OSWER/OSRTI 

Washington, DC 20460 

NATIONAL PRIORITIES LIST (NPL) 

***Proposed Site*** September 2011 

CONTINENTALCLEANERS Miami, Florida 

Miami-Dade County 

 Site Location: 

The Continental Cleaners site is located at 798 NW 62nd Street in the City of Miami, Miami-Dade County, Florida, and 

is on the southeast corner of NW 62nd Street (Martin Luther King, Jr. Boulevard) and NW 8th Avenue. The site is in 

the Liberty City neighborhood and it is surrounded by residential and commercial properties. 

 Site History: 

Laundry and dry cleaning operations were conducted at the site from approximately 1967 to 2005. The facility is 

currently used as a pickup and drop off location for offsite dry cleaning. In the 1990s, local environmental officials 

found dry cleaning chemicals had been released to the ground and ground water. Since then numerous studies have 

documented tetrachloroethene (PCE), a common dry cleaning solvent and its breakdown products in the soil and 

ground water at the site. The facility was determined by the Florida Department of Environmental Protection (FDEP) 

to be ineligible to participate in the state Drycleaner Solvent Program due to gross negligence at the Site. 

Subsequently, the site was referred by FDEP to EPA for Superfund evaluation. 

 Site Contamination/Contaminants: 

PCE was found at high concentrations in the floor drain and in groundwater at the site. Trichloroethene (TCE) and cis1,2-dichloroethene (DCE) were also detected at concentrations two and three times the level of PCE in the ground 

water. TCE and DCE are breakdown products of the PCE. The ground water concentrations of these volatile organic 

compounds (VOCs) significantly exceed state and federal drinking water standards. 

 Potential Impacts on Surrounding Community/Environment: 

The site is small, approximately half an acre. Contamination may exist beneath the building and in the back of the 

facility in the soils from the surface down to the ground water table. The ground water is contaminated on the site, but 

it likely to have migrated offsite. The aquifer beneath the site is the sole source of municipal drinking water for 

southeast Florida. 

 Response Activities (to date): 

There have been a number of investigations conducted by Miami-Dade County Department of Environmental 

Resources (DERM) and FDEP. Waste discharge violations and enforcement issues were identified by DERM. 

However, no cleanup activities have taken place at the site. 

 Need for NPL Listing: 

The State of Florida referred the site to EPA to allow for a comprehensive cleanup to address all the human health and 

environmental risks posed by the site. Other federal and state cleanup programs were evaluated, but are not viable at 

this time. EPA received a letter of support for placing this site on the NPL from the state. 

[The description of the site (release) is based on information available at the time the site was evaluated with the HRS. The description may 

change as additional information is gathered on the sources and extent of contamination.] 

For more information about the hazardous substances identified in this narrative summary, including general information regarding the effects of exposure to 

these substances on human health, please see the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR) ToxFAQs. ATSDR ToxFAQs can be found on 

the Internet at http://www.atsdr.cdc.gov/toxfaq.html or by telephone at 1-888-42-ATSDR or 1-888-422-8737.