Published: September 04, 2008 12:12 am      

EPA makes former ESCO plant Superfund site

GREENVILLE — The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) made it official Wednesday, the former ESCO plant in Greenville has now been declared as a Superfund site.

Gary Moore, the on-site coordinator for the EPA’s remediation effort, said the announcement was a positive first step in what is expected to be a long effort.

“The process now is to complete the Remedial Investigation (RI), Feasibility Study (FS), and Risk Assessment (both Human Health and Ecological),” Moore said. “Following the completion of these, a Record of Decision (ROD) will be prepared describing the various options with the EPA preferred option being identified and sent out for public comment. Taking into consideration the public comments, EPA will select the option to be implemented. If funding is available for the site, EPA will begin Remedial Action, or cleanup. This is easily a several year proposition.”

The EPA announced earlier this year that the facility on the edge of the Ardis Heights neighborhood was being considered for inclusion into the National Priorities List (NPL), also known as Superfund, as one of the most polluted contaminated waste sites in Texas.

Officials with the EPA and the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality said Wednesday the site was one of six locations across the nation being placed in the national cleanup program. The site was first proposed for the Superfund list in March.

“The Superfund program continues to make progress in protecting human health and the environment by cleaning up the nation’s most contaminated sites,” said EPA Regional Administrator Richard E. Greene.

“EPA and TCEQ work together on this important program so that these contaminated sites can be remediated as quickly as possible,” said TCEQ Chairman H.S. Buddy Garcia.

ESCO manufactured electrical transformers and related equipment at the location between 1945 and 1970. The EPA conducted multiple tests on the soil at the old plant location and discovered the ground is contaminated with polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), at concentrations exceeding federal standards, at depths up to 15 feet. PCBs are listed as probable carcinogens that can also cause other health problems in humans and wildlife.

The EPA has also confirmed PCB contamination in the soil of 35 properties — residences and small businesses — in the areas nearest the building.

The EPA has scheduled an initial cleanup of the homes which are located near the facility at the intersection of 500 Forrester and Farm-To-Market Road 499 and at which PCB soil contamination has already been confirmed. The agency intends to mobilize at 602 Forrester Street next Monday and then begin the excavations Tuesday.

“In the meantime, the EPA Emergency Response/Removal Program will work to address areas of the site that may pose an imminent and substantial endangerment,” Moore said. “Basically, the EPA Emergency Response/Removal Program will likely address residential properties with significant PCB concentrations and areas that may cause recontamination.”