How will EPA clean a site that leaked toxic chemicals to Grand Prairie homes?

Cleanup of a toxic site that leaked cancer-causing chemicals to dozens of homes in Grand Prairie will likely begin sometime in 2024, the Environmental Protection Agency says.

But several residents questioned whether enough is being done — and quickly — to address the public health hazard.

Federal authorities acknowledged anger with the slow-moving process at a public meeting Thursday evening but said the timeline is consistent with this type of toxic site.

“We understand the community has some frustrations about the length of time this process is taking, and we understand those frustrations,” EPA spokesperson Jennah Durant told The Dallas Morning News. “Cleanup of sites like this take many years t implement, largely because they are the most complex contaminated sites.”

Once occupied by defense contractor Delfasco Forge, the 1.1-acre property was placed in 2018 on the Superfund National Priorities List, which includes some of the nation’s most polluted sites.

Roughly 80 homes in the largely low-income Burbank Gardens neighborhood are affected by the toxic chemicals. Yet many residents have said they knew nothing of the toxic site or ongoing health threat.

“It’s devastating knowing our air has been contaminated,” said one participant who identified herself as Tina. “Where is the urgency?”

In recent years, tests in the neighborhood have shown that Trichloroethylene, or TCE, contaminated the soil, seeped into the groundwater and then vaporized into the air.

Defense contractor Delfasco Forge — which made practice bombs for U.S. Navy and Air Force pilots and other machinery during the 1980s and 1990s at the site — used TCE, a degreaser, to clean equipment.

The Grand Prairie plant at 114 N.E. 28th St. closed in 1998. In 2008, Delfasco Forge filed for bankruptcy, in part because of liabilities from the contamination. As part of its bankruptcy settlement, the company paid the EPA $400,000 and the state of Texas $600,000 for mitigation efforts.

In addition to causing cancer, TCE can cause heart defects in developing fetuses and damage the liver, kidneys, respiratory, immune and central nervous systems in adults. Pregnant women are among the most vulnerable.

EPA cleanup

To clean the site, the EPA said it plans to initially adopt two strategies, which will cost the agency nearly $7 million.

First, it will use a soil vapor extraction system, which is essentially a large vacuum equipped with carbon filters. The technology has been used to clean some 285 other Super Fund sites. Second, a groundwater treatment barrier will block the toxic plume.

The EPA will soon hire a contractor for the final design and construction of the abatement system, which will operate for 30 months, project manager Hope Schroeder said. Agency officials will continue to monitor the air quality during and after the abatement to determine whether to implement additional measures.

Indoor air testing will be conducted at nearby Fannin Middle School, which is just outside the toxic zone, to determine whether the school is at risk, EPA officials said.

For now, the EPA and the Texas State Department of Health Services urged residents to request a free vapor mitigation system from the EPA to be installed in their home.

However, many in the neighborhood are renters, and homeowners must approve the mitigation systems.