PCB settlement should not be last look at issue

Bloomington Herald Times
March 2, 2008

Dennis Williamson has it right. We should have a go at it, then have another look five years later.

That’s what the proposed settlement of the PCB consent decree calls for, and that is what should happen.

Williamson’s comment came at the end of Thursday’s article that focused on Bennett’s Dump, a site just northwest of Bloomington that has been contaminated since the 1960s.

The final cleanup agreement deals with the dump and two other sites that still haven’t been cleaned up to the EPA’s satisfaction — and which all parties to the agreement fervently hope will be with this latest plan.

Williamson is a county environmental health specialist who’s been involved since 1983 in the discussion of what to do with Bloomington’s and Monroe County’s PCB problem. Public comment on the agreement is due March 26.

The latest plans range from projects such as expansion of water treatment at one site, to stream sediment cleanup at another, to deed restrictions at Bennett’s Dump, located in the midst of the North Park commercial/industrial/residential development near the Ind. 37-Ind. 46 interchange.

The plan is not to remove all trace of PCBs but to secure the sites so PCBs don’t escape. Some here think the plan is a travesty and the only real cleanup is one that is complete. And they may actually be right, given the permeability of the topography and a continually evolving land use policy. This latest plan could reveal its own failures with implementation. If after five years there is significant reason to believe it isn’t doing or won’t continue to do the job, then the matter must be reopened. In the meantime though, let’s get on with it.

One caveat — Given the high continuing interest, the daunting task of really examining the almost 900-page report and the need to convince the public that such comment time is not just for show, the 30-day comment period is too short. If the public is to trust this settlement, that public really needs to have time to have a look at it.