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Meetings: CIC | |||||||||||||||
Citizens Information CommitteeMinutes of Public MeetingDecember 9, 1997 The CIC meeting of Dec. 9, 1997 had little of substance to report, but much in the way of meaning. This was the last meeting attended by Dan Hopkins, Project Manger for the EPA, who has been with the Bloomington cleanup since the founding of the CIC. It was also the first meeting for Tom Alcamo, new Project Manager. Mr. Alcamo comes in with a working knowledge of Superfund cleanups. When he mentioned that Superfund sites require an average of ten years to complete, it was pointed out that we are well over that now, and that the four remaining sites are all still leaking. Mr. Alcamo said that for 1998, the focus will be on starting Lemon Lane, and Neal's Dump, and that Neal's Landfill, and Bennett's Quarry will be addressed in 1999. Changes are afoot on the PCB front. The questions raised by the public at the last CIC meeting were pointed, and showed concern over the direction the new, accelerated approach ordered by Judge Dillon. As reported last month, all the PCB sites must be fully tested and characterized by next June, and they must be fully cleaned up by the year 2000, according to the Judge's orders. Both the City and the EPA have stated that although this schedule may very difficult to follow, they are both working towards that end with all due haste. This is compared to the previous dozen years, when just agreeing to a method of testing for a single site could take as long as 6 months. Citizens at the meeting raised the concern that the new Westinghouse plan seems to be cap and leave, as this is the cheapest method, and could possibly be accomplished within the stated time frame. The Magistrate indicated to the City, EPA, State and County that they should provide him with information as to why this cap and leave method should not be used here, and a presentation was made to him on Dec. 11. Dan Hopkins stated that it appeared to him that Judge Dillon is looking at the Consent Decree as a removal order, not a cap and leave, but no one can speak for the Judge. The most difficult cleanup will be at Lemon Lane. The old city dump is located atop two sinkholes. Dye tracer studies show that PCBs have been leaking from these sinkholes into the karst beneath, and from there, they travel primarily to the Illinois Central Springs, although they have been detected at other local springs. Much of the dye used in the study was never recovered or accounted for, which is common is karst landscapes, where waster can and will go anywhere it wants, and the flows change over time. The EPA has been pushing the concept of hotspot cleanup at Lemon Lane. After the hotspots are removed, the site would be capped and left. Westinghouse has been doing water diversion experiments at Lemon Lane to see if they can slow the flow at Illinois Central Springs by diverting water before it gets into the main cavern, or at least slowing its entry into the system by putting it into Sargent's Pond. Everyone, including Westinghouse, I suppose, is agreed that a water treatment plant must be built. Citizens at the meeting strongly disagreed to both the cap and leave method, and hotspot remediation for Lemon Lane. The Consent Decree, to which we have been, and are currently bound, does not have any method assigned for changing the scope of the cleanup. It does have a method for changing the remedy, but not for changing how much is to be cleaned up. The change of remedy from incineration had to be made by Westinghouse, and their method of choice has been storage in an RCRA landfill. Much of the PCBs we had removed from here are now in Utah. But this has not changed the scope of the cleanup legally. At Lemon Lane, there was an extensive testing plan in place in the early '80's, but this was abandoned when Westinghouse agreed to cleanup the dump to the 1958 level, when PCBs were first dumped and burned there. This is what is in the Consent Decree, not cap and leave, not hotspot remediation. So the citizens were concerned that the Consent Decree, which has so often worked in Westinghouse's favor, is now being abandoned for a lesser cleanup. Does the Judge have the power to alter the Consent Decree? Or is his job to see that it is implemented? It would seem that this hurry-up order would leave very little time to do more than cap and leave, or perhaps some portion of removal to a landfill, and capping. It was asked that someone with legal knowledge come to a CIC meeting to explain what is the true status of the Consent Decree. Is it still binding? How can the scope of the cleanup be changed? Can the Judge unilaterally change or nullify portions of the Decree? None of the Parties at the meeting offered to send legal expert to the meeting, and it was thought that perhaps someone from the University could be found. (No one who would have to argue before the Judge would want to offer opinions about the Judge and his powers in a public forum). Mick Harrison expressed the argument that none of these remedies was acceptable to him. He wants to see the PCBs excavated, and safely detoxified. By moving the PCBs to a landfill but not treating them, we are putting off dealing with their toxicity. PCBs are extremely stable, and will easily outlive the expected life of a RCRA landfill. If a safe and effective remedy is not at hand, the PCBs should be vaulted here until a safe remedy is found. He held up as a model the Army's current policy regarding destruction of chemical weapons, where representatives of all sectors, including the communities affected, have a voice in the decision making process. The CIC is not such a body, it is for information only. The EPA does have a model for such a committee, they are called Citizens' Advisory Boards, but none has ever been set up here, due to the nature of the Consent Decree. |
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The Coaltion Opposed to PCB
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