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Environmental Cleanup Site Information (ECSI) Database Site Summary Report - Details for Site ID 312, UPRR - Eugene Yards

This report shows data entered as of December 7, 2023 at 10:52:35 PM

This report contains site details, organized into the following sections: 1) Site Photos (appears only if the site has photos); 2) General Site Information; 3) Site Characteristics; 4) Substance Contamination Information; 5) Investigative, Remedial and Administrative Actions; and 6) Site Environmental Controls (i.e., institutional or engineering controls; appears only if DEQ has applied one or more such controls to the site).  A key to certain acronyms and terms used in the report appears at the bottom of the page.

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Environmental Cleanup Site Information (ECSI) Database Site Summary Report - Details for Site ID 312, UPRR - Eugene Yards
Site Photos
Click to View Photo Picture Date Caption Size
View Photo 01/30/2018 Rod Compliance Monitoring Well locations 527 Kb
View Photo 08/04/2017 Possible 4-15-1959 Date -- Old Eugene Rail Yard Photo From Tom Dill Collection 40 Kb
View Photo 08/04/2017 Unknown Date -- Old Eugene Rail Yard Photo of Former Roundhouse (Constructed in 1927 and existing until later 1990's) From Tom Dill Collection 83 Kb
View Photo 09/30/2004 Google Earth Map with the Locations of Some of the Private Wells That Were Previously Sampled And September 2004 Solvent Areas 665 Kb
View Photo 10/23/2007 Aerial view of UPRR-Eugene and Neighborhoods 2583 Kb

General Site Information
Site ID: 312 Site Name: UPRR - Eugene Yards CERCLIS No: 047086210
Address: 341 Bethel Dr. Eugene 97402
  County: Lane Region: Western
Other location information:
Investigation Status: Listed on CRL or Inventory
Brownfield Site: No NPL Site: No Orphan Site: No Study Area: No
Property: Twnshp/Range/Sect: 17S , 4W , 25 Tax Lots: 3700,3900,4000,4100,4200
  Latitude: 44.0675 deg. Longitude: -123.1305 deg.  Site Size: 400 acres
Other Site Names:
  Southern Pacific Railroad
  Union Pacific Railroad

Site Characteristics
General Site Description:
Site History: This property has been used continuously since 1918 for maintenance, sorting, switching, repair, and washing of RR cars and engines. A wood-treatment facility also operated at the site until 1962.
Contamination Information: EPA conducted a PA in 1983 because of concerns about contamination in an old borrow pit that received waste from the cleaning of rail cars. Since then, the borrow pit has been fenced and no additional wastes have been discharged into it. EPA found zinc, naphthalene, traces of lead, phenols, beryllium, cadmium, and copper. A nearby pond is home to the Western Pond Turtle, a sensitive species in Oregon and a candidate for listing under the Endangered Species Act. Additional investigations will be required to determine if there are impacts to this receptor. There are also two on-site wastewater lagoons, which are currently used to collect oil wastewater and stormwater runoff. An inactive unlined lagoon once received wastewater from the engine washing and steam cleaning operations on-site. SPTCo joined the Voluntary Cleanup Program in October 1992 to investigate the significance of releases at the site associated with rail yard activities. A series of investigations conducted with VCP oversight indicate the presence of petroleum hydrocarbons and solvents in on-site soil and groundwater. An off-site survey of groundwater quality shows low levels of solvents in groundwater, below the MCLs, in the neighborhoods immediately northeast and west of the railcar repair yard. (12/19/00 DEH) October 2000 residential well sampling indicates groundwater concentrations of VOCs exceeding site-specific, risk-based cleanup levels for residential irrigation at one location. (6/27/01 DH) Subsequent analysis indicates residential concentrations are currently below risk levels for use of private wells for water irrigation. (2/12/03 ME) Vapor sampling between 2004 and 2007 indicated possible vapor intrusion risks to several homes near Bethel Drive in the Trainsong neighborhood. UPRR installed vapor barriers beneath 7 homes to protect against possible vapor intrusion while additional vapor assessment was done and groundwater cleanup was conducted. DEQ determined VOC vapor barriers were no longer required in 2010. This was based on vapor monitoring following the cleanup of the groundwater plume near the Trainsong area, and also at the source area near the former Roundhouse. (8/4/17 TMD)
Manner and Time of Release: Drips and spills; operating practices associated with use and disposal of creosote, solvents, and petroleum hydrocarbons (oil and grease) over last 70 years.
Hazardous Substances/Waste Types: Petroleum hydrocarbons, trichloroethylene, perchloroethylene, vinyl chloride, polynuclear aromatic hydrocarbons, heavy metals.
Pathways: On-site soil & groundwater contaminated; potential threat to off-site surface waters and Western Pond Turtle; potential threat to off-site residential irrigation wells. Exposures to residents by incidental contact, inhalation of vapors, incidental ingestion.
Environmental/Health Threats: (5/22/17 TMD) The most significant off-site threat is to shallow groundwater and on-site threat is to soil and groundwater. Nearby residents use shallow groundwater for irrigation of yards/gardens/vegetables. Solvent chemicals from the yard are present in shallow groundwater beneath the Trainsong and, to a lesser degree, River Road neighborhoods adjacent to the Railyard. Solvent levels in groundwater beneath both neighborhoods currently do not exceed DEQ cleanup levels for backyard water use or vapor intrusion. The Trainsong area was tested and evaluated for the threat from vapor intrusion into homes and in 2007 vapor barriers were installed beneath nine homes. Additional groundwater treatment occurred onsite and the vapor barriers were removed in 2010. Additional groundwater testing continues to occur. The groundwater onsite and in these areas should not be used for drinking or other household purposes.
Status of Investigative or Remedial Action: SPTCo entered VCP in October 1992 and signed a Voluntary Agreement for an RI/FS in September 1993. An initial soil and groundwater investigation was completed in November 1993. Information gathered during this investigation informed the development of the RI/FS Work Plan, submitted in May 1994. SPTCo performed the field investigation of Phase 1 of the RI/FS from August through October 1994, installing temporary and permanent monitoring wells, collecting soil, groundwater, and surface water samples. Petroleum contaminated soils from various spills and underground storate tank removals were stockpiled on-site for treatment. Bioremediation was performed from June 1994 to May 1995 when the VCP acknowledged that treatment goals had been achieved. Preliminary data from the on-site investigation indicated the potential for off-site migration to the neighborhood north of the railcar repair yard. Three off-site wells were installed in the neighborhood in April 1995. Five residential wells, used for irrigation only, were tested for the presence of solvents. Trace concentrations, below the MCLs, were detected in some, others indicated ND. The Draft RI Report was submitted in August 1995, summarizing all data generated to date. A workplan for phase II of the investigation was submitted to the VCP in January 1996. Phase II field work was conducted between July and September 1996.

