WPSC Campmarina MGP Site

Site Information

Sheboygan, WI (Sheboygan County)
EPA ID# WIN000510058
This site is not on the NPL; it is a Superfund Alternative Site (SAS)
SAS Fact Sheet
CERCLIS listing
Alias(es): N/A
Photos

More photos from August 2011 tour

Contact Information

Community Involvement Coordinator
Susan Pastor (pastor.susan@epa.gov)
312-353-1325 or 800-621-8431, ext. 31325

Remedial Project Manager
Pablo Valentin (valentin.pablo@epa.gov)
312-353-2886 or 800-621-8431, ext. 32886

Assistant Regional Counsel
Richard Nagle (nagle.richard@epa.gov)
312-353-8222 or 800-621-8431, ext. 38222

Repositories

(where to view written records)

Mead Public Library
710 N. 8th St.
Sheboygan, WI

Links

Sheboygan River Area of Concern

Sheboygan River and Harbor Superfund site

Links for Wisconsin former MGPs

Background

The 1-1/2-acre Wisconsin Public Service Corp. Campmarina manufactured gas plant site is located at 732 N. Water St., Sheboygan, Wis. on the north bank of the Sheboygan River. Currently, it is used as a park and marina with a river walk located immediately adjacent to the river shoreline.

WPSC owned and operated the gas plant from 1872 to 1929 in an area that was historically industrial. Processes included coal carbonization and carbureted water gas. Today, the city of Sheboygan currently owns the property.

Manufactured Gas Plants (MGPs)

Learn about MGPs

EPA Region 5 is working on former MGPs in Wisconsin and Illinois.

A Community Advisory Group (CAG) is one way the community can get involved. Learn more about CAGs

Site Updates | News Releases | Fact Sheets || Technical Documents || Legal Agreements

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Site Updates

Great Lakes Legacy Act

The Sheboygan River and Harbor Site and the Wisconsin Public Service Corporation Campmarina Manufactured Gas Plant Site are being cleaned up under the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Superfund program. The EPA is also using Great Lakes Legacy Act funds to clean up additional areas in the Sheboygan River that are outside the jurisdiction of the Superfund program. The Legacy Act is designed to tackle the problem of “legacy” sediment contamination. At least 35 percent of Legacy Act project costs must come from state, local or private sponsors. At the Sheboygan sites, the non-federal funds are coming from Wisconsin DNR, city of Sheboygan, Sheboygan County and WPSC. Superfund cleanup work may be counted toward the nonfederal cost share for the Legacy Act cleanup.

August 2011

EPA’s cleanup of the Campmarina site is being done under the agency’s emergency response program. Wisconsin Public Service Corp., the company responsible for the contamination, has completed the construction of an underwater barrier called a coffer dam and is doing “wet excavation” with a backhoe on a barge to dig up contaminated sediment. Work is ongoing from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m., Monday-Saturday.

Trailers serving as temporary offices, contractors wearing protective clothing, and noisy, heavy equipment will be visible in the harbor area and city park along the shoreline for the rest of the year. Air quality is regularly monitored. WPSC is also removing contaminated soil from the shoreline toward Boat Island. For safety reasons, the city park is closed. EPA is overseeing the company’s work. This phase of the project is being treated as a “time-critical removal” and is detailed in a document called an Action Memorandum (PDF) (53PP, 4.56MB).

EPA also will have WPSC restore the shoreline. The cleanup should be completed by the end of the year with restoration to follow using Great Lakes Legacy Act funding. The Great Lakes Legacy Act is administered by EPA’s Great Lakes National Program Office (see box above).

At the Campmarina site, the main pollutant is polynuclear aromatic hydrocarbons, known as PAHs which is present in what EPA calls NAPL, or non-aqueous phase liquid. NAPL does not mix with water.

An investigation of the Sheboygan River in relation to Campmarina began in 2008 to find out how much PAH and PCB contamination is at the site. Results are detailed in a document called a remedial investigation report.

All of the work to date has been done under a legal agreement called a consent order which was signed by Integrys and EPA in January 2007. The “time-critical” project is being done under a second consent order (PDF)(7.19MB, 107pp) dated June 2011. A proposed cleanup plan for the river is scheduled for summer 2012. This proposed plan, which will be available for public review and comment, will lead to a final cleanup plan which will verify that the PAH cleanup has been completed.
Integrys signed a separate agreement in May 2006 to investigate six other sites in Manitowoc, Green Bay, Oshkosh, Two Rivers, Stevens Point and Marinette.

The upland portion of the site was cleaned up according to a state-issued decision in 2002. That cleanup included excavation and off-site thermal treatment of 10,500 tons of soil (which was beneficially reused on site), site grading, material management, disposal of debris, and a containment system. The containment system consists of a vertical sheet pile barrier wall around the edge of the site with an engineered geosynthetic (heavy plastic) cover over the surface. A "biosparge" system injects air through underground pipes to enhance the natural breakdown of contaminants within the containment barrier.