The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Buffalo District, has released the Record of Decision for Operable Unit (OU) 1 and OU-2, Former Harshaw Chemical Company Site.
The 55-acre former Harshaw Chemical Company Site, which is located at 1000 Harvard Avenue in Cleveland, Cuyahoga County, Ohio, is being addressed under the Formerly Utilized Sites Remedial Action Program (FUSRAP).
Responses to public comments received on the proposed plan are available in the Responsiveness Summary portion of the document. The document is available at: https://www.lrb.usace.army.mil/Missions/HTRW/FUSRAP/Harshaw-Site/ in the Reports section. A fact sheet summarizing the document is available in the Fact Sheet section.
The record of decision identifies the selected remedies to address FUSRAP-related soil contamination in OU-1 and OU-2 at the Harshaw Site. The selected remedy for OU-1 is Complete Excavation and Off-Site Disposal using industrial remediation goals based on an industrial reasonable future land use. The selected remedy for OU-2 is Complete Excavation and Off-Site Disposal using residential remediation goals based on a residential reasonable future land use.
The selected remedies involve complete excavation of FUSRAP-impacted soils exceeding their respective applicable or relevant and appropriate requirement-based remediation goals, transportation and off-site disposal of soils, confirmatory sampling, and site restoration. Both alternatives will be protective of human health and the environment, comply with applicable or relevant and appropriate requirements, are cost effective, and use permanent solutions and alternative treatment technologies or resource recovery technologies to the maximum extent practicable. Based on public comments received on the proposed plan the following elements were added to the selected remedy for OU-1. All private utilities encountered during the execution of the selected remedy will be decommissioned and sealed to prevent the migration of residual uranium in groundwater. Public utilities encountered during remediation will be left in place and backfilled with amended material to minimize the migration of groundwater and uranium transport along the utility trenching.
The next step for the Harshaw Site in the CERCLA process is remedial design/remedial action. In 2022 the Buffalo District will prepare a contract for the cleanup. If sufficient funds are available in the fiscal year 2022 funding bill, the Buffalo District will award the contract. A 2022 contract award would allow the cleanup to begin in 2023.
The Corps of Engineers is the lead federal agency for FUSRAP and conducts FUSRAP projects in accordance with the governing federal law – the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA), 42 U.S.C. § 9601 et. seq., as amended, and the National Oil and Hazardous Substances Pollution Contingency Plan, 40 CFR 300.
Documents supporting the CERCLA process for the site are located in the Administrative Record for the former Harshaw Chemical Company Site, which is available for review in the Cuyahoga County Library, Brooklyn Branch, 4480 Ridge Road, Brooklyn, Ohio 44144, and at the Cleveland Public Library, 325 Superior Avenue, N.E., Cleveland, Ohio 44114. Additional information regarding the site is available at: https://www.lrb.usace.army.mil/Missions/HTRW/FUSRAP/Harshaw-Site/. If members of the public have questions about the site, they can email fusrap@usace.army.mil or call our toll-free telephone number, 1-800-833-6390 (option 4).
The former Harshaw Chemical Company was contracted by the Manhattan Engineer District and later the Atomic Energy Commission to support the Nation’s early atomic weapons program. From 1944 to 1959, various forms of uranium were processed at the Harshaw Site and sent to Oak Ridge, Tennessee, for further processing. The site was included in FUSRAP in spring 2001 for further characterization of FUSRAP-related contaminants.