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U.S. EPA TO HOLD PUBLIC MEETING ON SPARKS SOLVENT/FUEL SITE

Release Date: 7/18/1995
Contact Information: Paula Bruin, U.S. EPA, (415) 744-1587

  (San Francisco)-- The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
(U.S. EPA) today announced that it will hold a public meeting
July 20 to discuss cleanup activities at the Sparks Solvent/Fuel
site in Sparks, Nev. The meeting will be held at 7 p.m. at the
Edward C. Reed High School, 1350 Baring Blvd.

     Representatives from U.S. EPA, the State of Nevada, Washoe
County, and the Sparks Terminal Railyard Group will give a
presentation on the status of the cleanup project and answer
questions.

     The Sparks/Solvent Fuel site, which includes the Sparks Tank
Farm and Southern Pacific Rail Yard, is located adjacent to U.S.
Interstate 80 in southeastern Sparks, Nevada. An initial large-
scale assessment of the site found that about five million
gallons of hydrocarbons from fuel leaks or spills are floating on
the groundwater beneath the site, and that the groundwater is
contaminated with solvents that would make it unsafe for
drinking, although it is not used for drinking water now.

     In 1991, U.S. EPA issued orders to 10 companies to perform
investigative and cleanup activities. The companies formed the
Sparks Terminal Railyard Group and submitted a removal action
plan, which was approved by U.S. EPA in 1992. To date, the group
has completed nearly all the elements of this plan, which
includes: evaluating the condition of storage tanks and piping;
identifying other potential sources of petroleum and solvents;
developing a computer-based model of the groundwater and a design
of a remedial cleanup system, and determining the extent of soil
contamination.

    The last phase of the plan, the construction of a site-wide
cleanup system, will be completed this fall.

    The remedial plan is designed to ensure that no public
drinking water supplies are affected by the contamination and
that no solvents or petroleum products enter the Truckee River.

    No public drinking water supplies have been affected by this
contamination. The Truckee River, which flows about a mile from
the tank farm, is free of contaminants from the site.

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