Citizen's Information Committee
August 29, 1996


	NEXT MEETING 
  	OCTOBER 15, 1996, 7:00 PM

	BLOOMINGTON CITY COUNCIL CHAMBERS

	TOPIC:	EPA AND THE REMEDIAL INVESTIGATION/FEASIBILITY STUDY
          	(RI/FS)


Attendees:

Michael List, Chair
Resa Ramsey, IDEM
Dave Novak, EPA
Martha Crouch, Near Westside
Deb Backus, IU
John Langley, CBU
Evelyn Brophy, CBU
Iris Kiesling, City Council
Mitch Rice, COPA

Dan Hopkins, EPA was not in attendance due to jury duty.


Resa Ramsey began with a report on the ABB site:

The water tower area is 50-70% complete - excavation and earth 
moving are under way. The "loading out" area has been dug out 
to a depth of 10-12 feet, and they are slowly working around 
the utility lines.

Winston Thomas:

Sampling has been completed, all data has been collected, and 
is undergoing quality control review. Plan sample results should 
be distributed in mid-September. Sampling was done on the west 
side of Clear Creek, and though not within the metes and bounds 
of the Consent Decree, the data will be included in the Plan.

John Langely:
Concerning water loss from the digester, the cracks in the digester
and berm maintenance - On June 6, 1996, two Army  Corps of
Engineers inspectors and two dam inspectors from IDNR toured the
lagoon and berm area, and made recommendations. They provided a
professional engineering opinion of the structure and integrity of
the lagoon and and berm. They also did a structural analysis of the
digesters to see if the lateral cracking was a danger.

The City now has implemented these recommendations:

1. Telemeters at WT that automatically call the all night
switchboard at CBU in case of high or low water.

2. The bypass that led to the May, 1995 overflow has been 
permanently blocked. So now there is no way for the water to get 
through there and overflow.

3. Monthly inspections of the site are done by CBU and
Westinghouse, and have taken place June 3, July 29, and Aug 19,
1996.

4. CBU is on the WT property more often now, and will continue to
be partly because we will be there implementing these
recommendations.

5. There are slumps and sags in the embankment.  These occur for
a number of reasons, for one muskrats burrow into the embankment
below the waterline.  Other predators dig down to get to the
muskrat nests are a factor, and even people and deer are breaking
down the fence and entering the area.

     [Martha Crouch: Has there been any sampling done on the
     wildlife in the area, the ducks?

     JL: Fish and Wildlife under Dan Sparks is doing a tree swallow
     nesting study, but no one is trapping animals on a regular
     basis.  There is much harborage for wildlife on the
     embankment, and the engineers recommended removing the excess
     foliage. Dan Sparks of USFW will be trapping the muskrats to
     remove them from the property.]

6. Document the maintenance of the embankment.

7. Evaluation of using heavy equipment near the embankment edge
during mowing.  A long cutting arm is now extended down towards the
water, keeping the tractor higher on the embankment. 

8. Aug 8-10 - Remediation of slumping by insertion of red clay into
the sags and slumps and tamped or rolled solid. It will be seeded.
We have stopped erosion pathways.

9. The embankment will be reseeded this fall, and periodic 
mowing occurs.

10. Obtain survey cross sections of the embankment in order to
compare original construction with what is the condition now.  

     [Evelyn Brophy: There was some concern about the FEMA maps,
     especially by the IDNR, that in flood conditions, the map
     shows that the lagoon could overtop.  The City has looked at
     the new GIS maps, and think that this should not be a problem.
     They are recommending third party evaluation of the GIS maps.]

The rains this spring (nearly 5" in a 48 hour period) had very
little effect on the level in the lagoon).

11. Water is pumped from the surface of the lagoon to the sewer at
a rate of 140 gallons per minute, from an inlet that is about 4
inches below the surface of the water. The water is at 1.1 to 1.2
ppb for PCBs, below regulatory limits. Industrial limits are at 10
ppb.  The PCBs are located mostly in the sludge. We don't pump when
it is too windy.

12. We have installed a new permanent and bigger pump in the
digester corridors, and Westinghouse has installed pump casings in
the digesters so that water can be pumped on demand. This water is
pumped to a frac tank and then treated with a charcoal filter
system.

13. We will not be following the recommendation to put a concrete
spillway on the lagoon due to regulatory problems.

14. Emergency Plan for the levee - Sand bags, water removal, etc.

     [Resa Ramsey: The DNR report essentially mirrored the EPA/ACOE
     report.]

Resa Ramsey Lemon Lane Water Report:

Westinghouse has done additional sampling this spring on the water,
and as with the Winston Thomas data, it is still in the process of
Quality Assurance - Quality Control.  The report is due in late
September.

We had a technical project managers meeting, and we discussed how
to slow the flow through the karst system. We have not met since
this this initial meeting.

Draft Field Sampling Plan for the fill at Lemon Lane has been
released by Westinghouse. It is based on the EPA sampling plan. It
has not yet been reviewed by the State or City. The City wants to 
conduct a public availability meeting to allow the public to
comment on the sampling plans.  Westinghouse needs feedback as soon
as possible they need to get to work in November in order to
complete on the court schedule.

Martha Crouch:
Lois Gibbs will be in Bloomington to speak on Nov 1 at 11:00am at
SPEA, and Nov 2 at 3:00 pm at Borders, and at 7:00  pm at Harmony
School.

Resa Ramsey:
We received a Draft Work Plan for the Eco and Human Health Risk
Assessment for Lemon Lane.  We have agree to try to merge the
EPA's 1995 Ecological Risk Assessment plan with the Westinghouse
plan.  The Westinghouse plan includes the Human Health Assessment
as well.  There will be some Quality Assurance - Quality Control 
issues to be dealt with.

Mitch Rice:
Who besides you will be working on this?

Resa Ramsey:
Brenda Jones - EPA
Sheila Sullivan - EPA 
David Burmaster - Halcyon Corp (City) 

Resa Ramsey: Neals Landfill

An initial meeting was held on Aug 13. It was a technical meeting,
and Westinghouse made presentations about the history and hydrology
of the site. The next day we were at the site for half the day,
with all the project managers and technical support. It was the
first time I had been out there, and it was a good experience for
me.

Westinghouse did low flow die tracer studies in 1992 and the report
on this is due this September.

General:


The Quarterly status Report was submitted to the Court on August
13, 1996.  No response is expected from the court.

Mitch Rice: We don't hear much from the County at these meetings,
how are they involved?

Resa Ramsey: Dennis Williams and Steve Creech attend the meetings,
and  like me, they are swamped with the volume of paperwork, and
lack of staff.

Michael List
I got a message from Dan Hopkins saying that he had discussions
with Doug Valotti, regional ombudsman for the EPA,
and Bob Martin of the national ombudsman's office, concerning the 
issues raised by Mr. Sanjour's letter, and the RIFS in general. 
They would like to have a meeting in Bloomington to talk to the 
community, and Dan feels that the CIC is the proper forum for this
meeting.

The Committee agreed to the date of:
 
Oct 15, 1996
7:00  pm
Bloomington City Council Chambers


Meeting Adjourned
Mitch Rice
COPA