Chronology of the Westinghouse Sharon plant
What happened to Westinghouse itself?
Published Tuesday, Nov. 3, 1998 A 35-year employee of the plant, the South Pymatuning Township resident stopped to hear if a deal really is in hand to clean the plant of contaminated water and soil. He worked at the plant when nearly all of it closed in 1985.
"I didn't think it would be closed for this long,'' Goga said. "I think something could have been done a long time ago.''
On the day before Election Day, politicians and bureaucrats stood in line at the sprawling plant to say that the long-awaited cleanup is set to begin.
"This is a great day for the Shenango Valley and I am pleased to announce that the end is in sight and we are on our way to seeing the doors of the Westinghouse plant reopen,'' said U.S. Rep. Phil English.
The 21st District Republican Congressman from Erie brokered a deal with the federal Environmental Protection Agency, Westinghouse and the state Department of Environmental Protection to allow a final cleanup of the Superfund site to begin.
English got involved in the stalled negotiations in 1996 to prod the cleanup along. At the time, all sides were entrenched on where, when and how the cleanup should proceed.
"It was a very difficult thing to jump-start," English said of the negotiations.
The Shenango Valley Initiative, a grass-roots church-based organization, collected more than 7,000 petitions urging the quick cleanup of the site.
Monsignor William Karg, an SVI leader, said the cleanup is an accomplishment for the community.
"When a community gets on the move it can do wonderful things,'' Karg said. "If people didn't sign the petition, this wouldn't have gone anywhere.''
After a final cleanup plan was submitted for the plant in July, a deal was finally reached which satisfied all three sides. Many a bureaucrat foundered in past attempts.
Four years ago Peter H. Kostmayer, administrator of the EPA's Region III promised to push the agency's engineers to approve a final plan for cleaning up the site by the end of 1995.
Within months of making that pledge Kostmayer was fired over a political feud regarding environmental waste at a West Virginia plant.
Now though, the politics behind the cleanup have been resolved, say local politicians.
"It's going to happen,'' said state Rep. Michael C. Gruitza, D-7th District, Hermitage.
This time the goods have been delivered, said Gordon Taylor, principal engineer for CBS law and environmental affairs. CBS Corp. bought much of the industrial businesses of Westinghouse. Westinghouse will continue to exist as an operating business under CBS until the final sale of its energy unit in Monroeville, Pa., is completed.
"This is the first time we have a working document in our hands,'' Taylor said.
He expected cleanup to take between a year and 18 months. He would not give a cost estimate for the work.
"Today's announcement is a major step forward, not only in terms of cleanup of the site, but also in preparing this property for other uses that will benefit the Shenango Valley,'' Taylor said.
Preliminary work began last month with the removal of wood-block and other contaminated floor sections and disposal of furniture and equipment.
By spring the company will begin cleaning nearly 3 million square feet of floors, walls and ceilings with a high-pressure steam wash to remove lead-based paint, Taylor said. Steam cleaning can't begin until then because low temperatures would freeze the water.
Soil contaminated with polychlorinated biphenyls, a carcinogen, will be encapsulated or injected with pollution-eating enzymes, Taylor said. Westinghouse used PCBs in producing electrical transformers at the plant.
"We're going to clean it up,'' said James M. Seif, Secretary of the Department of Environmental Protection. "Making old industrial sites such as the former Westinghouse facility safe for communities and available for redevelopment is proof that environmental protection and economic development go hand-in-hand.''
Shenango Valley Industrial Development Corp., a local nonprofit development group, has expressed an interest in buying and developing the plant.
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Chronology of the Westinghouse Sharon plant
What happened to Westinghouse itself?
