Take a 26-year problem that has frustrated city staff and citizens. Add a 703-page solution.What do you get?
A compromise.
Gainesville City Commissioners approved the EPA’s recommendations Thursday for a way to clean up a contaminated former wood processing plant, the Cabot-Koppers Superfund site.
Government consultants explained a 703-page document that laid out the recommendations.
“I think we did get pretty much what we need,”said Chris Bird, the county environmental protection director. “It’s not what we would have liked.”
The commission had the option to approve the EPA’s plan or dismiss it. Federal law doesn’t give the commission the option to change the decision.
“The nature of the remedy is not negotiable,” said Bill Pence, environmental counsel to the city. “It’s just are you going to implement it or not.”
The water will be cleaned with a chemical treatment and the soil would be moved from a roughly 90-acre area and placed on a roughly 30-acre area surrounded by underground walls about 65 feet deep. Two feet of uncontaminated soil will be put on top.
The cleanup could begin as soon as the work plan is completed, which could be this summer.
