Source: http://www.gazettextra.com, July 20, 2016
By: Elliot Hughes
General Motors plans to transfer its environmental liabilities to whomever purchases its defunct assembly plant in Janesville, a city official said.
Paul Woodard, the city’s public works director, and other city staff met with GM’s environmental team Wednesday to discuss contamination issues related to the 250-acre property being marketed for sale.
The recently-discovered contamination of Rock River sediment near the property would not be included in that liability transfer, Woodard said.
Woodard said there are too many environmental liabilities for GM to clean up on the property’s northern site before December, when the company hopes to have the property sold. He said GM is instead focusing on identifying all contamination issues before the sale.
“There’s no way you can get through all the cleanup work by the end of the year,” Woodard said.
In June, GM released an environmental report that notes dozens of locations within the property that are contaminated with hazardous substances, such as petroleum and various metals.
Woodard said GM is still finishing more environmental evaluations of the northern site.
Meanwhile, at the southern portion of the property known as the haul-away yard, remediation efforts are complete, Woodard said.
Officials with the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources were not present at Wednesday’s meeting. Woodard said he expects city officials, GM and the DNR to meet sometime after July to come to a resolution on how to fix the Rock River sediment contamination.
That problem was revealed in a Janesville-sponsored study in January and was corroborated by a GM study released in June.
Janesville’s study concluded the sediment in question, along the banks near to GM’s property, must be removed to avoid harming some aquatic life. Humans are not at risk, officials have said.
It has not been determined how the sediment will be removed, but Janesville’s report and a DNR official in June said GM is likely the cause. A GM spokeswoman in January said the company would cooperate with “any cleanup scenarios that might be required.”
In June, city officials revealed GM has identified four “qualified parties,” or finalists, to purchase the property. All of them specialize in some form of acquiring and redeveloping commercial and industrial sites.