Federated Metals

The Federated Metals Superfund site is located at 9200 Market Street, behind the south side of the Federated Metals plant at the intersection of Market Street and Interstate 610 in Houston. The site, now inactive, is bound on the north by the Union Pacific Railroad, on the west by Interstate 610 and on the south by a diked area formerly used for the disposal of channel dredgings. The landfill was used as a disposal facility from the 1940s to 1979 for magnesium dross and sludge and refractory brick from recovery activities of nonferrous metal alloys; breakout material from electrolytic chlorine cells such as graphite anodes, asbestos material and contaminated concrete; gasket rubber rings and other waste materials. Between 1945 and 1979, the magnesium concentration in the sludge was so high that the field area caught fire spontaneously on several occasions.

• July 25, 1986, a legal notice was published in the TexasRegister (11 TexReg 3421-3422) announcing a series of public meetings across the state to collect information and receive comments on constituting the initial state Superfund registry and announcing a hearing would be held at the Houston-Galveston Area Council of Governments on August 21, 1986 and a second hearing would be held at the Stephen F. Austin Building in Austin on August 28, 1986.
• January 16, 1987, Federated Metals became 1 of 10 sites on the first Texas Superfund registry (12 TexReg 205).
• November 21, 1990, remedial investigation work plan submitted to TNRCC by PRP for review.
• June 30, 1993, effective date of a TNRCC agreed order that was signed by potentially responsible parties to determine the nature and extent of contaminants (remedial investigation).
• September 1, 1993, effective date of the creation of the Texas Natural Resource Conservation Commission from the joining of the Texas Water Commission and the Texas Air Control Board and a portion of the Texas Department of Health.
• May 31, 1994, remedial investigation under way.
• February 15, 1995, a community relations plan was prepared for the Federated Metals site. [Read the text of community relations plan in PDF. (Help with PDF.) The PDF file does not include illustrations or copies of documents cited as references. The complete community relations plan is available as part of official repository records at the Pleasantville Branch Library and at the TCEQ Records Management Center.]
• January 23, 1996, TNRCC approved the potentially responsible party remedial investigation Phase I report and addendum reports.
• April 2, 1996, remedial investigation workplan Phase II submitted to TNRCC by the potentially responsible party for review.
• August 28, 1996, TNRCC approved the PRP's Phase II remedial investigation workplan.
• April 1, 1997, TNRCC received a report on Phase II remedial investigation work that had been completed to that date. The report included conclusions from the data collected and recommendations for further work.
• October 14, 1998, TNRCC negotiated right-of-entry and sampling agreement with Union Pacific Railroad.
• November 4, 1998, excavation under way to verify buried waste piles identified by a geophysical survey. Wet weather forced delay of excavation activities through most of November and December and continued through February 1999.
• January 15, 1999, TNRCC approved interim report of the geophysical survey.
• March 19, 1999, excavation resumed to locate buried waste.
• May 20, 1999, Phase II remedial investigation underway.
• August 5, 1999, TNRCC approved the July 1999 sampling and analysis plan.
• February 4, 2000, results from the final groundwater sampling conducted August, 1999, concluded that the single instance of TCE was from a source unrelated to the site.
• June 12, 2000, additional trenching was underway.
• September 12, 2000, PRPs submitted a revised report on the characterization of materials which incorporated all of the comment included in the April 14, 2000, review.
• November 10, 2000, TNRCC specialists met with consultants representing the PRPs and discussed the September 12, 2000, revised report on the characterization of materials.
• September 1, 2002, effective date of the name change from Texas Natural Resource Conservation Commission (TNRCC) to Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ).
• January 10, 2003, the TCEQ project manager provided supplemental information in response to concerns about inorganic metals and the remedial investigation, and requested development of a work plan.
• August 2004, TCEQ requested the responsible party to proceed with the construction of a security fence at the site.
• September 2004, the responsible party responded to TCEQ's request by authorizing their consultant to direct construction of a fence consistent with TCEQ guidelines.
• November 2004, construction of the security fence was completed.
• December 2004, TCEQ received a notice that the security fence construction had been inspected and found to be consistent with TCEQ guidelines.
• January 2005, the potentially responsible parties began preparing a work plan to identify the additional level of effort required to characterize the material at the site to support a feasibility study and remediation of the waste.
