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BY GINA CZARK
Times Staff Writer | Saturday, September 04, 2004 | (No comments posted.)
GRIFFITH -- After more than five years of work, cleanup of a local Superfund site is ahead of schedule and nearing completion.
Work on the project at American Chemical Service, 420 Colfax Ave., Griffith, is expected to finish at the end of the month, said Kevin Adler, project manager with Environmental Protection Agency Region 5.
Adler said cleanup of the 36-acre site was originally slated to continue through mid-2005, but cooperation between contractors, individuals and the weather has pushed the project ahead of schedule. He said it took less time than expected to excavate almost 400 55-gallon drums from the property.
"We estimated in January 2001, we'd need at least four years worth of work because there was a lot ahead of us," Adler said. "But we've been lucky and things didn't happen to slow us down."
Officials with American Chemical Service company were unavailable for comment Thursday.
Adler said his agency is in the process of contacting all involved parties so a public announcement can be made in mid-October.
This past week, he said crews have been injecting chemical oxidants into the ground to help destroy chemicals that might be the source of groundwater contamination. Once the project is finished, water quality will be tested annually.
The final stage, which should begin next week, will place soil cover on the site to cut down on the amount of rainwater entering the ground, Adler said.
The cleanup has also included the removal of sediments contaminated with polychlorinated biphenyls, or PCBs, from an adjacent wetland.
Between work already completed and maintenance until at least 2031, Adler predicted the cleanup will cost between $60 million and $65 million.
Between 1994 and 1995, officials with the EPA and Indiana Department of Environmental Management identified about 40 parties partially responsible for the situation and established a $24.5 million cleanup fund from settlement payments.
Once investigators discovered toxic materials were being dumped in the soil from 1955 to 1990, the site was placed on the EPA's Superfund list.
Gina Czark can be reached at gczark@nwitimes.com or (219) 933-3234.
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