Written comments should be sent to Peter Whitehouse, Ohio EPA, Division of Emergency and Remedial Response, P.O. Box 1049, Columbus, Ohio 43216-1049.
URBANA — The Ohio Environmental Protection Agency has cleared an 11-acre site for commercial and industrial use, and is accepting public comments on an agreement with the companies that volunteered to clean the site, officials said this week.
Peter Whitehouse, assistant chief of the division of emergency and remedial response with the EPA, said Siemens Energy and Automation Inc. and Gould Electronics Inc. completed a voluntary action program agreement in which they paid to clean the site. The property’s soil and the groundwater underneath were contaminated with trichloroethylene, a carcinogen. Whitehouse said the chemical was used while making metal parts, mostly for the aviation industry.
Now that it has been cleaned, Whitehouse said the site at 145 Dellinger Road is suitable for commercial and industrial uses. It’s not in use now, but is still owned by Siemens Energy and Automation, according to information from the Champaign County Auditor’s Office.
Representatives from Siemens did not return a call seeking comment.
He said the companies have been working to clean the site since it was initially discovered in the mid to late 1990s.
He said groundwater underneath the site is still contaminated however, and the agreement will require continued monitoring of the groundwater. Whitehouse said while it is still an issue, the amount in the water will eventually shrink.
“That plume is shrinking over time as that stuff naturally biodegrades,” Whitehouse said.
He said the agreement also includes a requirement that Siemens pay the agency $100,000 to resolve past EPA costs. The agreement will mean the companies are no longer liable for previously releasing the hazardous material.
Whitehouse said these types of agreements are common, and the EPA is working on about 200 others statewide.
The agency will be accepting public comments until Feb. 12 this year.
Contact this reporter at (937) 328-0355 or msanctis@coxohio.com.
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