EPA RCRA ID: MID005356712
On this page:
- Cleanup Status
- Land Reuse Information
- Facility Description
- Contaminants at this Facility
- Institutional/Engineer Controls
- Enforcement and Compliance
- Related Information
- Contacts for this Facility
Cleanup Status
Oversight of cleanup activities at this facility transferred from EPA to Michigan’s Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy (EGLE) in 2020. RACER handles the site cleanup under the 2020 Corrective Action Consent Order between EGLE and RACER. In addition, the Settlement Agreement approved by the Court on March 3, 2011 puts the responsibility on the RACER Trust to clean up the site.
Please refer to the EGLE’s website for information about the status of the cleanup.
SOUTH END: Corrective measures are now being applied per the Final Decision and Response to Comments (Final Decision) for the South end of the Site issued on May 13, 2010. Remedial Activities implemented to date are:
- A Multiphase Extraction system at Area of Investigation - 9B has removed 137 gallons of Light Non-Aqueous Phase and 3,484 pounds of vapor removed.
- LNAPL plumes are present throughout the site and each plume is currently being studied to determine how to fix each.
- Soil was dug up at AOI - 09A in areas high in lead and benzo(a)pyrene concentrations.
- Surface covers in select areas were completed in order to protect future site users from soils near the surface that are higher than direct contact standards. These are inspected quarterly.
- Storm water diversion and treatment systems were constructed to remove oil from storm sewer systems.
NORTH END: A Remedy Recommendation Report for the North end was submitted to EPA in February 2016 by RACER. An emerging contaminant group known as Per-and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances (PFAS) was subsequently found on-site and off-site in the groundwater and storm water and is being studied to better define where it is and at what concentrations. Regulatory oversight for RCRA Corrective Action at the facility transferred from EPA to EGLE in 2020, and RACER is currently evaluating options for cleaning up the North end of the site under EGLE’s oversight. Proposed remedies will include addressing PFAS contaminants in the short and long term. Additional information on EGLE's website.
Cleanup Actions or environmental indicators characterizing the entire facility are shown below. It is not intended as an extensive list of milestones/activities. This listing, and all the data on this page, come from EPA’s RCRAInfo and are refreshed nightly to this page. For this table and the Cleanup Activities Pertaining to a Portion of the Facility table that follows, a blank in the Status column could mean the action either has not occurred or has not been reported in RCRAInfo.
Cleanup Activities Pertaining to the Entire Facility
| Action | Status | Date of Action |
|---|---|---|
| Human Exposure Under Control Human Exposure Under Control(CA725) | ||
| Groundwater Migration Under ControlGroundwater Migration Under Control (CA750) | ||
| Remedy DecisionRemedy Decision (CA400) | ||
| Remedy ConstructionRemedy Construction (CA550) | ||
| Ready for Anticipated Use Ready for Anticipated Use (CA800) | ||
| Performance Standards AttainedPerformance Standards Attained (CA900) | ||
| Corrective Action Process TerminatedCorrective Action Process Terminated (CA999) |
For definitions of the terms used, hover over or click on the term.
Cleanup Activities Pertaining to a Portion of the Facility
| Action | Area Name | Date of Action |
|---|
For definitions of the terms used, hover over or click on the term.
Land Reuse Information
A 13.7-acre parcel in the North end at the very northern part of the site or “Northern Parcel” was sold by RACER Trust to American Spiral Weld Pipe Company for a pipe manufacturing facility. A 200,000 square foot plant has been built and employed approximately 50 individuals. EPA supplied a comfort letter to American Spiral Weld regarding the Northern Parcel. Additionally, EPA reviewed and approved the remedy for environmental impacts at the Northern Parcel which includes soil excavation and institutional controls for soils and groundwater.
Two parcels at the former Buck City plant were sold to build a new Lear Corporation car seat manufacturing facility which is currently operating with 600 jobs anticipated by the end of 2019. The new Lear factory is built on two parcels, one approximately 16 acres in size for the new Lear factory itself and the other parcel approximately 14 acres used for parking. The parcels are found on the South end of Buick City, the cleanup measures conducted on these specific parcels since the EPA Final Decision include a Multi-Phase Extraction (MPE) system, soils excavation, and surface covers. The EPA cleanup of these parcels allowed for a Declaration of Restrictive Covenant (DRC) on these parcels to be completed in August 2017. The DRC allows Lear Corporation to move forward with their redevelopment plans in a safe manner.
RACER sold a parcel within the South end to Flint Commerce Center, LLC (FCC) in March 2023 and FCC has started construction of a multitenant industrial park on the parcel. FCC plans to buy an additional 273 acres of land for construction of the industrial park. EPA entered into a Prospective Purchaser Agreement (PPA) with FCC that was published in the Federal Register for public comment. The PPA clarifies FCC’s environmental liability at the facility. The public comment period closed on September 13, 2023, and EPA decided not to change or withdraw its consent to the agreement after reviewing the public comments.
