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DEQ seeks inclusion of more sites in PCB cleanup
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Posted on Nov 20 2000
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers may have to widen the scope of its cleanup in Tanapag village to include previous sites which still have high levels of polychlorinated biphenyl contamination in soil.
Only 18 sites in the village which are considered hot spots are included in phase III of the PCB cleanup. The Army Corps and its contractor, the Environmental Chemical Corp., has already acquired a permit from the Division of Public Lands to begin work on public land areas.
DEQ, however, claims that there are more sites to be included in the cleanup based on the Army Corps’ own record.
The new cleanup level has been set at 1 ppm which was way below the previous remediation goal of 10 ppm in 1995. During the cleanup in phase II , only areas in the village with PCB contamination beyond 10 ppm were excavated and covered with clean soil.
According to Ignacio Cabrera, director of the Division of Environmental Quality, the Army Corps and ECC would have to find those areas in the village where PCB contamination is still greater than 1 ppm so that these can be excavated to conform to the present remediation goal of 1 ppm.
“We want the Army Corps to look at their own record and the workplan so that we can address this issue right away. This is a big concern which must be resolved in a meeting with the Tanapag people,” Mr. Cabrera said.
A review of the remedial action taken by the Army Corps on Tanapag village contamination by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency showed that the PCB levels were in excess of the agency’s target.
Due to the human health risk associated with PCB, EPA has already recommended that Tanapag village be remediated in accordance with the federal PCB regulations as stated in the Army Corps’ own work plans.
ECC has already completed more than 50 percent of its work in Cemetery 2 in Tanapag village and is expected to be finished next month.
DEQ will be meeting with the Army Corps, local people and public health officials next week to discuss whether there is still a need to evacuate some residents while the cleanup in the village is being conducted in view of the low level of PCB contamination as shown in the blood testing recently conducted. (LFR)
