superfund Site Info - Fight Air Pollution, Water Pollution

Indian Bend Wash Area Environmental Pollution in Arizona- Site: Indian Bend Wash Area
Indian Bend Wash Area Superfund Site Info - Fight Air Pollution, Water Pollution

AZ Environmental Pollution Lawsuit: Arizona Superfund Sites
Legal information for environmental pollution lawsuit in Arizona.