(1/6/00 GEA) A Phase III investigation was undertaken in 1999. Phase III included numerous on-site borings to identify contaminant source areas. Flux chamber testing was also performed in 1999 to evaluate VOC flux from shallow groundwater to indoor residential air in the Bethel Drive neighborhood.

(10/23/00 DEH) Groundwater sampling of residential irrigation wells in the Bethel Drive and River Road neighborhoods between 1998 and 2000. Phase IV investigation work will commence in fall 2000 and include DNAPL investigation on-site, on-site aquifer testing, expanding off-site monitoring well array. Human health risk assessment started in 1999 is continuing in phases and should be complete in 2001. An ecological risk assessment will be completed in 2001.

(10/8/01 DEH/VCP) UPRR completed an assessment of risks to residents from eating homegrown produce irrigated with contaminated groundwater containing low levels of solvents, and found this practice to be safe.

(GWong 6/25/04) DEQ has issued a partial NFA covering a 20-acre parcel (a narrow strip of land about 170 feet wide by one mile long) at the far north end of the UPRR property. The NFA, and subsequent removal of the parcel from the UPRR site, was done to facilitate a property transfer.

(2/9/05 GJW/VCS) Two on-site wastewater impoundments were decomissioned by stabilization and backfilling in June 2003 under DEQ oversight. In 2004, additional investigations were conducted to assess potential soil gas issues in Bethel Drive (a.k.a. Trainsong), surface water in off-site ponds, and sediments in off-site drainage ways. Since 2002, public involvement activities between DEQ and neighborhood associations have continued.

(1/9/09 DEH) UP has implemented several cleanup actions (Removal Actions) to clean up solvent contamination in the source area on the Railyard, and to protect residents in the Trainsong neighborhood from solvent contamination in groundwater. On the Railyard UP conducted bioremediation to stimulate reduction of the chlorinated solvents. This approach proved very effective in reducing concentrations of these chemicals in the source area and should help shorten the time it will take for the solvents to deminish in off-property areas. UP also installed a reductive barrier wall along the west side of the property to help cut off solvents migrating in groundwater from the site toward the Trainsong neighborhood. UP also installed vapor barriers in seven residential crawl spaces in the Trainsong neighborhoods as a pilot test to see if they would be helpful in protecting neighbors from solvent vapors moving upward from groundwater.

