Groundwater contamination. "Dangerous neglect of water pollutants," is the headline to this editorial today in the Indianapolis Star. Some quotes:
Our position is: Health and environmental officials need to take groundwater contamination more seriously.Access the ILB entry on the Star's Sunday Martinsville story here.Contamination of an aquifer in Martinsville with a cancer-causing solvent used by dry cleaners shows how vulnerable Indiana's groundwater is to pollution -- and how extensive the consequences.
Perchloroethylene -- commonly known as PCE -- is a solvent widely used by dry cleaners for more than a half century. According to an article Sunday by Star reporters Bruce C. Smith and Tammy Webber, high levels of the solvent seeped into soil near a former industrial dry-cleaning operation in the heart of Martinsville. More than a decade later, enough traces of the chemical are showing up in city water supplies a mile away to expose residents to potential health risks and force closure of one of the city's wells. Two nearby wells eventually could be forced to shut down. * * *
What is especially worrisome about this situation is that state and federal authorities long have known that soil at the former Masterwear Corp. dry-cleaning operation was contaminated. Only recently, however, did they determine the extent of that contamination.
Power plant emissions. On a more positive note is this brief story from the Princeton IN Daily Clarion headlined "Cinergy continues its assault on sulfur compound." Some quotes:
PRINCETON--A new blend of lower sulfur coal appears to be working to lower the amount of an unexpected pollution coming from Cinergy's Gibson Generating Station. Amy Hartsock, public information officer for the Indiana Department of Environmental Management, reported Friday that a new blend of fuels introduced to the boiler Thursday night has reduced the emission of sulfur trioxide.Brownfields grants. More information about the recent federal brownfields grants to Indiana is available here in an IDEM press release.
Iron nuggets plant. According to a story in the Mesabi Daily News yesterday:
Two proponents of the enhanced-iron Mesabi Nugget project see the plan progressing in Minnesota, especially in the permitting area, but differ on how close backers and state officials are on financial packaging and how much the state should kick in. * * * Permitting for the Mesabi Nugget project is expected to submitted in an application to the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency for the Hoyt Lakes site. A permit could be expected by around Feb. 1, with commencement of work by March 1, and start-up on expected add-ons to the existing pellet plant could begin next spring, Lehtinen said. * * *More on brownfields grants. The Louisville Courier-Journal has a story today on how New Albany will use its recent grant:A dust-up occurred in February, when project officials, particularly from Steel Dynamics, sought to start the first iron nugget plant in Indiana, which has a much faster permitting process, as permits for the new commercial plant in Silver Bay were expected to take several years. * * * The Indiana plant permit application remains, as strictly a backup plant, [Larry Lehtinen of Two Harbors, president of Mesabi Nugget LLC] said. Were expecting the Hoyt Lake permits to go through.
New Albany has won $400,000 in federal grants to clean up the site for Scribner Place, the downtown project that is to include a YMCA, an indoor swimming complex and a hotel. The two $200,000 grants are the maximum available from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for such cleanups, said John Rosenbarger, director of the New Albany Plan Commission.Biting off too much? "Cities weigh returning land: Charlestown and Jeff had recently added Army site" is the headline to this story today in the Courier-Journal. Some quotes:They will help pay to clean or seal soil that was contaminated with heavy metals, petroleum and other hydrocarbons, the EPA said. The contaminated property, near Main Street, previously was used for a forge, a tire-reprocessing business and other industrial purposes.
After years of legal battles, the cities of Charlestown and Jeffersonville in Indiana are considering reversing their annexations of property at the former Indiana Army Ammunition Plant. The mayors of both communities said yesterday that they have made no final decisions. But they added that such a move might have its advantages. If it happens and the process involved would be complex it would put the land back under the jurisdiction of Clark County. * * *Contaminated soil cleanup. A story today in the Fort Wayne Journal Gazette reports on a DeKalb County soil cleanup controversy. Some quotes:Most of the property is in a 6,000-acre industrial park called the River Ridge Commerce Center. It is widely viewed as one of the best potential sites for economic development in the greater Louisville area. But an environmental cleanup could take years, and the entire park is set up as a tax-increment financing district.
The battle began in May 2003, when Carnes paid to have about 1,500 cubic yards of soil and construction debris more than 90 truckloads moved from an old gas station he owned in Fort Wayne to his DeKalb County property.Posted by Marcia Oddi at June 22, 2004 08:21 AMHe received approval from IDEM to build a remediation cell on the property to clean the dirt, and he built the 270-foot-by-100-foot cell on the southwest corner of his property, spreading the soil across the cell at an average depth of 18 inches.
But neighbors became angry, and the county requested that Carnes file a petition for a special zoning exception because he was changing the use of his farmland. The board denied the zoning change in August and ordered the soil removed, but the contaminated contents remained.
IDEM withdrew approval for the cell in August, but the dirt remained. And when IDEM and SES experts collected six soil samples from the cell in September, five samples tested above target cleanup levels for total petroleum hydrocarbon, and one sample tested above levels for lead, according to the settlement agreement.