Source: http://swtimes.com, January 28, 2015
By: Chad Hunter
Meeting with a Whirlpool Corp. representative and environmental consultant Tuesday, Fort Smith leaders posed questions about cleanup efforts at the closed, contaminated plant on Jenny Lind Road.
Whirlpool spokesman Jeff Noel and Mike Ellis, a civil engineer with Environ, met with the Fort Smith Board of Directors to discuss a progress report detailing actions taken in 2014 to address the groundwater and soil contaminated with trichloroethylene, a toxic substance known as TCE.
At-Large Director Kevin Settle said he was concerned about the nearby Fort Smith Boys & Girls Club. At the Whirlpool property’s northeast corner near club property, TCE was discovered in one of nine groundwater samples taken in 2014.
“So my question is, go back to the early ’80s, ’90s, boys and girls were swimming in that pool,” Settle said. “How do we guarantee that nothing happened to those kids back then? I was one of those kids.”
Settle added that data suggest “there has to be something there or was something there.”
“We don’t know because we weren’t taking samples,” he said.
Ellis said the groundwater contamination extends to a corner of club property used as a ball field.
“I can’t guarantee nothing was there,” Ellis said, “but I can tell you the current status and what we monitor today; that’s the extent.”
Noel said Whirlpool discovered the contaminated groundwater near the club following voluntary testing. “The fact is there is no pathways (for TCE),” he said.
Whirlpool has been working with the Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality for more than a decade on a plan to clean the property. In December 2013, the state approved of Whirlpool’s cleanup plan.
Last year, chemicals to combat TCE were injected into the property. Also, soil was removed from a “hot spot” near a building where TCE was used between the late 1960s and early 1980s before it was deemed harmful, according to Whirlpool. TCE concentrations there fell 50 percent afterward, Noel said.
“We are seeing that 83 percent of all the monitoring wells are stable or showing decreased levels of concentrations of TCE,” Noel said. “I think that is very significant.”
Fort Smith At-Large Director Don Hutchings asked, “Does that mean that 17 percent are expanding?”
Noel said the other wells “do have variations of concentrations.
“It’s what you would expect on a site like this,” he added.
Ward 1 Director Keith Lau referred to a letter from ADEQ to Whirlpool that states less than 1 percent of an estimated 28,900 cubic yards of contaminated soil near the degreaser building was removed. The state report notes that although the area is no longer feeding a northern plume of contamination, it may be a source for an expanding southern plume.
“Therefore, reduction or elimination of this contamination source is essential,” the ADEQ letter states.
Lau told Noel and Ellis, “It appears that ADEQ thinks you guys are moving too slowly in remediation of the soils.”
“I think my point is I’m concerned because ADEQ is concerned that we’re not moving fast enough,” Lau said.
Noel said, “We take ADEQ’s concerns very seriously, as well.”
“We’re trying to address it based on the knowledge we have, the facts and science we have submitted,” Noel said. “We sit down with them. Usually, it’s a really good process, the give and take, at arriving at what is the right thing to do.”
Whirlpool’s property has been contaminated since at least 1989 when TCE was discovered at the site, according to Environ. It was in 2001 that Whirlpool says it discovered TCE migrated off company property and into a neighborhood to the north.
Sebastian County Assessor Becky Yandell reduced the value of properties in and around the contaminated area 25 percent to 75 percent. The contaminated area includes a total of 55 parcels, Yandell said. Three are commercial properties, while 17 are homes in which the owners live. More than 30 are rental properties.
“We have continued to work with attorneys representing many of the property owners to find a fair resolution,” Noel said. “We went through a class settlement, which was rejected by the judge. The offer through the class was to basically make all of the property owners whole equal to what the county assessor had determined was the impact on property values, plus up that an additional 33 percent.”
Noel said “numerous” property owners have accepted Whirlpool’s offer.
“We’re now moving forward with finalizing the agreements and then making payments to those individual property owners,” he said. “Once we have concluded that, we will go out and talk to property owners not represented by attorneys making sure they understand what it is that we’re offering.”
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