Post by JB on Apr 8, 2008 5:14:26 GMT -6
Bad soil contained to corner of Metea High School site
By Justin Kmitch | Daily Herald StaffContact writer Published: 4/8/2008 12:17 AM
For more than a month, Indian Prairie Unit District 204 board members have claimed the future Eola Road site of Metea Valley High School is safe.
Monday evening, the district's environmental experts, armed with several inches of environmental analysis, backed them up.
Three managers from Testing Service Corp. told board members and parents that only the northeastern 15.5 acres of the 87-acre tract, just south of Diehl Road, contained areas contaminated with diesel fuel and PCB contaminants.
The contaminated soil, though it needs to be remediated, will not delay construction of the third high school.
The reports
Board members have had copies of the report since early March, but a confidentiality agreement with Midwest Generation prohibited them from sharing the Phase 1 and Phase 2 environmental site assessments until Monday night.
Brian Walker, a Testing Service section manager, said the first phase of the assessments reviewed the site's history and uses with the help of federal, state and local environmental agency records and interviews with local people familiar with the site.
"From as early as we could tell, predating the 1900s, the property was mostly farmland and used for agricultural purposes," Walker said. "Commonwealth Edison bought the site in 1969 and developed the northeast corner into an electrical peaker system and a lineman's training facility."
Midwest Generation purchased the site in 1999 and continued using the site as a peaker plant facility, using natural gas and burning fuel oil to generate energy on an as-needed basis. The plant was decommissioned in 2004 and is now being dismantled.
According to the consultant's report, fuel spills were reported at the plant in 1993, 1994, 1996 and 2002. The largest was a 2002 spill, caused by human error, that saw 10,500 gallons of diesel fuel spill from the peaker unit, through the waste oil drain system and into a retention pond. Approximately 8,000 gallons were removed from the pond.
Based on those recorded spills and the likelihood that contamination occurred at the site, Walker said Phase 2 studies were recommended for the site housing the peaker plant. The remaining 71.5 acres were found to have no environmental contamination.
Steve Heuer, the group's section manager for the second phase of studies, said that as recently as February, 90 soil samples were taken in and around the plant location and six ground water monitoring wells were installed.
The samples were analyzed for contaminants commonly associated with electricity plants, including diesel fuel, transformer oil, anti-freeze and other volatile compounds including pesticides.
According to the report, five soil samples in four areas were deemed contaminated with diesel fuel and transformer oil and in need of remediation.
Project manager Todd DePaul, however, said Monday the tainted soil is harmful only if it is eaten and digested. An unlikely scenario, he said, on a high school campus.
District President Mark Metzger reiterated Monday that he's confident in the reports and believes the contaminants will be easily and safely removed.
Recommendations
Heuer recommended that the district enroll the site in a voluntary Illinois Environmental Protection Agency site remediation program.
"It's not been done yet because the owner has to sign the enrollment form, and that's Midwest Generation," Heuer said. "It's my understanding that they have not agreed to do that."
Two options to clean up the site, as part of a remediation program, include removing the contaminated soil and taking it to a licensed disposal facility.
Heuer said the IEPA will allow the soil to stay in place as long as it is covered by paved asphalt or a concrete building floor.
Superintendent Stephen Daeschner said the site will be enrolled in the program once contracts for the land are finalized. That process could take six months to a year to complete, but Daeschner said it will not delay construction.
"That area is set to house tennis courts and we don't need those for two or three years, so if we have to put a fence up around the baby and let it sit, that's just what we'll have to do," he said.
Site plans for the school show a majority of the site is dedicated to maintenance equipment storage. The rest will be storm water retention and the tennis courts.
The 3,000-student school is scheduled to open in the fall of 2009. Some have feared the delay in releasing the reports would hamper that timeframe.
"That area's not essential to us right now so we'll work around it," Daeschner reiterated. "We're still on target for August 2009."
Public comment
About 100 district parents and residents attended the meeting and only five chose to comment on the reports. Others said they need more time to analyze the data the board members have had for months.
The loudest public comment, however, was made outside the Crouse Education Center, 780 Shoreline Drive, in Aurora, where Naperville resident and district parent Sam Adams greeted board members and residents while dressed in a hazardous material suit and holding a student checklist including haz-mat suits and electromagnetic field protection.
Several folks threw him an "atta boy" or "good for you," but board member Bruce Glawe was not amused.
"You should come upstairs and get educated," Glawe said as he walked by.
"I'm just giving everyone something to think about tonight while they listen to those reports," Adams said.
