United States Environmental Protection Agency
Region V
POLLUTION REPORT

Subject: 

The Dearborn Refining Site is located at 3901 Wyoming Avenue, Dearborn, Wayne County, Michigan. 

Various entities operated the site as a waste oil refining and processing facility from 1947 until 2006. The site received used oil, waste oil, and oil-impacted wastewater and blended them with "virgin" oil for market resale.

In June 2006, at the request of the City of Dearborn, the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) initiated a Removal Action through the Oil Pollution Act (OPA) to remove oil that posed an imminent threat of discharge to navigable waters of the United States. The OPA Removal Action was completed in November 2006. See epaosc.net/dearbornrefining for more information. 

The remaining hazardous substances were stabilized and staged pending negotiations on an Administrative Order on Consent (AOC) with Potentially Responsible Parties (PRPs).

On August 27, 2007, following a 30-day public comment period, EPA and respondent companies signed the AOC. Respondent companies hired GHD to perform the cleanup.

Current Activities
Milestone

August 2007 to November 2008, the PRP group removed drums, totes, tanks, and asbestos.

Late 2007 until early 2010, a site investigation was conducted over several phases.

April 2011 to October 2012, the removal action included:
1. Excavation of polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB) impacted soils.
2. The decommissioning and demolition of the office building, a boiler house, a press room, two pump houses, boiler rooms, a laboratory /blending room, and a water treatment building.
3. Installation of a cover system with a flexible membrane liner.
4. Installation of a multi-phase extraction (MPE) system for light non-aqueous phase liquid (LNAPL) recovery within the central and southwestern portions of the site.
5. Deed restrictions and institutional controls.
6. Operation, Maintenance, and Monitoring (OMM).

2012 to 2014, the MPE system extracted mobile LNAPL for off-site disposal. In 2014, the system was decommissioned.

2015 to present, OMM activities were performed by the PRP to ensure the adequate performance of the cover system, methane gas venting, sentry wells, monitoring wells, and gas probes.

Regional Metrics
Surface Water and Adjacent Areas River systems cleaned and/or restored (miles)--N/A
Contaminated sediments removed and/or capped (cubic yards) --N/A
Soil/sediment cleaned up in floodplains and riverbanks (acres) --N/A
Initial amount of oil released (gallons) --N/A
Final amount of oil collected (gallons) --N/A
Waters of the US affected (name) --N/A
Residential Number of contaminated residential yards cleaned up --N/A
Tribal Tribal consultation or coordination (yes or no) no

The site will continue to generate methane, and the PRPs will be required to continue OMM for the foreseeable future, including
 Semi-annual methane monitoring
 Semi-annual inspections
 Annual water level measurements
 Annual LNAPL measurements
 Annual pressure measurements
 Annual progress reports

EPA has finalized cost recovery from the remaining PRPs and is preparing to closeout past costs. As part of the settlement of costs, the removal is considered complete.

A special account has been established to fund future oversight costs.