Texas Vermiculite Company (W.R. Grace), 2651 Manila Road, Dallas, Texas
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EPA
Region		 Location of facility Type of facility Amount
of ore
received
(in tons)		 Did
EPA
visit
the
site?		 Were
samples
taken?		 Results of
evaluation
6 2651 Manila Road, Dallas, Texas Former exfoliation facility 396,910 Yes-February 15, 2000; March 8, 2000 Yes According to an EPA database compiled from W.R. Grace shipping invoices, 396,910 tons of vermiculite ore from the Libby mine were shipped to this site between January 1967 and March 1993. EPA confirmed that a vermiculite exfoliation facility had operated at this site from approximately 1953 until 1992 and that the raw vermiculite ore processed at the site came from the Libby mine. The site was located in an area of residential and commercial properties. At the time of EPA's visit, this facility was inactive and appeared to be abandoned. A large operations/process building with a loading dock, a warehouse, a one-story office building, and three hoppers and two silos remained on the site. The silos/hoppers were near a railroad track that was north of the site. EPA observed a pile of material believed to be vermiculite in the silo loading area near the railroad tracks. It also noted some additional debris believed to be vermiculite on the warehouse floor and noted that a fine layer of vermiculite might cover the entire site. Although the site had a gate at the entrance, the north face of the property was not fenced. EPA learned that W.R. Grace had hired an environmental services company in 1996 and 1997 to clean up the site and remove equipment. During a site visit, children were observed playing in the operations/process building. There was also evidence that fires had been built in the building by transients or children. In March 2001, EPA collected 21 dust, bulk, soil and residual samples at the site. Of the 4 dust or "wipe" samples collected, 1 contained one asbestos fiber. Of the 3 samples of bulk material collected, none contained detectable levels of asbestos. Of the 12 soil samples collected, 5 contained less than 1 percent asbestos and 7 did not contain detectable levels of asbestos. Two samples of residual material were collected from the furnace room and 1 contained 2 percent asbestos and the other contained no detectable levels of asbestos. The samples were analyzed using Polarized Light Microscopy (PLM) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) was also used on four of the soil samples for confirmation on the asbestos content. According to EPA, since there were no vermiculite waste piles on the site, it decided not to conduct a cleanup of the site. EPA determined no further action was needed. ATSDR reported in its September 2005 health consultation regarding this site that the buildings on this site were demolished during 2001 or 2002. EPA reported that this cleanup was performed by W.R. Grace and was not required by the state or EPA. According to the ATSDR report, as of September 2005, the site consisted of approximately 4 acres of vacant land in the Dallas metropolitan area. EPA stated in 2006 that it may reassess this site at some point by conducting activity-based sampling. As of July 2008, EPA had not performed any additional sampling. The Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry’s (ATSDR) health consultation report for this site can be found at ATSDR.

GAO-09-6R