What? What the heck are you talking about Amy?
Well…let’s go back to the early 1940’s, to Fontana, California. Ah…Fontana, now you’re talking about something I’m familiar with…the California Speedway, right? Right…well, sort of…
The Kaiser Steel Resources facility, located on 880 acres in Fontana, California, was Southern California’s leading producer of steel and steel related products for more than 40 years. This steel mill was the country’s only integrated steel mill located west of the Rockies, and supplied steel for WWII shipyards. It was the city’s primary source of jobs and revenue.
In 1983 the Kaiser Steel Corporation (KSC) went bankrupt – and after years of success, the mill was shut down permanently, resulting in thousands of workers being laid off. The mill remained abandoned for the next 10 years.
Okay, I give up…what the heck does this have to do with the California Speedway? Be patient, we’re getting there…
In 1985, due to an environmental assessment conducted by J. M. Montgomery at the request of KSC, both the Department of Toxic Substances Control (DTSC) and the United States Environmental Protection Agency became involved with the site in an effort to identify areas of contamination. Contamination? Yes…while the steel was being produced, there were lots and lots of by products that needed to be dealt with, things like arsenic, chromium and lead to mention a few.
Operable Unit 2 (OU-2): a portion of the acreage located in the north central portion of the former steel mill site, and where the California Speedway sits today. Also referred to as the Byproducts area, it included a lime sludge lagoon (water treatment); coke(the residue left by distilled materials) quenching sumps; slag (the scum that forms on the surface of molten metal) quenching pits; blast furnace gas washer; water sludge beds; filter cake storage areas; and an ore handling area. And no I don’t know what all that stuff is but it sounds kind of creepy. The By-products area was where coke was processed to produce other materials of potential value. This area was found to contain elevated soil concentrations of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons and volatile organic compounds. Um…what the heck are all those things?? Well, they all work together to produce steel.
So are you telling me that the California Speedway is contaminated? No, but I do believe the land it’s sitting on was a major mess before the DTSC and the EPA stepped in. Once the tests and evaluations were conducted, it was time to get things fixed up. Remedial actions included construction of a 14-acre synthetic membrane cap, in-situ soil vapor extraction, soil excavation, on-site soil treatment, off-site disposal of over 7,000 cubic yards of impacted soil, and treatment of 21,000 tons of residuals from air pollution control systems.
After the cap and vapor extraction system were installed in 1995, DTSC issued a site certification letter, stating that all necessary remedial work at the site was complete. The site has been redeveloped into The California Speedway. Any excavation or subsurface work that disturbs the soil at any depth requires the approval of DTSC and ongoing quarterly groundwater monitoring and annual inspections of the cap.
Oh, and it’s okay to build a Speedway there, but not okay to build a school, day care, hospital, homes…you know, places where people might actually hang out for more than a little while.
So what about the folks that have worked somewhere around 265 days or so a year for the past…oh, ten years or so? Hmmm…you’ve got me, but wouldn’t you like to know?
Why did I want to know all this stuff anyway? Remember when we were there last time and it had rained and the race was delayed because of those weird “weepers” and how they kept sneaking up over and over? I wanted to know why the water was coming back up … maybe it’s something to do with that cap thing they put over the contaminated stuff…keeps the water from soaking in too fast. Then again it could just be the California dry desert like ground around there. I’m not a scientist, just a curious fan.
http://www.envirostor.dtsc.ca.gov That’s where I stumbled upon most of the data you just read…fascinating site and wow, do they have their jobs cut out for them…cleaning up other people’s messes.
Hey, I wonder if they are all “Mom’s” that work there?
NOTE: I'm a one man show, not supported by anyone. If you wish to donate to help offset expense, it would be appreciated:
BACK TO FRONT PAGE<
ABOUT CSD
