Removing all contamination at former Velsicol site can cost $500 mln

Tag : benzene sulfonic
The state Department of Environmental Quality has sent 11 "complex"remediation remedies to U.S. Environmental Protection Agencyofficials to review, DEQ Project Manager Scott Cornelius said.
"We're trying to get on the same page as the EPA," he explained."We want to make sure everything we are looking at is appropriatefor that site.
"These remedies are going to have to include a number of differenttechnologies put together. Some haven't gone through a screeningprocess and there are a bunch of technologies that haven't beenproven in the field yet. We will have to weed out the ones thatwork and won't work."
Members of the Pine River Superfund Citizens Task Force areadvocating for a "complete cleanup" and want the entire 52-acreparcel excavated and the hazardous materials "hauled away."
In fact, the group has had T-shirts and yard signs made with theslogan, "EPA  Haul it Away."
However, the cost  pegged at between $300 million and $500 million may be prohibitive.
The proposed remedies are part of a feasibility study launched bythe DEQ several years ago to determine what type of contaminantswere on the property, where the plant was demolished and buriedmore than 25 years ago, and where the substances were located.
A preliminary EPA report released a couple of years ago indicatedsuch pollutants as benzene, chloral benzene, berium, chromium,radioactive materials, and other chemicals in high concentrationsat various locations on the site.
Agency officials had hoped to complete the investigation nearlyfour years ago but tests kept revealing new hazardous materials such as NAPL, or non-aqueous phase liquid, and para-chlorobenzenesulfonic acid, known as pCBSA  that prolonged the effort.
NAPL has seeped into sand seems in the hard till and low levels ofpCBSA was discovered in a couple of city wells.
"We have three layers, that's why it's so complex," Cornelius said."There are different contaminants in different areas."
That's why the site will likely always have to have some sort ofwarning posted that it's polluted because the remedation will notinclude "digging into the till or groundwater," he explained.
Presently the entire area is fenced and posted with warning signsand an actual tombstone that states the site is contaminated is atthe main gate where DEQ and EPA workers enter.
But even if the property is eventually redeveloped and the fencecomes down the warnings will have to remain, Cornelius said.
At this point DEQ and EPA officials haven't decided to what extentthe site will be remediated. For example, if it was used forrecreational facilities, it would have to meet stricter standardsthan commercial ventures where much of the property would becovered in concrete or pavement.
The agencies are now in the process of deciding on their "remedialaction objectives," which will determine "what standards the sitewill be cleaned up to," Cornelius said.
A draft of the feasibility study is then scheduled to go to the EPAon July 24.
"If the EPA likes what its sees it could take a couple of months toreview," Cornelius said.
If changes are required, however, it could take much longer, headded. At that point it will go to a "remedy review board" followedby the release of the plan, which would include a public meeting,Cornelius said.
After that a 45-day comment period is scheduled before the EPAmakes a "record of decision" regarding what cleanup remedies toimplement, he said.
But that still won't complete the process.
The report will then go to a "funding priority review board" todetermine the amount of money the remediation project will get,with a maximum about of $10 million a year likely, Cornelius said.
Once the plan and funding is approved, engineers would still haveto come up with a design, he added.
Whatever remedation remedy is chosen, it "must be protective ofhuman health and the environment," Cornelius said.