Dealing with PCBs -
Sampling Plan for Lemon Lane
EPA to pay for landfill tests after
Westinghouse refuses city request.
Dispute involves testing for
contamination on access roads
near Lemon Lane site
by Steven Higgs
reprinted with permission of the Herald-Times, Inc.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency interceded on Wednesday in a
dispute between the city of Bloomington and Westinghouse Electric Corp.
over PCB testing at the Lemon Lane Landfill. During a meeting of PCB cleanup
agreement parties in Bloomington, Westinghouse refused to test for contamination
anywhere but at known "hot spots" and over two sinkholes at the
former city dump. In a plan submitted Aug. 21, Westinghouse proposed conducting
25 soil borings at the 10-acre site to determine the extent of contamination.
City officials, however, wanted an additional seven tests along former access
roads where PCBs may have been dumped. To resolve the issue, the EPA agreed
to pay for the additional tests, which the city will conduct. At the meeting,
Westinghouse also said it will deliver a report later this month on a newly
discovered site of potential PCB contamination on the west side of Clear
Creek adjacent to the Winston-Thomas sewage plant. "We made progress
on a number of complex issues," Mayor John Fernandez said at a news
conference following the meeting. "We are moving in the right direction."
The news conference was attended by representatives of the city and the
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. The other three parties to the PCB
cleanup agreement - Westinghouse, Monroe County and the state of Indiana
- attended the meeting but not the news conference. Going into Wednesday's
meeting, Fernandez had threatened to ask a federal judge to appoint a mediator
with decision-making authority to resolve questions about Lemon Lane sampling.
He said after the meeting that wasn't necessary because of the EPA's
action.
Lemon Lane is a former city dump that was contaminated with PCBs discarded
from Westinghouse's Bloomington plant in the 1950s, '60s and '70s. Westinghouse
agreed in a 1985 agreement with the city and the other parties to clean
up Lemon Lane and five other contaminated sites around Bloomington. The
original plan called for Westinghouse to destroy the contamination in an
incinerator. The incinerator plan was abandoned in 1992, with the parties
agreeing to evaluate alternative cleanup methods. After nearly four years
of inaction, a federal judge earlier this year ordered the parties to develop
a cleanup schedule. The Lemon Lane sampling is part of that process. The
sampling data will be used to help develop a cleanup plan for the site.
City PCB project coordinator John Langley said there is little chance that
the additional seven tests will show contamination, though one is near another
area known to be contaminated. "I would characterize the additional
borings as 'making sure,'" he said.
When asked why the government wasn't insisting that Westinghouse sample
the entire landfill, EPA's Dan Hopkins said focusing on areas likely to
be contaminated was "a better use of your money."
Fernandez said the city would wait and see what the samples show before
deciding whether more are needed. "This is a first step," he said.
Langley said copies of the Westinghouse plan will be placed in the Monroe
County Public Library. A public meeting on the plan will be held in October.
Langley said city officials learned that PCB-contaminated sewage sludge
may have been dumped on the west side of Clear Creek after interviewing
current and former city workers this year. The area is probably less than
an acre in size and located about 20 feet from the creek, he said. It is
overgrown and does not have easy public access.
Westinghouse took soil samples from the site in June, Langley said. Fernandez
said the city wants the results of those tests so it can determine whether
the site should be fenced or cleaned up immediately. "We're encouraging
them to bring the data forward," Fernandez said. Both he and Langley
said they believe the site poses little or no threat to public health.
Westinghouse spokesman Vaughn Gilbert said the company will provide the
data as soon as it is ready. "We did a comprehensive sampling for the
entire site," he said. "We are in the process of putting it together
and will give it to the other parties. I assume it will be as soon as possible." |
