Published Friday, November 8, 2002
Herald Business Editor
A proposed Environmental Protection Agency cleanup and monitoring plan at the former Westinghouse Electric Corp. site in Sharon calls for contaminated groundwater to remain in and around the Sharon complex.
That and other details are in the federal agency's cleanup plan for the site which was made public on Thursday. Cost of the cleanup and monitoring at the former transformer plant was pegged at more than $5.7 million, all of which must be absorbed by Westinghouse which now goes by the name Viacom Inc.
EPA's plan is separate from the ongoing Winner Development LLC cleanup inside the plant's buildings which is nearly completed. Winner Development, owned by Jim Winner, bought much of the site in 1999 for a little under $1 million with plans to create a multi-tenant industrial site.
Terms of that sale called for Viacom to pay for any environmental cleanups outside the buildings.
EPA said Winner Development's plans will not be affected by the Viacom cleanup.
"This (plan) has nothing whatsoever to do with what Winner is doing,'' said Victor Janosik, remedial project manager for EPA. "This won't affect his plans for the site in any way.''
Winner said Thursday night he could foresee no effect on his development plans from the Viacom cleanup.
Leaving contaminated groundwater at a location where it won't hurt the environment or human health has become more common, Janosik said.
"Trying to clean up groundwater is many time a nebulous affair,'' he said. "It has proven to be very unsuccessful. In most instances we found we could never get out more than 60 percent of the contaminants.''
He noted no one is using the groundwater at the plant and two years ago the city forbade the drilling of any wells at the site.
EPA's plan calls for continued monitoring to ensure the contaminated groundwater doesn't move towards the nearby Shenango River. Most of the groundwater is located west and southwest of the plant site, Janosik said.
"We have determined the groundwater hasn't reached the river and we never expect it to reach the river,'' Janosik said. "Monitoring is going to be done for a long time, a very long time ... probably 30 years.''
Sharon Mayor David O. Ryan said he gave the proposed cleanup plan a quick review and would rely on the expertise of EPA to keep the contaminated groundwater at the location.
"I more or less have to take their word for it," Ryan said. "They're the experts and are the ones on the job site and if they feel it's contained and isn't going anywhere and will monitor it, I'll rely on them.''
Cost of the monitoring was set at $2.285 million.
The biggest part of the plan calls for $3.18 million to be spent on cleaning sediment and soil in and around the Shenango River just south of the Clark Street bridge. About 260 truckloads of river sediment will be excavated and another 19 truckloads of soil will be removed along the riverbank. Over the years industrial leaks and spills contaminated the area but have not posed a human health threat, Janosik said.
Consumers Pennsylvania Water Co. Shenango Valley Division's intake for its water plant located upstream will be protected during the cleanup, Janosik said.
"We have every intention to ensure the water supply isn't contaminated in any way,'' he said. "There are engineering controls that can be put into place to make sure the water supply isn't interfered with.''
Cleanup of a storm sewer, costing $149,000, will also be completed as part of the plan. EPA will hold a public meeting at 7 p.m. Thursday at the Sharon Municipal Building to explain the proposed plan.
Public comments will be taken until Nov. 30. Within 90 days after the comment period EPA will issue an order detailing the final cleanup plans. The design for those plans is expected to take between three to six months with work to begin in late summer or early fall. Cleanup work is expected to take a year.
The site was used for industry under various owners starting shortly after the turn of the 20th century. Westinghouse operated the 58-acre plant from 1922 until closing it in 1985. In 1990 the plant was placed on the federal Superfund list due to chemicals, mostly polychlorinated biphenyls (better known as PCBs), being found in various buildings and in the soil and groundwater.
The proposed cleanup plan is at Shenango Valley Community Library, and can also be found on the Internet:
www.epa.gov/arweb