Minutes of Citizens Information Committee
June 1996

Attendees

Michael List, CIC Chair
Dave Novak, U.S. EPA Community Involvement Coordinator
Dan Hopkins U.S. EPA Remedial Project Manager
Dan Sparks, U.S. Fish & Wildlife
Resa Ramsey IDEM
Iris Kiesling, Bloomington City Council
Evelyn Brophy, City of Bloomington Utilities
Mitch Rice, COPA 

Meeting was begun at 7:00 pm, and the minutes were approved

Dan Hopkins:
EPA had developed a Draft Ecological Sampling Plan for Lemon Lane and has now
received a draft outline of Health, Risk and Ecological  Assessments for Lemon
Lane and Winston Thomas from Westinghouse.   It is anticipated that some talks
about the two documents will result, and some give and take will be required.
There is some question as to what is an acceptable risk assessment format. When
this process is  complete, the results will be released to the public. The
formats may  be site specific, as there a
re different requirements for each site.


Winston Thomas -  A map of the Winston Thomas area was brought out and examined. 
The  area in question is outside the metes and bounds of the Consent Decree, on
the south end of Winston Thomas, and on the southwest side of Clear  Creek.
Sampling of the area was done by Westinghouse in a systematic  manner, using a
mapping of the sinkholes in the area.  Apparently the  sinkholes had been filled
with sludge, and then capped to make a level  surface.  The sampling was
performed using an auger. Samples were taken to a depth of between 32 to 36
inches.  Some of the areas tested and found to contain PCBS are beyond the metes
and bounds of the Consent Decree, but it seems that Westinghouse is willing to
deal with these, as witnessed by their willingness to test outside the metes and
bounds of the Decree.

Evelyn Brophy:
Substantial effort was used to identify the covered over sinkholes. A  mapping
of the sinkhole area was obtained, and then holes were bored in the indicated
areas.  If black sludge was found, then holes were bore in a ten foot radius
around the find, and 
the procedure repeated until no sludge was found.

Mitch Rice:
Is there a hydrological study of the area that indicates where the sinkholes
lead, perhaps springs or underground streams?

Hopkins:
There are springs in the area

Brophy:
Southwest of the site near the creek, there is a lot of seepage. It is  very wet
there. Historic maps show that there were many sinkholes  in the area to the
south where the trailer park now is.

Hopkins:  Sampling plan - Winston Thomas
Westinghouse has submitted a sampling plan, it just came in, so we have not had
a chance to look it over. However it is based on a plan they  submitted several
weeks ago, and we have a pretty good idea of what is  in it. It is intended to
get a pretty close volumetric estimate of  contaminated material at the site,
and to develop some parameters for  remedial action.

This is happening kind of fast, but this because we want to be able to begin
work as soon as possible.

Digesters - A structural engineer and an inspector from Indiana Dept. of Natural
Resources, Division of Water made an inspection of the digesters and the berm
around the tertiary lagoon.   . T A structural engineer from the Army Corps of
Engineers inspect
ed the cracks in the digester tanks.  An engineer from the Army Corp of
Engineers and inspectors from the Indiana Dept. of Natural Resources inspected
the berm (or embankment) surrounding the tertiary lagoon. The digesters seem to
be in relatively good sh
ape, and pose no immediate threat of failure.
The berm has some problems with muskrats and roots from trees, and is in need of
regular inspection and maintenance.

Rice:
Who is in charge of the berm maintenance?

Hopkins:
This has been the object of some discussion, I think perhaps the City has the
main responsibility.

Hopkins: ABB Plant
Westinghouse has also submitted a draft plan for remediating the area  around
the water tower at the ABB plant.  Of course this will cause a  certain amount
of disruption of work at the ABB plant. (Maps of the  ABB Plant [are] were
brought out.) This is t
he last area of the plant that  needs to  be cleaned up, and the intention is to
do the work this  summer. The asphalt and concrete that now cover the area will
have to  be removed.  There are several contaminated areas to be seen, with 
several spurious 
finds. Contaminated water apparently followed the  utility cuts, and they will
have to be cleaned out. There are some  surface drains  across the asphalt
surface of the tower area into the already cleaned up portions of the site. The
work here is expected
 to be done this summer.