By Justin Kmitch | Daily Herald StaffContact writer Published: 4/8/2008 12:17 AM
For more than a month, Indian Prairie Unit District 204 board members have claimed the future Eola Road site of Metea Valley High School is safe.
Monday evening, the district's environmental experts, armed with several inches of environmental analysis, backed them up.
Three managers from Testing Service Corp. told board members and parents that only the northeastern 15.5 acres of the 87-acre tract, just south of Diehl Road, contained areas contaminated with diesel fuel and PCB contaminants.
The contaminated soil, though it needs to be remediated, will not delay construction of the third high school.
The reports
Board members have had copies of the report since early March, but a confidentiality agreement with Midwest Generation prohibited them from sharing the Phase 1 and Phase 2 environmental site assessments until Monday night.
Brian Walker, a Testing Service section manager, said the first phase of the assessments reviewed the site's history and uses with the help of federal, state and local environmental agency records and interviews with local people familiar with the site.
"From as early as we could tell, predating the 1900s, the property was mostly farmland and used for agricultural purposes," Walker said. "Commonwealth Edison bought the site in 1969 and developed the northeast corner into an electrical peaker system and a lineman's training facility."
Midwest Generation purchased the site in 1999 and continued using the site as a peaker plant facility, using natural gas and burning fuel oil to generate energy on an as-needed basis. The plant was decommissioned in 2004 and is now being dismantled.
According to the consultant's report, fuel spills were reported at the plant in 1993, 1994, 1996 and 2002. The largest was a 2002 spill, caused by human error, that saw 10,500 gallons of diesel fuel spill from the peaker unit, through the waste oil drain system and into a retention pond. Approximately 8,000 gallons were removed from the pond.
Based on those recorded spills and the likelihood that contamination occurred at the site, Walker said Phase 2 studies were recommended for the site housing the peaker plant. The remaining 71.5 acres were found to have no environmental contamination.
Steve Heuer, the group's section manager for the second phase of studies, said that as recently as February, 90 soil samples were taken in and around the plant location and six ground water monitoring wells were installed.
The samples were analyzed for contaminants commonly associated with electricity plants, including diesel fuel, transformer oil, anti-freeze and other volatile compounds including pesticides.
According to the report, five soil samples in four areas were deemed contaminated with diesel fuel and transformer oil and in need of remediation.
Project manager Todd DePaul, however, said Monday the tainted soil is harmful only if it is eaten and digested. An unlikely scenario, he said, on a high school campus.
District President Mark Metzger reiterated Monday that he's confident in the reports and believes the contaminants will be easily and safely removed.
Recommendations
Heuer recommended that the district enroll the site in a voluntary Illinois Environmental Protection Agency site remediation program.
"It's not been done yet because the owner has to sign the enrollment form, and that's Midwest Generation," Heuer said. "It's my understanding that they have not agreed to do that."
Two options to clean up the site, as part of a remediation program, include removing the contaminated soil and taking it to a licensed disposal facility.
Heuer said the IEPA will allow the soil to stay in place as long as it is covered by paved asphalt or a concrete building floor.
Superintendent Stephen Daeschner said the site will be enrolled in the program once contracts for the land are finalized. That process could take six months to a year to complete, but Daeschner said it will not delay construction.
"That area is set to house tennis courts and we don't need those for two or three years, so if we have to put a fence up around the baby and let it sit, that's just what we'll have to do," he said.
Site plans for the school show a majority of the site is dedicated to maintenance equipment storage. The rest will be storm water retention and the tennis courts.
The 3,000-student school is scheduled to open in the fall of 2009. Some have feared the delay in releasing the reports would hamper that timeframe.
"That area's not essential to us right now so we'll work around it," Daeschner reiterated. "We're still on target for August 2009."
Public comment
About 100 district parents and residents attended the meeting and only five chose to comment on the reports. Others said they need more time to analyze the data the board members have had for months.
The loudest public comment, however, was made outside the Crouse Education Center, 780 Shoreline Drive, in Aurora, where Naperville resident and district parent Sam Adams greeted board members and residents while dressed in a hazardous material suit and holding a student checklist including haz-mat suits and electromagnetic field protection.
Several folks threw him an "atta boy" or "good for you," but board member Bruce Glawe was not amused.
"You should come upstairs and get educated," Glawe said as he walked by.
"I'm just giving everyone something to think about tonight while they listen to those reports," Adams said.
We do not know the game plan because once again we don't have all the information.