American Chemical Service, Inc.
Location: Griffith, Lake County.
EPA lists the street address as 420 South Colfax, Griffith.
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Background
From 1955 to 1975, American Chemical Service, Inc. (ACS) engaged in solvent recovery, chemical manufacturing and waste disposal. They also reconditioned chemical drums.
What Went Wrong
ACS activities resulted in releases of toxic chemicals to soil and groundwater. Released chemicals included benzene, chloromethane, creosote, heavy metals, PCBs, pentachlorophenol, pesticides, phthalates, toluene, xylenes, vinyl chloride and many others.
What's Been Done About It
Buried drums containing chemicals found at the site were incinerated elsewhere. Parts of nearby wetlands were excavated to remove toxic chemicals, and those chemicals were consolidated with other site-related chemicals. A barrier wall was installed to contain wastes left on site. A groundwater treatment system pumps groundwater from below the site and removes toxic chemicals. EPA has limited access to, and use of, the site. Cleanup activities are ongoing.
More Information
The information about American Chemical Service on EcoIndiana is an attempt to provide a reasonably accurate but very brief summary of what's happened at this Superfund site, as reported by US EPA. There is far more information available from other sources, including those described below.
EPA maintains several web pages with additional information about this site. The EPA home page for American Chemical Service is at https://cumulis.epa.gov/supercpad/cursites/csitinfo.cfm?id=0501373
There are also documents related to American Chemical Service available in IDEM's Virtual File Cabinet (VFC). When searching VFC for documents related to American Chemical Service, choose Advanced Search and enter 7500009 in the Site Number search field.