Lemon Lane - Sampling
The parties have been discussing what must be done at Lemon Lane, there are many
different ideas about what should be done, and what is appropriate  to be done. 
Also at issue is what is to be done at the Illinois Central
Springs. There is no doubt that some sort of treatment plant will have to be
built, and the problem is with the times of high flow through the system, when
the volume of water seems to wash out high volumes of PCBs.  We need to come to
some sort of concept of what will be needed here, based, in part, on an
ecological risk assessment and an evaluation of control techniques.

Rice: Well, at the Consent Decree Parties information session, I was talking
with one of the Westinghouse representatives, and he was indicated that
Westinghouse felt that these high water volume incidents happen only once every
three to five years, so a 
large plant is not needed.   I asked "Were you not around last night, or last
week or next month, we just had the wettest Spring in decades, and we are one of
the rainiest places in the U.S."

Hopkins:
There is the issue of how much water must move through the cave system before
the sediment is stirred up enough to significantly raise the  levels of PCBs
coming out at the spring. Storms that are that strong are not all that common.

Rice:  Is there data to back that up?

Hopkins:
Yes

Iris Kiesling:
While this may have been true in the past, for the past months it has not.
There have been locally very heavy storms, and the saturation point has  been
reached and exceeded.

Rice:
Having lived in the karst area west of town for 12 years, I can tell you that it
is incredible how quickly the water can fill the karst. And with the size of the
local storms, you may be dealing with the force, the speed of the water moving,
not the volume. Anyway if there is data to support  the idea that high water
events are an infrequent happening, I would surely like to see it. Is it not
also possible that when the karst becomes filled with water, that it can then
migrate upwards into the  Lemon Lane
 sinkholes, and thus cause more toxics to be released into the karst?

Hopkins:
Yes, we have contended that this could be happening.

The base amount of what is coming out has been established by  Westinghouse.
They are monitoring the water level in the monitoring wells  and the stream
itself. They have calculated a number that they feel  represents sufficient
volume of water to cause t
he PCBs to be entrained.  There is a base flow of about 10 - 20 ppb., and this
is for the majority of time. The high volumes and velocity needed to entrain the
sediments in the karst are just not that frequent.

Rice:  All you have to do is look at the site, there is an area between where
the  Springs come up and where the water goes down the Swallow Hole.  This area
is covered with a fine layer of mud, kind of swampy, and you can smell the PCBs
volatilizing into
 the air.

Hopkins:
This is not to say that the base flow of 10-20 ppb is not significant, in fact
we are certain that some containment and treatment of this water  is needed.  


Novak:  Report on the CD Parties Information Sessions-
There were about 15 people at each of the two sessions, and there will be a
follow up in the next issue of New Directions.  More sessions will be held as
more information becomes available.


Sanjour Memo

Hopkins:
We have heard nothing about the memo, Region V has not been contacted by
Sanjour or Martin to date.

Rice:
They are currently on vacation.

Hopkins:  There are issues related to this, bigger than this, that need to be 
hashed out. There is the question of why this memo was leaked to the press, and
whether it should have been released.  A Regional  ombudsman is being set up by
Region V. We have discussed whether we should have a public meeting about this.

Rice:
Have you formulated a response to COPA's letter asking for an RIFS?

Hopkins:
No.  We are following essentially the same process as we would if we were doing
an RIFS, and we will allow public comment before issuing a Record of Decision.

Rice:  But will we have the same sort of legal standing with your ROD as we
would with the procedures outlined for an RIFS?  The reason for the community's
distrust of the process is that up to this point we have been excluded from
making formal comment. 
The community perceives the  Consent Decree as a work of collusion between
Westinghouse and the EPA,  with the City as a willing guinea pig for an
experimental technology.

Michael List:
If the Consent Decree is examined and determined to be invalid, would this not
shift the balance of power, allowing more input from citizens and their elected
representatives? Wouldn't this be better than the present situation?

Hopkins:
There is some validity to your point.

List: More dialog is needed, and more public involvement.  Would it be possible
to include a representative from the public in the
Consent Decree parties' deliberations?

Hopkins:
I have advocated this, but it does not seem likely at present.
I know that all the parties now  are interested in taking input from the
community, that we want more involvement, so  that this process can move
forward.

Rice:
How do we get the latest update of the CD parties report concerning the
timeline?

Hopkins (Novak):
It is probably best to get it directly from the Court.

Rice:
We are having problems converting the Timeline document given to us by
Westinghouse.  It is in a proprietary format, and we can not even open it with
the programs we have.  We will keep working on this.

Next Meeting
July 18, 1996
7:00 pm
McCloskey Conference Room