Source: Time Record (Fort Smith, AR), January 25, 2014
Posted on: http://envfpn.advisen.com
Whirlpool Corp. submitted to the state Friday what it calls a revised work plan to address contamination in soil and groundwater at its dormant Fort Smith plant.
The latest submission is a requirement of a long-term cleanup plan, called a Final Remedial Action Decision Document, the Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality approved in December.
“We were required within 30 days to submit a revised work plan that basically outlines the science-driven elements of what we will do to make sure the RADD goals are met,” company spokesman Jeff Noel said Friday.
Soil and groundwater at the plant are contaminated with trichloroethylene, known as TCE, a substance classified as a human carcinogen by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. TCE also has been found in groundwater underneath about 50 homes north of the plant.
The long-term, state-approved cleanup plan cites several remedies, such as covering impacted soil on Whirlpool’s property with asphalt. The plan also calls for institutional controls and treatment of groundwater with a chemical oxidant, as recommended by Environ, Whirlpool’s environmental consulting firm.
Prepared by Environ, the work plan submitted Friday calls for pilot chemical injections this year, leading up to full-scale treatment in early 2016.
“What it does in my opinion is lays out a set of building blocks that will now be followed to really allow us to attack the site,” Noel said. “Success is going to come from a combination of the (chemical) treatment and natural attenuation.”
Noel said the plan will be refined based on results from the pilot testing.
“It’s almost mirror-imaging what we will do when we do the full-scale treatment,” he said, “but doing it in a finite way so we can really prove out all the things we’re doing.”
In mid-January, Whirlpool submitted its first “Annual Progress Report” to the state’s hazardous waste division. That document explains company actions taken in 2013 and summarizes what 2014 has in store.
In the report, Noel noted the “plume” of contamination is stable, and it’s “safe for people to enjoy their neighborhood.”
A timeline of events provided by Environ indicates that TCE was discovered at the Whirlpool property in May 1989. A few months later, Whirlpool began a voluntary onsite investigation, according to Environ. Whirlpool officials said that in 2001, the company learned the contamination had “migrated off the property to the north.”
The Sebastian County Assessor’s Office shows the contaminated area to include a total of 55 parcels. Three are commercial properties, while 17 are homes in which the owners live. More than 30 are rental properties. All the properties were reduced in value 25 percent to 75 percent by the county in May 2013 based on the contamination.
Although Whirlpool has been working with the state for more than a decade, concerns about the contamination emerged after Whirlpool requested from the city a ban on new wells around its site in January 2013, seven months after the plant closed. That closing ended a half-century of operation at the plant, which opened in 1962 under the ownership of the Norge Co. The Norge plant manufactured freezers, refrigerators and air conditioners. Whirlpool bought the facility in 1966 and expanded its operation over the years.
During a public hearing in November, ADEQ Deputy Director Ryan Benefield said that although “this chemical is toxic,” TCE is not making its way to the surface or expanding in size. He added that Whirlpool’s plan to use a chemical oxidant to treat the contaminated groundwater “will work based on the best information we have.”
Links to documents, a map and other information related to the TCE contamination are packaged together on the city’s website, fortsmithar.gov. Whirlpool has its own site for updates at whirlpoolfortsmith.com.