Minden resident Darrell Thomas comments on a United States Environmental Protection Agency plan to remediate contaminated soil in his community at an EPA-held meeting there, March 21, 2023.
Minden resident Darrell Thomas comments on a United States Environmental Protection Agency plan to remediate contaminated soil in his community at an EPA-held meeting there, March 21, 2023.
Over a year after releasing a $15.5 million proposal to remedy contaminated soil in a Fayette County community dogged by environmental health concerns, delay still rules the day.
After saying the United States Environmental Protection Agency initially said it hoped to announce a selected remedy for the Superfund site in Minden by the end of September 2023, EPA spokesperson Kelly Offner said Tuesday the state Department of Environmental Protection needs to concur for the EPA’s “Record of Decision†to be finalized and made public.
But EPA spokesperson Mark Ferrell acknowledged it’s not statutorily necessary for a state to concur on a Record of Decision, although he added in an email it is “much preferred.†Ferrell added West Virginia would have to sign a Superfund contract to fund construction costs, a step that would come later in the design process.
The EPA estimated in March that its proposal for excavating and disposing of the soil contaminated by polychlorinated biphenyls, or PCBs, would cost $15.5 million. Aaron Mroz, EPA remedial project manager, said in March 2023 he hoped the EPA would announce its selected remedy by the end of September of last year.
Offner said in a December email that EPA and state officials “have been conducting additional internal reviews†of a Record of Decision document in which it would choose a remedy. Offner said then that the Record of Decision was taking longer than expected to finish largely because of updated cost estimates needed to ensure that the administrative record is accurate and complete.
On Tuesday, Offner said the EPA and DEP had agreed on a cleanup plan and that the DEP is evaluating options to pay its percentage of the cleanup, wanting to secure its portion of necessary funds before signing off on the Record of Decision.
Offner cited federal statute requiring a state to pay 10% of costs of remedial action.
Offner said it would take roughly two weeks to update the administrative record and complete final approval after the DEP concurs.
The EPA has said its proposal would constitute complete removal of all soil below a 1-acre impervious cap and barrier contaminated by PCBs and replacement with clean backfill. The impervious cap and barrier were installed from 2000 to 2001 because of high PCB levels in soil at the site after a fire at the Shaffer Equipment Co. building.
PCBs have been known to cause cancer and have been linked to low birth weight and immune system effects. PCBs were domestically manufactured through the 1970s. The EPA said the chemicals were released into the environment on former Shaffer Equipment property because of the company’s mismanagement of electrical transformers.
The site within the Arbuckle Creek floodplain was added in May 2019 to the EPA’s National Priorities List, a list under the agency’s Superfund program of sites of national priority among known or threatened releases of hazardous substances throughout the country.
Shaffer Equipment built electrical substations for the coal mining industry from approximately 1970 to 1983, the EPA said in its proposal.
The agency has said its aim is to prevent migration of contaminants from soil source materials to groundwater and surface water and sediments within Arbuckle Creek and downstream wetlands, and to prevent direct exposure to soil exceeding the EPA’s proposed cleanup level, including through inhalation, skin contact and ingestion.
An August 2022 human health risk assessment at the site found cancer risk double the regulatory threshold for potential future resident exposure to chemicals of concern in total soil (ingestion, skin contact and inhalation). The assessment found a noncarcinogenic hazard double the regulatory threshold for potential future child resident exposure to chemicals of concern in surface soil (ingestion and skin contact).
Minden residents have unsuccessfully lobbied the EPA to support relocating them away from the Superfund site and were frustrated by the agency’s plan to spend over $15 million on moving dirt instead of people.
“$16 million, you could buy just about everybody out down here,†lifelong Minden resident Darrell Thomas told federal officials at an EPA meeting in March. “People that want to go, they could get the hell out of here and you’d have money left over.â€
