Martinsville Superfund site to receive infrastructure law funding as part of cleanup - Reporter-Times
MARTINSVILLE — Federal funding from the bipartisan infrastructure law passed by Congress earlier this year will accelerate the removal of toxic chemicals at dozens of Superfund sites across the country, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) officials announced Friday, Dec. 17.
The agency will use $1 billion from the first wave of the $1.2 trillion spending package to address 49 previously unfunded cleanup projects in 24 states, including one in Indiana.
“For more than 100 years, the upper Midwest was the nation’s industrial center. But when factories and mills closed they left behind a legacy of toxic sites that are challenging to clean up,” EPA Regional Administrator Debra Shore said in a news release announcing the funding allocation. “The bipartisan infrastructure law will fund stalled cleanups at seven Superfund sites in Michigan, Ohio, Wisconsin, and Indiana and accelerate our efforts to restore and revitalize communities here in the Midwest.”
In Martinsville, the funds will be used specifically to address vapor contamination in homes and businesses near the Pike and Mulberry Streets PCE Plume Superfund site, which is located in the downtown area and stretches northwest toward the Artesian Little League Baseball fields and southeast just beyond the intersection of Jackson and Sycamore streets.
The federal agency has already conducted indoor air sampling in the area, and with the added funding will now be able to more quickly install vapor mitigation systems on affected structures, officials said. In addition, the funds will allow the agency to install groundwater and soil vapor treatment systems to address the source of the vapor contamination.
There are three other contamination plumes in the city of Martinsville, though they are not Superfund sites and are therefore ineligible for the funding.
History
The origin of the groundwater contamination can be traced back to the former Master Wear dry cleaning facility, which was located on the west side of the courthouse square in downtown Martinsville from January 1986 to November 1991. The company used the synthetic compound tetrachloroethylene, better known as PCE, to perform laundering and dry cleaning at its facility, according to an EPA report from earlier this year.
During that time, the Indiana Department of Environmental Management (IDEM) received multiple complaints of illegal dumpling and mishandling of waste drums at the facility, according to the report.
In November 2002, the PCE concentration in one of the city's drinking wells was found to have exceeded federal safe drinking water standards, and the well was closed for three years while the city diverted its drinking water supply to the other two wells in its municipal wellfield.
Three years later, the city installed a carbon filtration system — which is still in use — to help remove PCE contaminates from the water supply before it reaches customers.
In May 2013, the EPA added the site to the Superfund program’s National Priorities List, allowing the federal agency to study site conditions further, identify possible sources of contamination and develop a strategy to address all locations and sources of the contamination. Most importantly, it made the Superfund site eligible for federal funding.
By 2016, the EPA was conducting vapor intrusion sampling as part of its remedial investigation, identifying at least two properties where vapor intrusion was an issue. Further investigation showed that as many as 230 properties were in the area of potential concern.
Earlier this year, the agency released its Record of Decision (ROD) for the site, which included its preferred method of cleanup. Known as "in situ chemical reduction," it is intended to destroy the contamination through the injection of iron or carbon derivatives while mitigating the effects of vapor intrusion.
City officials had asked the EPA to consider using a different method known as sorbent reactive media, sometimes referred to as Plume Stop, as a potential remedy to the contamination. In its ROD, federal officials said they did not consider that method to be cost-effective.
Martinsville Mayor Kenny Costin said he hopes the EPA will consider using some of the infrastructure law funding to revisit that cleanup method.
Erik Hardin, remedial project manager for the Superfund site, said the agency could potentially explore other options but plans to stay the course.
"The record of decision that was issued earlier this year was our final cleanup decision," Hardin said. "It is possible to reassess those [decisions] when we are presented with new data that would suggest that what we were working on was not the right way to go."
Access to homes remains critical
When the EPA first began seeking access to properties to test for vapor intrusion in 2016, they faced resistance from homeowners, Hardin said. Out of 230 properties that were identified as areas for concern, the agency was only able to gain access to 50 of them.
In October, the EPA began reaching out to homes and businesses to conduct further testing for vapor intrusion.
This time around, they are having more success, in part due to the EPA's own community outreach efforts but also to the Martinsville community for becoming more invested in the process.
Earlier this year, a Community Advisory Group (CAG) was formed to help inform local residents about the importance of testing for vapor intrusion.
"We've had a lot of help from the community," says Kirstin Safakas, community involvement coordinator for the Superfund site. "It's felt really collaborative this time."
City officials have also taken action. In September, Martinsville Common Council passed an environmental restrictive ordinance that restricts well usage for properties located in any of the city's four groundwater plumes where the water is known to be contaminated with toxic chemicals like PCE.
Hardin said the EPA still plans to begin this new round of vapor intrusion testing in January 2022. Colder months are an ideal time for testing because higher levels of contaminants are more likely to occur during the winter, when a person's home is kept closed off from the elements.
If all goes according to plan, vapor intrusion mitigation systems could be installed in affected homes and businesses by late spring of next year, he said.
Contact reporter Peter Blanchard at 765-346-2942 or [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @peterlblanchard.
source: https://www.reporter-times.com/story/news/2021/12/22/martinsville-superfund-site-infrastructure-law-funds-epa/8945760002/
Your content is great. However, if any of the content contained herein violates any rights of yours, including those of copyright, please contact us immediately by e-mail at media[@]kissrpr.com.