EPA RCRA ID: MID064197742
On this page:
- Latest News
- Cleanup Status
- Facility Description
- Contaminants at this Facility
- Institutional/Engineer Controls
- Enforcement and Compliance
- Related Information
- Contacts for this Facility
Latest News
November 8, 2024
On November 8, 2024, EPA responded to the 60% Basis of Design dated March 4, 2024 for the BASF North Works Site in Wyandotte, MI. The 60% BOD is an intermediate design document that builds off the previously selected 30% BOD for a comprehensive groundwater interim measure. The details of this comprehensive groundwater interim measure were presented in the August 23, 2023, Virtual Public Meeting and a copy of the slides are available under “Documents, Photos, and Graphics” on this webpage. EPA’s response by letter is ahead of the original schedule in the 60% Design timeline of December 6, 2024. In the letter, certain submittals are due on March 30, 2025, with all responses to be incorporated into the 95% Design submittal on the due date of August 11, 2025.
EPA has posted the letter responding to the 60% BOD document to this website under “Documents, Photos, and Graphics”.
Cleanup Status
The BASF North Works facility (Site) has been investigated to identify contaminants of concern requiring cleanup of the Site. Environmental investigations at the facility date back to the 1980s. Soil samples and groundwater samples were analyzed as part of the environmental investigations at the Site. Results of the investigation identified metals, SVOCs, and VOCs as contaminants of concern (COC) requiring cleanup. Additional recent investigations lead by Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy (EGLE) identified the presence of PFAS at the Site. EPA, in coordination with EGLE, will incorporate PFAS as a COC for any future remedies. A groundwater pump and treat system is in place as a requirement of a Consent Order with EGLE, which addresses some of the contaminated on-site groundwater. It does not control all the groundwater from venting into the Detroit River.
The RCRA Facility Investigation (RFI) was conducted to determine the nature and extent of contamination at the Site. The initial investigations evaluated contamination associated with the site Solid Waste Management Units (SWMUs) and Areas of Concern (AOCs). The RFI was approved in 1998 with comments and a revised RFI was submitted in 1999. Supplemental investigations were completed in the 2000s. In 2015, a Corrective Measures Study (CMS) was submitted. The EPA denied the CMS and in 2018 directed BASF to collect the data needed to develop comprehensive proposals for alternative remedies based on a site-wide perimeter barrier to contain contaminated groundwater and sediment on-site and design systems to treat that groundwater prior to any discharge to adjacent property or the Detroit River. BASF is implementing workplans approved in 2020 to collect the data needed to submit the alternative remedies proposal. As part of the approved workplans, BASF has completed additional evaluation of the on-site utility and subsurface structures, geotechnical investigations and evaluations, hydraulic testing, bench-scale testing, groundwater modeling, and laboratory treatability testing.
Upcoming Cleanup Milestones
EPA is currently working with BASF as they prepare the 60% Design, which is currently projected to be submitted to EPA for review in spring 2024.
Sediments
Sediments in the Upper Trenton Channel (UTC) of the Detroit River adjacent to the Site are currently being addressed through a collaborative project with the USEPA Great Lakes National Program Office (GLNPO) under a Great Lakes Legacy Act (GLLA) Project (co-funded). BASF is a project partner to GLNPO in that effort, in coordination with the USEPA RCRA program.
Cleanup Actions or environmental indicators characterizing the entire facility are shown below. It is not intended as an extensive list of milestones/activities. This listing, and all the data on this page, come from EPA’s RCRAInfo and are refreshed nightly to this page. For this table and the Cleanup Activities Pertaining to a Portion of the Facility table that follows, a blank in the Status column could mean the action either has not occurred or has not been reported in RCRAInfo.
Cleanup Activities Pertaining to the Entire Facility
| Action | Status | Date of Action |
|---|---|---|
| Human Exposure Under Control Human Exposure Under Control(CA725) | ||
| Groundwater Migration Under ControlGroundwater Migration Under Control (CA750) | ||
| Remedy DecisionRemedy Decision (CA400) | ||
| Remedy ConstructionRemedy Construction (CA550) | ||
| Ready for Anticipated Use Ready for Anticipated Use (CA800) | ||
| Performance Standards AttainedPerformance Standards Attained (CA900) | ||
| Corrective Action Process TerminatedCorrective Action Process Terminated (CA999) |
For definitions of the terms used, hover over or click on the term.
Cleanup Activities Pertaining to a Portion of the Facility
| Action | Area Name | Date of Action |
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For definitions of the terms used, hover over or click on the term.
Facility Description
The facility occupies about 230 acres and is in Wyandotte, Michigan bounded to the east by the Detroit River. The site has been used for a variety of industrial operations since the 1800s.
The site is currently an industrial property that manufactures chemicals and other products. The site boundary with the Detroit River is approximately 5,800 feet. Existing infrastructure along the river includes the following:
- An approximately 4,800-foot-long oak wakefield wall extending from the northern property boundary to the south. This supports an overhanging concrete dock. Construction of the wakefield wall began in the early 1900s.
