EPA – Documents Related to Exide Frisco

 Below is an ongoing listing of EPA actions and downloadable documents related to the Exide lead smelter in Frisco.

From December 14-18, 2009, a team of EPA inspectors conducted a multimedia compliance evaluation inspection of Exide Techonologies lead smelter in Frisco to evaluate the facility’s status with the federal laws and regulations listed below:
Resource Conversation Recovery Act (RCRA)
Clean Water Act (CWA)
Clean Air Act ( CAA)
Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act (EPCRA)

The full 1,300-page report is made available via this link, divided into 10 separate files that total almost 465MB in size. The files are organized into four main categories.

This link will take you to the EPA’s “Regulatory Actions – Area Designations for 2008 Lead Standards” page, which has information about the the 21 U.S. lead facilities – six of which belong to Exide – that have been designated as Nonattainment Status because they are in violation of federal air health safety laws for lead emissions.

You can click here to go to the EPA’s Envirofacts Warehouse website, which is a very comprehensive source of information about Exide.

 

AUGUST 2011

August 12, 2011

Letters between Exide’s law firm and EPA regarding Unilateral Administrative Order

Click on the link below to download a copy of the letter from one of Exide’s law firms, BakerBotts, to EPA Region 6 officials in response to the Unilateral Administrative Order the agency issued against the Frisco lead smelter on Aug. 1, 2011.

BakerBotts Letter Exide Ltr on EPA Administrative Order

You can get download a copy of the EPA’s response to BakerBott’s/Exide’s letter by clicking the link below.

EPA replies to BakerBotts/Exide Letter 08.12.11

August 9, 2011

EPA Issues Unilateral Administrative Order Against Exide

Based on the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) Corrective Action / multi-media inspection the EPA conducted at the Frisco Exide lead smelter in December 2009 and March 2010, as well as a file review of historical records, the agency has stated that the inspections indicate potential soil, groundwater, sediment and surface water contamination resulting from activities at the Exide facility.

To address these concerns, the EPA issued a Unilateral Administrative Order for Exide:

“The Order requires site assessment by Exide, including delineation of soil, sediment, surface water, and groundwater contamination associated with the Facility and identification of remediation options. Specifically, contamination which has the potential to impact human health and ecological health associated with Stewart Creek both on-site and off-site needs to be assessed.

“Soil, sediment, surface water and groundwater data should be evaluated against Texas Risk Reduction Program protective concentration levels (and risk-based exposure levels for surface water) for both human health and ecological risks.”

You can download and read the full EPA Unilateral Administrative Order issued against Exide below:

Exide Frisco EPA Administrative Order Aug 2011

You can read the full 1,300 page report, including photos, the EPA issued after its December 2009 and March 2010 on-site inspections at the Exide Frisco lead smelter.

And, you can look at pictures from the EPA report that document many of the potential soil and water contamination concerns outlined in the Administrative Order, as well as photos taken by the TCEQ during its inspection.

 

AUGUST 8, 2011

EPA Rejects TCEQ Plan

Guy Donaldson, chief of the Air Planning Section for Section 6 of the Environmental Protection Agency, has notified the TCEQ that the EPA has rejected the agency’s proposed SIP (State Implementation Plan) for Exide, citing that “the SIP as currently constructed is not approvable.” He continued, “The SIP must include enforceable limitations to achieve the emission projections in the model.”

Download the entire EPA letter and comments below:

EPA Rejection, Comments on TCEQ Plan for Exide Lead in Frisco