Remedial investigation activities continued between 2005 and 2009. (8/4/17 TMD) The human health risk assessment was revised multiple times and was finalized in 2010. Also in 2010 DEQ determined VOC vapor barriers were no longer required at the homes in Trainsong where they had been installed. This was based on vapor monitoring following the cleanup actions mentioned in the above paragraph. In 2011 the ecological risk assessment was completed. In 2012 through 2014 DEQ and UPRR developed the framework for a Feasibility Study.

(8/4/17 TMD) The Feasibility Study was finalized in November 2015, and the long term remedial action alternatives were evaluated. The DEQ prepared a staff report with the recommended remedial action alternative. It was put out for public comment May 15-June 30, 2017.
Data Sources: VCS files - Western Region, Eugene.

Substance Contamination Information
Substance Media Contaminated Concentration Level Date Recorded
ACENAPHTHENE Groundwater 90.6 ug/L 10/15/1998
ACENAPHTHENE Soil 28.1 mg/kg 10/15/1998
ACENAPHTHYLENE Soil 1.34 mg,kg 10/15/1998
ANTHRACENE Groundwater 2,380 ug/L 10/15/1998
ANTHRACENE Soil 20.5 mg/kg 10/15/1998
BENZENE Groundwater 2.51 ug/L 9/15/1998
BENZO(a)ANTHRACENE Groundwater 709 ug/L 10/15/1998
BENZO(a)ANTHRACENE Soil 21.3 mg/kg 10/15/1998
BENZO(a)PYRENE Groundwater 181 ug/L 10/15/1998
BENZO(a)PYRENE Soil 9.7 mg/kg 10/15/1998
BENZO(b)FLUORANTHENE Groundwater 242 ug/L 10/15/1998
BENZO(k)FLUORANTHENE Groundwater 90.6 ug/L 10/15/1998
CHLOROFORM Groundwater 59.5 ug/L 9/15/1998
CHRYSENE Groundwater 634 ug/L 10/15/1998
CHRYSENE Soil 22.8 mg/kg 10/15/1998
DIBENZO(a,h)ANTHRACENE Groundwater 15.1 ug/L 10/15/1998
DICHLOROETHANE,1,1- Groundwater 195 ug/L 10/15/1998
DICHLOROETHYLENE,1,1- Groundwater 24.7 ug/L 10/15/1998
DICHLOROETHYLENE,1,2-CIS- Groundwater 407 ug/L 9/15/1998
DIESEL - FUEL OIL Soil 1/1/1999
FLUORANTHENE Groundwater 3,030 ug/L 10/15/1998
FLUORANTHENE Soil 70.6 mg/kg 10/15/1998
FLUORENE Groundwater 4,750 ug/L 10/15/1998
FLUORENE Soil 27.5 mg/kg 10/15/1998
INDENO(1,2,3-cd)PYRENE Groundwater 56.6 ug/L 10/15/1998
INDENO(1,2,3-cd)PYRENE Soil 6.72 mg/kg 10/15/1998
METHYLENE CHLORIDE Groundwater 1,260 ug/L 9/15/1998
NAPHTHALENE Groundwater 31,700 ug/L 10/15/1998
NAPHTHALENE Soil 301 mg/kg 10/15/1998
OIL - LUBRICATING Soil Unknown  
PHENANTHRENE Soil 85.1 mg/kg 10/15/1998
POLYAROMATIC HYDROCARBONS (PAH) Soil 1/1/1999
PYRENE Soil 81.1 mg/kg 10/15/1998
TETRACHLOROETHYLENE Groundwater 123 ug/L 9/15/1998
TRICHLOROETHANE,1,1,1- Groundwater 124 ug/L 10/15/1998
TRICHLOROETHYLENE Groundwater 30.7 ug/L 10/15/1998
VINYL CHLORIDE Groundwater 28.1 ug/L 10/15/1998

Investigative, Remedial and Administrative Actions
Action Start Date Compl. Date Resp. Staff Lead Pgm
REMEDIAL DESIGN  (Primary Action) 02/01/2018   MARGARET OSCILIA
View Full Report Showing Action History

Key to Certain Acronyms and Terms in this Report:

You may be able to obtain more information about this site by contacting MARGARET OSCILIA at the Western regional office or via email at margaret.oscilia@deq.oregon.gov. If this does not work, you may contact Ximena Cruz Cuevas (503) 229-6811, or via email at ximena.cruzcuevas@deq.state.or.us or contact the Western regional office.