EPA work on hold

The summer cleanup of soils contaminated with heavy amounts of lead and arsenic is over.

After cleaning up 28 properties, the Emergency Response team has disbanded for the time being.

Last Monday, Diana Hammer, from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and Darryl Read, from the Department of Quality (DEQ), visited with residents and Superior’s town council to provide an update on the work that was done and the work that’s still to come.

In 2009, the EPA sampled 317 homes and this summer sampled an additional 267 properties.

“We had a tremendous response,” Hammer said. “Between last year and this year, we doubled what we expected to do. We want to thank you for getting the word out that it was best to get your yard sampled.”

While the results from this year have yet to be analyzed, Hammer said, for the most part, many properties received a clean bill of health.

“The good news is that 86 percent of the properties are clean,” Hammer said. “They have no contamination that we’re concerned with. That’s fantastic. The clear message when we came in was that you wanted a clean bill of health.”

Of the remaining homes, four percent need removal and nine percent, which is about 50 homes, Hammer said the levels were in between and that further investigation will need to be conducted.

Properties with 3,000 parts per million are considered hot properties. From last year’s sampling, 25 homes were cleaned up this year. Hammer said that they were also able to clean up an additional three homes that were found to have dangerously elevated levels this summer.

“And that was our hope, that while the response team was here they could come in and clean some additional homes that we found during this year’s testing,” She said.

Approximately 7,000 cubic yards of soil were cleaned out of yards and put into the temporary repository down by the airport.

“We were thankful to have the area for short term use,” Hammer said. “We were in a pinch. We were planning the removal, but didn’t have a place to take the soils.”

The plan is to build a permanent repository. Reed said they’ve identified a piece of property, a flat piece of Wood Gulch, which could be a potential repository. The piece of land initially belonged to the Forest Service, but through a land swap, the Department of Natural Resources (DNRC) has acquired it. Reed said that the DNRC is “favorable for allowing a repository there.”

“Through geotechnical investigations and visits to the site. It’s a great place for a repository,” Reed said. “It’s flat, far from Flat Creek and the ground water is deep enough.”

While the transfer hasn’t been completed, it is just a formality. He said the DNRC will likely want the property to be transferred to another entity.

“Eventually, they’d probably like to see the property transferred to another entity,” Reed said.

With that being the case, the DEQ would assume ownership of the property. Reed said the DNRC doesn’t want to be responsible for the unknown maintenance and operation long term.

While they cannot start building the repository, Reed said, they are planning to start looking at different designs and begin planning it.

Results from the 4,000 samples collected this summer should be complete sometime this winter and Hammer noted that she suspects they will be holding a meeting in January to discuss those results. She also said when they’re approaching next year’s removal season they will probably hold another town meeting again.

Hammer and Reed thanked the town council for the opportunity to talk to them and give them an update about where things stand with the removal process. Hammer noted that there are many components to the process and that they plan to keep everyone up-to-date as things move forward with the project.