$600,000 spent on cleanup of non-hazardous site
Copyright 1998 Associated Press
December 20, 1998
About $ 600,000 and eight years went into cleaning up a Superfund site here
that Environmental Protection Agency officials now say posed no threat to
public health.
In the end, the cleanup was driven by a concern for wildlife that might eat
contaminated worms, though
one particular rodent never was found on the 1.3-acre former site of the
Beaunit Circular Knit and Dyeing textile plant.
The landowner, Wilson Sporting Goods, and past owners funded the $ 600,000
cleanup, though EPA did pay some costs, federal officials said.
"Certain people were surprised it ended up being a National Priority List site," said Steve Sandler, EPA site project
manager.
"Hindsight is always perfect vision. This site was cleaned up because of concern
for wildlife in the area, not for human health."
South Carolina studies in the 1980s found toxic chemicals and heavy metals in
soil and a lagoon used for dye waste disposal from 1951 to 1977. One sample
showed high levels of PCBs, a toxic chemical capable of causing
cancer.
Other contaminants
found included arsenic, benzene and napthalene. Arsenic is cancerous and can
cause nausea, vomiting and diarrhea. Benzene is cancerous and can
cause drowsiness, headaches and tremors. Napthalene is not cancerous, but can
cause damage to red blood cells, vomiting and blood in the urine.
The site was named to the
Superfund list in 1990.
By 1995, the EPA had found no groundwater contamination and said the site posed
no hazard to neighbors even if they had lived on top of the site, Sandler said.
Workers found no PCBs and only small amounts of other chemicals confined to the
soil, he
said.
But he said the cleanup was necessary because of a potential threat to wildlife.
The concern was that some species would eat worms that had been in the soil, he
said.
"It was believed that the site was dangerous," Sandler said.
"It was rated severe enough based on the situation we knew at the time, he said.
Sandler
said 120,000 gallons of contaminated surface water from the lagoon was trucked
to the Western Carolina Regional Sewer Authority for treatment. Bad soil was
replaced with clean soil.
A clay and synthetic cap was put over the lagoon to prevent rainwater from
entering. A chain link fence has been installed to
surround the site, Sandler said.
The EPA must monitor the site for five years before it can be removed from the
Superfund list.
Comments on this posting?
Click here to post a public comment on the Trash Talk
Bulletin Board.
Click here to send a private comment to the Junkman.
Material presented on this home page constitutes opinion of Steven J. Milloy.
Copyright © 1998 Steven
J. Milloy. All rights reserved on original material. Material copyrighted by others is used either with permission or under a claim of "fair
use." Site developed and hosted by WestLake
Solutions, Inc.