Region 8
Serving Colorado, Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Utah, Wyoming and 27 Tribal Nations
Superfund Program
National Information
Regional Information
Site Information
National Priorities List (NPL) History
Proposed Date
2/07/1992
Final Date
Not Known
Smeltertown/Koppers
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Site Type: Active NPL City: Salida County: Chaffee Street Address: 9000 County Road #152 Zip Code: 81201 EPA ID#: COD983769738 Site ID#: 0801085 Site Aliases: Arkansas Valley Smelter, Cozinco, Koppers Salida, Trinchera Timber Co. Congressional District: 3rd |
Site Description
A lead/zinc smelter operated on the Smeltertown Site (the "site") near Salida CO from the turn of the century until about 1920. During the operations, wastes were dumped along the banks of the Arkansas River. Contaminants included arsenic, cadmium, copper, lead, manganese and zinc.
Beginning in 1924, wood treatment occurred at the site. Creosote and possibly pentachlorophenol were allowed to drip onto the ground after the lumber was treated. Creosote contaminated soils were removed from the site in 1986 and 1992.
The southeastern portion of the site is occupied by the Colorado Zinc Company (the "CoZinCo") industrial facility that manufactures zinc sulfate soil amendment/animal feed by treating metallic galvanizing wastes called "skimmings" with 94 percent sulfuric acid. Areas of contamination include several drum piles, sludge disposal and storage areas, and two wastewater lagoons.
A majority of the western and central portion of the site is currently owned by the Butala Construction Co., a gravel-mining and processing business. E&R Trucking, Inc., a now-defunct tractor-trailer freight company, bought the remainder of the property. The smokestack, located on E&R Trucking's property, was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1976 and is currently an attraction for tourists.
Adjacent to CoZinCo on the southwest is the Glacier View Peat Co., a drying and packaging facility for mined peat. West and southwest of CoZinCo and Glacier Peat are five residences and a small apartment building. South of CoZinCo and Glacier Peat is the Salida Salvage Yard, an automotive-parts recycler. East of CoZinCo and the Salvage Yard is the community of Kortz, which has about 20 homes. The site was proposed for the National Priorities List (the "NPL") in February 1992.
Site Risk
Three different industrial activities -- smelting, wood treating and zinc-sulfate manufacturing -- left contamination on 120 acres bordering the scenic Arkansas River in a rural area near Salida CO. State and federal agencies are working to clean up the site with each of the companies responsible for the contamination.
| Media Affected | Contaminants | Source of Contamination |
| groundwater, soil, surface water, solid waste | Arsenic, cadmium, copper, lead, manganese, zinc, pentachlorophenol, creosote | Smelting, wood-treating, zinc-sulfate manufacturing |
Cleanup Progress
The site's first Five Year Review was completed on September 28, 2005. The site has been divided into three Operable Units (the "OU") that are directly associated with the source activities and contaminants associated with each of the three industrial practices. The OUs allow the investigation to be focused on distinct contaminants and feasible cleanup technologies related to particular contaminants.
The central portion of the site has been identified as OU1. It includes contamination from a former lead, copper, silver and gold smelter operated by the Ohio and Colorado Smelting and Refining Company from 1902 to 1919. The smelting operations ceased in 1920, and the smelter was dismantled over the next 10 years. Ultimately, the site was cleared of all but three structures: two buildings and a 365-foot smokestack.
OU1 investigations have been completed, and a cleanup decision was documented in an Action Memorandum dated September 27, 1996. Clean up work began on June 9, 2003 and was completed on September 18, 2003. First, existing concrete foundations and structural debris were demolished and buried at the bottom of a waste pile consolidation area created by a removal in the early 1990s by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (the "EPA"). Next, the entire waste pile consolidation area, about six acres, was regraded to promote drainage. Contaminated materials lying outside the consolidation area were removed and placed inside. A two-foot clean soil cover was placed over the entire waste pile consolidation area and revegetated, fertilized and seeded with native perennial grass and plant species suitable for the project site. A new well was also installed for post-construction monitoring that will be conducted over five years. The Phelps Dodge Corporation (the "PDC") has documented -- and EPA and the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment (the "CDPHE"). CDPHE have confirmed -- that all work met or exceeded design requirements. A final Walk-Through and Certified Inspection were completed on November 21, 2003. A Final Close-Out Report for OU1 was signed on April 6, 2004.
The western portion of the site, identified as OU2, includes contamination from a series of railroad tie-treating companies from 1924 to 1953. The most recent wood-treating company to operate at the site is Koppers, Inc., which is now Beazer East, Inc.
Beazer East analyzed several viable cleanup alternatives. Under the site's current industrial use, EPA and CDPHE concluded that human health was not at risk. However, an unacceptable risk would be posed by OU2 under a future residential scenario or under a future mining scenario. Therefore, the selected remedy requires that land use for OU2 be restricted to nonresidential, prohibits mining within the source areas, and requires monitoring of wood-treating constituents in groundwater to verify that they do not migrate beyond their current location. Remedial construction for OU2 was completed in May, 2002. This OU is in use as a gravel mining and processing business.
The eastern portion of the site has been identified as OU3 and contains contamination from the operating CoZinCo manufacturing facility. This Operable Unit was cleaned up under the state RCRA Corrective Action Order.
Community Involvement
The Smeltertown site is currently under what is called operations and maintenance (the "O&M"). EPA and CDPHE are monitoring the site to ensure that the potentially responsible parties (the "PRP")-- Beazer East and Phelps Dodge -- properly manage and maintain the cleanup remedies.
Site Documents
Note: some of the following documents are VERY LARGE Adobe Acrobat PDF files
About PDF files
Five-Year Review September 28, 2005 (PDF, 51 pages,15MB)
Five-Year Review Annual Update December 2008 (PDF, 4 pages, 40K)
Final Removal Action Close Out Report OU1 -- March 31, 2004
Contacts
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (US EPA)
1595 Wynkoop Street
EPR-SR
Denver, Colorado 80202-1129
Kathie Atencio
Environmental Scientist
U.S. EPA Region 8 (EPR-SR)
1595 Wynkoop Street
Denver, CO 80202-1129
(303) 312-6803 or
1-800-227-8917 ext. 6803 (Reg. 8 only)
E-mail: atencio.kathie@epa.gov
Martin O'Grady
Hazardous Material & Waste Management Division
Colorado Department of Public Health and the Environment (CDPHE)
4300 Cherry Creek Drive South
Denver, Colorado 80246
1-888-569-1831 ext. 3366
Information Repository (to obtain relevant site documents)
Salida Public Library
405 E Street
Salida, CO 81201