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Once upon a time...
This is a brief history of the chain of events
of the PCB contamination in Monroe & Owen Counties.
From the late 1950's through 1977 Westinghouse
Electric Corporation (now CBS) manufactured electrical capacitors containing
PCBs (polychlorinated biphenyls) , at
its manufacturing facility located on Curry Pike, Bloomington, Indiana.
During manufacturing of these capacitors PCBs were spilled and this flushed
down the sewer system. Capacitors that were defective were hauled by the
highest bidder, to local area landfills and farms. Over 2,000,000 pounds
of PCBs were estimated to have been dumped in Monroe and Owen County with
most of it going to the landfills located
in Monroe County.
In the mid 1970's it was discovered that PCBs were in the city sewer system
and at the Winston Thomas treatment facility located on south Walnut street.
The City of Bloomington and EPA were getting ready to file suit against
Westinghouse and Monsanto (maker of Inerteen, their trade name for oil containing
PCBs).
Behind the scene meetings were held and in 1985 it was announced that there
was an agreement between Westinghouse, City of Bloomington, Monroe County,
EPA and the state of Indiana. Law suits were dropped and the agreement was
proposed as the Consent Decree. At a
public hearing a petition of thousands of names protesting the consent decree
and its approval was given to the city . Under much protest and near riot
conditions the city approved the consent decree.
In short, the Consent Decree gave Westinghouse the right to build a hazardous
waste incinerator, fuel it with new garbage from Monroe county, burn the
new garbage, old garbage and PCB contaminated soil from existing landfills
and when done haul the hazardous ash to a newly constructed hazardous waste
landfill on Bottom Road, Bloomington. Westinghouse would collect tipping
fees from the county for the garbage they brought to the incinerator, thereby
helping to pay for the incinerator and cleanup.
Citizens and environmental groups had fought the incinerator and
Consent Decree since 1985 and before. In 1990, the Coalition
Opposed to PCB Ash in Monroe County, Inc. (COPA) was formed and the
fight gained new momentum. After state legislators passed laws governing incineration, the plan
was scrapped and in 1994 the parties to the Consent Decree agreed to look
for alternatives. The alternatives chosen were to excavate and ship to an
approved out of state facility for incineration or landfilling, and to excavate and landfill locally.
Today all the large PCB sites have been addressed. (There are hundreds of small sites where capacitors were opened and the PCBs spilled, but these have not been inventoried or tested.)
Neal's Landfill and Lemon Lane still contain capped mounds of PCB contaminated material. As both sites are connected to limestone karst and its associated sinkholes, underground streams and springs, there are ongoing concerns about water quality. The State has issued a Level 5 Advisory to eat no fish in the contaminated Clear Creek, while Richland Creek is at Level 4 for most fish.
The EPA has built a water treatment plant at the Illinois Central Springs, which is connected to the contamination remaining under Lemon Lane Landfill. Neal's Landfill still emits PCBs from the Springs at the site, contaminating Conard's Branch and Richland Creek. New concerns have emerged at Bennett's Quarry with new higher water flows and
PCB concentrations coming from Middle Springs, as well as the high
concentrations of PCBs found downstream in Stout's Creek.
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