• May 19, 2005, the site perimeter fence was inspected and groundwater of four wells on site was sampled.
• November 9, 2005, groundwater of four wells on site was sampled.
• January 19, 2006, the annual groundwater sampling report was received. Elevated levels of trichloroethene (TCE) were noted in monitor well No. 1 and gross beta in monitor well No. 2.
• June 7, 2006, letters were sent to the respondent and the owner of the property adjacent to the east advising that access to the adjacent property is essential to the continuation of the remedial investigation.
• June 22, 2006, the respondent was advised by TCEQ that waste characterization needs to be completed for input to the remedial investigation.
• June 23, 2006, the respondent was advised that additional groundwater sampling and analysis is required for input to the remedial investigation.
• July 7, 2006, the owner of the adjacent property informed TCEQ by letter that they are willing to allow access for the respondent to perform remedial investigation work on their property.
• July 10, 2006, representatives of TCEQ and the respondent met to discuss and clarify the contents of the June 22 and June 23 letters requesting additional waste characterization and groundwater investigation.
• August 2, 2006, the respondent requested an extension of time to provide responses to TCEQ letters of June 22 and June 23, regarding plans for waste characterization and groundwater investigation.
• August 8, 2006, TCEQ granted an extension of time to September 14, 2006.
• August 11, 2006, the respondent received approval from federal bankruptcy court for a loan of up to $120,000 to perform investigation work at the Federated Metals site.
• September 13, 2006, in a letter from the respondent concerning the June 22 and June 23 requests for remedial investigation plans, the respondent said that they would provide a site cleanup plan by November 1, 2006.
• September 29, 2006, it was requested that the respondent provide a work plan, a quality assurance plan, and a health and safety plan for waste characterization and groundwater investigation (integral parts of a remedial investigation) by November 1, 2006.
• October 11, 2006, the respondent provided a health and safety plan limited only to underbrush removal prior to starting site work.
• October 13, 2006, the respondent was provided an outline of requirements for the contents of a waste characterization plan.
• October 26, 2006, the respondent was provided an outline of the requirements for a groundwater investigation plan.
• October 27, 2006, the respondent was provided comments on the limited scope of the respondent's October 11 health and safety plan.
• October 31, 2006, the respondent submitted a brief that discussed waste cleanup, but the submittal was lacking the waste characterization and groundwater investigation plans that were requested September 29.
• November 20, 2006, a revised health and safety plan was submitted by the respondent for review by TCEQ.
• December 8, 2006, the respondent was provided comments on the proposed field sampling plan.
• January 9, 2007, the respondent was provided an outline of a general plan to continue with the remedial investigation.
• January 24, 2007, representatives of TCEQ and the respondent met to discuss site clearing, resumption of groundwater monitoring and off-site waste characterization.
• March 21, 2007, TCEQ approved the final statement of work (SOW), health and safety plan, field sampling plan, and the quality assurance project plan as submitted by the respondent for the groundwater sampling and analysis.
• March 23, 2007, the respondent completed groundwater sampling and analysis of four on-site monitor wells.
• June 1, 2007, groundwater monitoring was completed on 14 wells.
• July 2007, Stormwater investigation was conducted by ASARCO Master, Inc., adjacent to the I-610 off-ramp to Market Street. Pumping and control of stormwater was initiated by ASARCO Master, Inc., through Garner Environmental Services.
• August 2007, stormwater investigation and control was ongoing.
• September 2007, a work plan to initiate waste removal was received, reviewed and approved by the TCEQ. The work plan was submitted by EnergySolutions on behalf of ASARCO Master, Inc.
• October 2, 2007, a public meeting was held to inform interested parties of the upcoming waste removal action.
• May 5, 2008, current phase of excavation, in the landfill, is expected to be complete by late summer 2008.  Discussions for additional site work are on-going.  Phase II evaluation will be necessary to remove any additional buried waste and to address groundwater contamination. - Additional investigations has been conducted in the production area to determine the site's hydro-geology and the extent of contamination, the reports are still pending. - ASARCO Master is still in negotiations with the TCEQ and the attorney general's office.

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E-mail: superfnd@tceq.state.tx.us if you have questions.