Former Universal Recycling

Site Narrative

• Requested by the Fairbanks North Star Borough

DEC conducted a Brownfield Assessment in 2004, which encompassed a Phase I and limited Phase II environmental site assessment. Also in 2004, the Borough got an EPA Brownfield Assessment Grant to complete the Phase II (more in-depth) assessment. But the need to clean up a large amount of debris on site prevented completion of the assessment work. A waste disposal plan was developed which estimated cleanup costs would be $604,000. Funding for this cleanup project includes a $200,000 EPA cleanup grant with a local match of $40,000, a borough appropriation of $182,000, and a borough tipping fee deferral of up to $182,000. Once the debris is completely removed from the site, the borough will then be able to finish the assessment under the EPA Brownfield Assessment Grant.

DEC received the Final Cleanup Report for the property in December 2009. According to the report numerous waste streams and debris were removed from the property. A 10,000-gallon tank, 7 plastic totes of lead-acid batteries were disposed of properly. A total of 52 supersacks of contaminated soil and ash were disposed of by Emerald as non-hazardous wastes. At the completion of the assessment activities, two locations had contaminant concentrations above DEC cleanup levels. Nortech excavated soil in these two areas: six supersacks of soil was excavated from the former surface ash area and one primary sample and a field duplicate were collected from the limits of the excavation. The metals and dioxin concentrations at this location were below DEC cleanup levels. Three supersacks of soil were excavated from the southern end of the concrete cutout. One sample was collected from the limits of the excavation. The dioxin concentrations were below DEC cleanup levels. No additional excavation or sampling was considered necessary or recommended to address these areas.

A cleanup complete determination was issued in 2010.