Fisher-Calo is an industrial chemical processing and distribution facility in Kingsbury Industrial Park in LaPorte County, Indiana. The site sits on land that once housed a military ordnance manufacturing plant. EPA added it to the National Priorities List (NPL) in September 1983 after operations there contaminated soil and groundwater with polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and volatile organic compounds (VOCs).
EPA identified twelve contaminants of concern across soil and groundwater. Soil contaminants include PCBs, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, naphthalene, 2-methylnaphthalene, 1,1,1-trichloroethane, bis(2-ethylhexyl)phthalate, and 3,5,5-trimethylcyclohex-2-en-1-one. Groundwater contaminants include 1,1,1-trichloroethane, 1,1-dichloroethane, 1,2-dichloroethene, dichloromethane, and trichloroethene. The greatest health risk comes from drinking contaminated groundwater.
Major cleanup work ran from the late 1980s through 1998. A remedial investigation and feasibility study ran from 1984 to 1990, and EPA selected a cleanup plan in August 1990. Workers excavated and disposed of buried drums and PCB-contaminated soils between 1994 and 1998. A soil vapor extraction system and a groundwater extraction and treatment system were also constructed, with the groundwater system starting operation in February 1998. Physical construction of the cleanup was completed on August 6, 1998. The cleanup approach was later updated in 1997 and again in 2022 to add bioremediation methods and address institutional controls.
As of December 2023, EPA determined that human exposure is under control and groundwater migration is stabilized with no unacceptable discharge to surface water. The site is not yet ready for all anticipated uses, meaning cleanup goals or required land-use controls are not fully in place. EPA is conducting its sixth five-year review, with an estimated completion in August 2025. A Record of Decision Amendment is estimated for 2028. Despite these ongoing requirements, three businesses currently operate on the site, employing 142 people and generating an estimated $28.7 million in annual sales.
Community members can follow site progress through EPA's publicly available administrative record, which contains 160 documents, along with ten key documents and thirteen web content documents. For direct questions, community members can contact the EPA's Remedial Project Manager.
