Northwestern Barrel Superfund Site

Site Information

South Milwaukee, WI (Milwaukee County)
EPA ID# WID981095995
CERCLIS listing
Aliases: Marina Cliffs Barrel Dump, Northwestern Barrel

Contact Information

Community Involvement Coordinator
Heriberto León (leon.heriberto@epa.gov)
312-886-6163 or 800-621-8431, ext. 66163

Remedial Project Manager
Shari Kolak(kolak.shari@epa.gov)
312-886-6151

State
Andy Boettcher (boetta@dnr.state.wi.us), Hydrogeologist
WI Dept. of Natural Resources
414-263-8541

Health
Henry Nehls-Lowe (nehlshl@dnfs.state.wi.us), Epidemiologist
Dept. of Health & Family Svcs.
608-266-3479

Jackie Ove (ove@ci.south-milwaukee.wi.us ), Public health Administrator
South Milwaukee Health Dept.
414-768-8055

Repositories

(where to view written records)

South Milwaukee Public Library
1907 10th Avenue
South Milwaukee, WI 53172-2003

Links

EPA Superfund Home Page
Region 5 Superfund
Agency for Toxic Substances & Disease Registry

Background

South Milwaukee is home to the Northwestern Barrel site, which is 13 acres of vacant land on the Lake Michigan shoreline. A barrel reconditioning facility operated on the property from the early 1940s until 1964. Residuals from the cleaning and refurbishing resulted in extensive contamination of the soil with a variety of compounds, including lead, volatile organic compounds (chemicals such as solvents) and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs). Ground water has been contaminated. The site is currently owned by Towne Realty. The site is surrounded on three sides by condominiums and apartment complexes, some of which were built on the former property. Extensive investigation and cleanup has taken place on residential properties.

Site Updates || News Releases | Fact Sheets | Technical Documents || Legal Documents || Public Meetings

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Site Updates (view more)

March 2012

EPA is working with the companies doing the cleanup to ensure that the required tasks are completed before we can deem the entire site clean. There are two cleanup areas in this site. One portion is the Marina Cliffs Condominium, the other is the vacant land east of the condos owned by Towne Realty.

The remaining actions on the condominium portion consist of:

testing air inside the units to verify that the fans placed to vent any vapors are working properly
making sure that an agreement is in place for future inspections and maintenance of the fans
placing the site on the state of Wisconsin’s Geographic Information System registry

The remaining actions on the vacant land consist of:

closing any remaining on-site monitoring wells
removing perimeter fencing
placing the site on the state’s GIS registry
signing EPA’s legal document.

Once these actions are completed the EPA can issue a Notice of Completion and the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources can issue a No Further Action letter—thereby officially closing out the site. Site closure means that no further cleanup actions are needed. The companies responsible for the cleanup are BASF, S.C. Johnson & Sons, PPG, 3M, Daimler Chrysler, Mautz Paint, and General Motors.