- An approximately 3,400-foot-long steel sheet pile wall, overlapping the existing wakefield wall in the northern part of the site. The steel sheet pile wall was installed in the 1990s.
- An approximately 800-foot-long section of rip rap south of the wakefield wall.
Approximately 50% of the facility is developed with buildings, paved streets, parking lots, tank farms, and docks. Former site features have been demolished, but concrete and foundation surfaces remain.
Prior to development of the area, the site was originally a marshland of the Detroit River. The marshland was drained, and fill was added in the late 1800s and early 1900s to facilitate site development activities. The fill consisted primarily of chemical waste produced by the on-Site chemical manufacturing processes. Sources of the fill varies widely and thus, so do its geologic and hydrologic properties. Bedrock is approximately 70 feet below ground surface and is composed of limestone and dolomite. Regional groundwater flow in the area is toward the Detroit River. The Detroit River connects Lake St. Clair to Lake Erie. Within the sand layer there is a groundwater divide in the northern third of the Site. This Site has complex geologic and hydrologic conditions with widespread groundwater contamination that requires management on a site-wide basis. Additionally, complex subsurface infrastructure at the site requires extra attention to site stability in remedial designs.
Contaminants at this Facility
Compounds and parameters present in groundwater samples collected from some downgradient perimeter monitoring wells at concentrations greater than the generic groundwater to surface water interface (GSI) criteria included:
- VOCs: benzene, vinyl chloride, acetone, 1,2,4-trimethylbenzene, chlorobenzene, ethylbenzene, naphthalene, and total xylenes
- SVOCs: bis(2-chloroethyl)ether, bis(2-ethylhexyl)phthalate, fluoranthene, naphthalene, phenanthrene, 2-methylnaphthalene, carbazole, and dibenzofuran
- Metals: mercury, vanadium, selenium, and arsenic
- Available cyanide
- 4,4-dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane (4,4-DDT)
- pH
- PFAS
Institutional and Engineering Controls at this Facility
The BASF North works is an active operating industrial facility that manufactures chemicals and other products. Land use is not expected to change in the foreseeable future. Long term controls will be a component of the cleanup remedy at the Site to ensure no unreasonable risk to human health or the environment is maintained in the future.
Institutional and Engineering Controls help ensure human exposure and groundwater migration are under control at a cleanup facility. Where control types have been reported by states and EPA in EPA’s RCRAInfo, they are shown below. Not all control types are needed at all facilities, and some facilities do not require any controls. Where there are blanks, the control types may not be needed, may not be in place, or may not be reported in RCRAInfo.
Are Controls in Place at this Facility?
|
Control(s) Type |
Control(s) in Place? |
Areas Subject to Control(s) |
Documents available on-line: |
|
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Institutional ControlsNon-engineering controls used to restrict land use or land access in order to protect people and the environment from exposure to hazardous substances remaining in the site/or facility. (CA 772) |
Informational DevicesInformational Devices (ID) |
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Governmental Controls (GC) |
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Enforcement and Permit Tools (EP) |
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| Proprietary ControlsProprietary Controls (PR) | ||||
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Engineering ControlsEngineering measures designed to minimize the potential for human exposure to contamination by either limiting direct contact with contaminated areas or controlling migration of contaminants. (CA 770) |
Groundwater ControlGroundwater Control (GW) |
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Non-Groundwater |
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For definitions of the terms used, hover over or click on the term.
Enforcement and Compliance at this Facility
BASF entered an administrative order on consent with the EPA in 1994 which requires site-wide corrective action be completed at the Site.
RCRA Enforcement and Compliance Reports from ECHO
Related Information
For more information about this facility, see these other EPA links:
- RCRA information in EPA’s Envirofacts database
- Information about this facility submitted to EPA under different environmental programs as reported in EPA’s Facility Registry Services
- Alternative Names for this facility as reported by EPA programs in EPA’s Facility Registry Services
- Cleanups in My Community provides an interactive map to see EPA cleanups in context with additional data, and lists for downloading data
- Search RCRA Corrective Action Sites provides a search feature for Corrective Action Sites
Or this external link to information about the facility:
- Facility web site (EXIT EPA) [Optional: Add a link to the facility's web site, or delete the external link reference here.
Contacts for this Facility
US EPA Project Manager for the Facility is Valerie Voisin, ([email protected]), 312-886-5877.
All of the states in EPA Region 5 are authorized to implement Corrective Action Programs. As of the end of Fiscal Year 2015, EPA Region 5 had 864 sites listed on the 2020 Corrective Action Baseline.
For further information on this corrective action site, use the Contact Information for Corrective Action Hazardous Waste Clean Ups listings that are accessible through Corrective Action Programs around the Nation.
Documents, Photos, and Graphics