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CALL (812) 333-8888 FOR MORE INFORMATION OR E-MAIL info@copa.org | |||||||||||||||
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Meetings: CIC | |||||||||||||||
Citizens Information CommitteeMinutes of Public MeetingJune 10, 1997 Summary This year's cleanup? The Parties have submitted an amendment to the Consent Decree that will enable work to begin work late in August. The Department of Justice is taking comment on the plan, notice of which can be obtained from the Federal Register. [I used the Government Printing Office's website to seach the Federal Register, but from May 15 to now, only 5 documents with the term PCB have been are online, and none of them relate to Bloomington. I have not yet tried the MCPL, but the GPO's number is 1-888-293-8498.] The EPA has set performance based standards for the digesters and sludge beds at Winston-Thomas of 50 ppm or less of PCBs. There has been no agreement on risk assessment as yet, which is why this performance standard has been set. Risk assessment has been a very thorny issue, with Westinghouse on one side wanting 75 ppm, while Monroe County on the other hand wants 2-10 ppm. So to get around this, the health based cleanup goals that are based on risk assessments were not used, but instead this performance based standard of 50 ppm was used. Negotiations are to proceed concering risk assessment for the rest of the site, most notably the tertiary lagoon where the bulk of the PCBs at Winston-Thomas reside. It is possible, though not likely, that performance based standards could be used on other sections of Winston-Thomas and the other sites. West Side of Clear Creek Just across Clear Creek from Winston-Thomas is an area of contamination several acres in size. This area was used for sludge drying and storage, is highly contaminated, and a threat to public health. Much of the area is in the ten year flood plain, and until just recently, open to the public. The City has fenced the area, and placed warning signs along the west side of the fence. [As I have noted in a previous column, there is quite a bit of wildlife in the area. I spotted several grounghog burrows, deer tracks, and rabbits just before the area was fenced. Oh yes, the mulberries are ripe now as well. Do not trap or hunt the animals, or eat wild foods from or near this area. They are contaminated, as are all the fish in Clear Creek. This fact is not well publicized, in fact none of the wildlife other than fish have been tested in this area. But knowing that these animals are eating the plants growing in this sludge is quite enough for me to declare these animals unsafe for consumption without fear of being contradicted. The State has issued its highest warning level of 5 (never eat) for fish in Clear Creek.] The EPA has identified a cleanup level of 15 ppm or less for this floodplain area, and Westinghouse has drafted a plan for cleanup, though they have not actually agreed to do the work. It is quite possible that the EPA will order the cleanup unilaterally, though they would prefer cooperation from Westinghouse. The Westinghouse plan is to dig out all materials above 25 ppm, and ship this to a TSCA landfill (for toxic wastes.) The area around the highly contaminated area is contaminated too, but a level less than 25 ppm. It is proposed that this material be scraped down and then placed in the "hole" created by the removal of the more highly contaminated sludge. This would then be covered by 6-18 inches of clean fill and left in place. Materials that do not fit in the hole, but are still contaminated up to 25 ppm will go to a special wastes landfill, most likely to a site somewhere in Indiana. The TSCA materials will be trucked from the site to the nearest railhead, and loaded onto trains for shipment. Lemon Lane Perimeter sampling is needed at Lemon Lane for the human health risk assessment phase. Westinghouse has proposed a conceptual sampling plan, but only for PCBs. The EPA will do limited sampling for dioxins, furans, and heavy metals. This sampling should be completed this year. Additional sampling of fish is needed for the ecological risk assessment. Time is running out to complete the assessements at Lemon Lane. Westinghouse will be drafting the risk assessments under EPA guidance. COPA has hired professional karst hydrologist Gareth Davies, who will be reviewing all of the water sampling data at Lemon Lane. He met with the Wesinghouse staff, toured the site, and took with him all the sampling data. He will submit his review to COPA, who will share it with both the Parties and the public. There is new guidance at the EPA about the risks associated with PCBs in relationship to cancer, and there is also concern about the newly documented non-cancer risks (reproductive, hormonal, and developmental abnormalities). This means that if this process is delayed, these newer standards may have to be instituted, causing more delay in the process. If there is to be work done this year, resolution of a number of issues will have to happen quickly. ICC Springs has a continuing release of PCBs in the range of 15-20 ppm, but during storm events, the concentration levels rise into the hundreds, the highest reading so far being 527 ppm. Westinghouse has been experimenting with berming the southwest corner of the landfill, thus diverting water from the most contaminated portion of the site, hoping thus to lower the PCB concentrations being released at ICC Springs, where the majority of the water from Lemon Lane seems to travel. Berming just the corner did not affect PCB concentrations, and so they have been pumping water away from most of the south side of the site, along the railroad tracks, but results of this work are not yet available. Westinghouse hopes that if they can reduce the concentrations and flow rates of PCBS exiting at the Springs, then they will not have to remove the "hot spots" (areas of especially high PCB concentrations) from the landfill. The EPA feels that the hot spots will have to be removed before permenantly capping the site, and that a water treatment plant will have to be built at the Springs. The question about the treatment plant is how large will it be, and of course Westinghouse is interested in building the smallest plant possible that will do the job, and this is why they are experimenting with berming around the landfill, hoping to reduce the volume of water they will have to treat (in perpetuity). |
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