Citizens Information Committee
Minutes of Public Meeting
August 29, 1996
Bloomington, Indiana
Attendees:
Michael List, Chair
Resa Ramsey, IDEM
Dave Novak, EPA
Martha Crouch, Near Westside
Deb Backus, IU
John Langley, CBU
Evelyn Brophy, CBU
Iris Kiesling, City Council
Mitch Rice, COPA
Dan Hopkins, EPA was not in attendance due to jury duty.
Resa Ramsey began with a report on the ABB site:
The water tower area is 50-70% complete - excavation and earth moving
are under way. The "loading out" area has been dug out to a depth
of 10-12 feet, and they are slowly working around the utility lines.
Winston Thomas:
Sampling has been completed, all data has been collected, and is undergoing
quality control review. Plan sample results should be distributed in mid-September.
Sampling was done on the west side of Clear Creek, and though not within
the metes and bounds of the Consent Decree, the data will be included in
the Plan.
John Langely:
Concerning water loss from the digester, the cracks in the digester and
berm maintenance - On June 6, 1996, two Army Corps of Engineers inspectors
and two dam inspectors from IDNR toured the lagoon and berm area, and made
recommendations. They provided a professional engineering opinion of the
structure and integrity of the lagoon and and berm. They also did a structural
analysis of the digesters to see if the lateral cracking was a danger.
The City now has implemented these recommendations:
- Telemeters at WT that automatically call the all night switchboard
at CBU in case of high or low water.
- The bypass that led to the May, 1995 overflow has been permanently
blocked. So now there is no way for the water to get through there and
overflow.
- Monthly inspections of the site are done by CBU and Westinghouse, and
have taken place June 3, July 29, and Aug 19, 1996.
- CBU is on the WT property more often now, and will continue to be partly
because we will be there implementing these recommendations.
- There are slumps and sags in the embankment. These occur for a number
of reasons, for one muskrats burrow into the embankment below the waterline.
Other predators dig down to get to the muskrat nests are a factor, and
even people and deer are breaking down the fence and entering the area.
[Martha Crouch: Has there been any sampling done on the wildlife in the
area, the ducks? JL: Fish and Wildlife under Dan Sparks is doing a tree
swallow nesting study, but no one is trapping animals on a regular basis.
There is much harborage for wildlife on the embankment, and the engineers
recommended removing the excess foliage. Dan Sparks of USFW will be trapping
the muskrats to remove them from the property.]
- Document the maintenance of the embankment.
- Evaluation of using heavy equipment near the embankment edge during
mowing. A long cutting arm is now extended down towards the water, keeping
the tractor higher on the embankment.
- Aug 8-10 - Remediation of slumping by insertion of red clay into the
sags and slumps and tamped or rolled solid. It will be seeded. We have
stopped erosion pathways.
- The embankment will be reseeded this fall, and periodic mowing occurs.
- Obtain survey cross sections of the embankment in order to compare
original construction with what is the condition now. [Evelyn Brophy: There
was some concern about the FEMA maps, especially by the IDNR, that in flood
conditions, the map shows that the lagoon could overtop. The City has looked
at the new GIS maps, and think that this should not be a problem. They
are recommending third party evaluation of the GIS maps.]
- The rains this spring (nearly 5" in a 48 hour period) had very
little effect on the level in the lagoon).
- Water is pumped from the surface of the lagoon to the sewer at a rate
of 140 gallons per minute, from an inlet that is about 4 inches below the
surface of the water. The water is at 1.1 to 1.2 ppb for PCBs, below regulatory
limits. Industrial limits are at 10 ppb. The PCBs are located mostly in
the sludge. We don't pump when it is too windy.
- We have installed a new permanent and bigger pump in the digester corridors,
and Westinghouse has installed pump casings in the digesters so that water
can be pumped on demand. This water is pumped to a frac tank and then treated
with a charcoal filter system.
- We will not be following the recommendation to put a concrete spillway
on the lagoon due to regulatory problems.
- Emergency Plan for the levee - Sand bags, water removal, etc. [Resa
Ramsey: The DNR report essentially mirrored the EPA/ACOE report.]
Resa Ramsey Lemon Lane Water Report:
Westinghouse has done additional sampling this spring on the water, and
as with the Winston Thomas data, it is still in the process of Quality Assurance
- Quality Control. The report is due in late September.
We had a technical project managers meeting, and we discussed how to
slow the flow through the karst system. We have not met since this this
initial meeting.
Draft Field Sampling Plan for the fill at Lemon Lane has been released
by Westinghouse. It is based on the EPA sampling plan. It has not yet been
reviewed by the State or City. The City wants to conduct a public availability
meeting to allow the public to comment on the sampling plans. Westinghouse
needs feedback as soon as possible they need to get to work in November
in order to complete on the court schedule.
Martha Crouch:
Lois Gibbs will be in Bloomington to speak on Nov 1 at 11:00am at SPEA,
and Nov 2 at 3:00 pm at Borders, and at 7:00 pm at Harmony School.
Resa Ramsey:
We received a Draft Work Plan for the Eco and Human Health Risk Assessment
for Lemon Lane. We have agree to try to merge the EPA's 1995 Ecological
Risk Assessment plan with the Westinghouse plan. The Westinghouse plan includes
the Human Health Assessment as well. There will be some Quality Assurance
- Quality Control issues to be dealt with.
Mitch Rice:
Who besides you will be working on this?
Resa Ramsey:
Brenda Jones - EPA
Sheila Sullivan - EPA
David Burmaster - Halcyon Corp (City)
Resa Ramsey: Neals Landfill
An initial meeting was held on Aug 13. It was a technical meeting, and
Westinghouse made presentations about the history and hydrology of the site.
The next day we were at the site for half the day, with all the project
managers and technical support. It was the first time I had been out there,
and it was a good experience for me.
Westinghouse did low flow die tracer studies in 1992 and the report on
this is due this September.
General:
The Quarterly status Report was submitted to the Court on August 13,
1996. No response is expected from the court.
Mitch Rice: We don't hear much from the County at these meetings, how
are they involved?
Resa Ramsey: Dennis Williams and Steve Creech attend the meetings, and
like me, they are swamped with the volume of paperwork, and lack of staff.
Michael List
I got a message from Dan Hopkins saying that he had discussions with Doug
Valotti, regional ombudsman for the EPA, and Bob Martin of the national
ombudsman's office, concerning the issues raised by Mr. Sanjour's letter,
and the RIFS in general. They would like to have a meeting in Bloomington
to talk to the community, and Dan feels that the CIC is the proper forum
for this meeting.
The Committee agreed to the date of:
Oct 15, 1996
7:00 pm
Bloomington City Council Chambers
Topic: EPA and the Remedial Investigation/Feasibility Study
Meeting Adjourned
Minutes submitted for revision
9.22.96
Mitch Rice, COPA |