Facility Description
Link to a larger, interactive view of the map.
The entire facility is 452 acres located in Flint, Michigan in Genesee County. It is bounded to the north by Stewart Avenue and Pierson Road, to the south by Harriet Street, to the east by James P. Cole Boulevard and CSX Railroad, and to the west by Industrial Avenue and North Street. The North end is approximately 220 acres. It consists of the area north of Leith Street and bounded to the east by CSX Railroad, to the west by Andrews Street and Industrial Avenue, and to the south by Leith Street.
On March 31, 2011, the RACER Trust received all the Properties and approximately $600 million in funding. RACER began the process of remediating and restoring the Properties.
Contaminants at this Facility
Buick City has soil and ground water (underground water supplies) contaminated with various petroleum products, chemicals and metals. Some of the ground water under Buick City has free-floating petroleum product called LNAPL. This which is unusually difficult to remove. Various contaminants have been named at the Site:
- 15 LNAPL areas some with Polychlorinated biphenyls contamination.
- Soils on-site contaminated with metals, and Semi-Volatile Organic Compounds.
- Groundwater contaminated with VOCs, SVOCs and dissolved metals.
- Surface water VOC impacts are also present from storm sewer outfalls.
- PFAS impacts in the groundwater, storm water and sanitary sewers.
These contaminants are being addressed as part of the remedial implementation process for the South end. Remedial measures will be proposed to address the contaminants as part of the North end Statement of Basis.
Institutional and Engineering Controls at this Facility
Proposed institutional controls are restricting land use to industrial/commercial use and restricting groundwater use.
Engineering controls at the site include:
- A Multi-Phase Extraction System.
- Soil excavation, surface covers.
- Plugging of certain storm sewer sections to prevent contamination flow to outfalls.
Surface water and groundwater monitoring, and Outfall 003/004 Oil Removal Systems
Institutional and Engineering Controls help ensure human exposure and groundwater migration are under control at a cleanup facility. Where control types have been reported by states and EPA in EPA’s RCRAInfo, they are shown below. Not all control types are needed at all facilities, and some facilities do not require any controls. Where there are blanks, the control types may not be needed, may not be in place, or may not be reported in RCRAInfo.
Are Controls in Place at this Facility?
|
Control(s) Type |
Control(s) in Place? |
Areas Subject to Control(s) |
Documents available on-line: |
|
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Institutional ControlsNon-engineering controls used to restrict land use or land access in order to protect people and the environment from exposure to hazardous substances remaining in the site/or facility. (CA 772) |
Informational DevicesInformational Devices (ID) |
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Governmental Controls (GC) |
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Enforcement and Permit Tools (EP) |
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| Proprietary ControlsProprietary Controls (PR) | ||||
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Engineering ControlsEngineering measures designed to minimize the potential for human exposure to contamination by either limiting direct contact with contaminated areas or controlling migration of contaminants. (CA 770) |
Groundwater ControlGroundwater Control (GW) |
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Non-Groundwater |
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For definitions of the terms used, hover over or click on the term.
Enforcement and Compliance at this Facility
RACER handles the site cleanup under the 2020 Corrective Action Consent Order between EGLE and RACER. In addition, the Settlement Agreement approved by the Court on March 3, 2011 puts the responsibility on the RACER Trust to clean up the site.
Please refer to the EGLE’s website for information about the status of the cleanup:
RCRA Enforcement and Compliance Reports from ECHO
Related Information
For more information about this facility, see these other EPA links:
- RCRA information in EPA’s Envirofacts database
- Information about this facility submitted to EPA under different environmental programs as reported in EPA’s Facility Registry Services
- Alternative Names for this facility as reported by EPA programs in EPA’s Facility Registry Services
- Cleanups in My Community provides an interactive map to see EPA cleanups in context with additional data, and lists for downloading data
- Search RCRA Corrective Action Sites provides a search feature for Corrective Action Sites
Or this external link to information about the facility:
Documents, Photos and Graphics
Contacts for this Facility
- Jennifer Stanhope ([email protected])
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Region 5
LCRD-16J
77 West Jackson Boulevard Chicago, Illinois 60604
312-886-0681 - Kirstin Safakas ([email protected])
Community Involvement Coordinator
312-886-6015 - Jose Cisneros
Remediation Branch Manager
312-886-6945 - Peter Ramanauskas
Section Supervisor
312-886-7890; - Shilpa Patel
Section Supervisor
312-886-0120
All the states in EPA Region 5 may implement Corrective Action Programs.
For further information on this corrective action site, use the Contact Information for Corrective Action Hazardous Clean Ups listings that are accessible through Corrective Action Program.