Cheyenne, WY Airport Cleanup Nears Final Phase

October 10, 2010 - Community residents interested in or affected by groundwater contamination at the Wyoming Air National Guard airport will meet Oct. 26 to learn about final cleanup plans.

The contaminated plume was identified more than a decade ago, according to Jane Francis, the project leader for the Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality. It runs under Del Range Boulevard in north Cheyenne and up to Mylar Park where a barrier was installed earlier to protect Dry Creek.

Two contaminants from the airport are involved — carbon tetrachloride and TCE ([trichloroethlene]).

The latter is the same contaminant from abandoned Atlas missile sites found at the Belvoir Ranch near Cheyenne.

The Restoration Advisory Board, which includes representatives of the community, will meet at 6:30 p.m. at Hobbs Elementary in Cheyenne to talk about how to finally clean up all the contamination at the airport and whatever went under neighborhood houses, Francis said.

"A lot of work has been done on putting in monitoring wells," she said.

The 20 or 30 houses in the area were tested for vapors from the groundwater contamination plume but none was found, she said.

All the homeowners have been contacted.

More...

State Should Continue WY Pollution Cleanup Effort

September 28, 2010 - The potential size of the bill to clean up groundwater pollution from landfills throughout Wyoming has the attention of state lawmakers, as well it should.

State regulators estimate the tab could be as high as $225 million over the next two decades. The Joint Minerals, Business and Economic Development Interim Committee's decision last week to form a subcommittee to analyze the potential costs was the right one, because the state needs to identify ways now to help pay for the cleanup.

The Legislature also needs to continue its work to encourage more regional landfills in Wyoming. That will reduce costs for some communities that need -- but can't afford -- to upgrade their landfills to reduce groundwater pollution. It could also go a long way toward curbing future cleanup costs.

The Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality's Solid and Hazardous Waste Division has tested 76 landfills in the state as part of a 2006 directive from the Legislature that set aside $8 million to help local governments drill monitoring wells. The agency discovered that 96 percent of the landfills tested have groundwater contamination. There are 38 more landfills to be tested, including some that have been closed or in line to shut down.

More...

Exxon Discovers Gas Contamination in VA.

September 18, 2009- Great Falls resident Robb Watters said he was distraught to learn from a neighbor, rather than official sources, that the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) was testing wells in his neighborhood off Innsbruck Avenue for possible gasoline contamination.

After the nearby Exxon station found traces of gasoline constituents on its property, Exxon and the DEQ "decided to quietly start testing neighborhoods" in the surrounding area, Watters said. And when his wife called the DEQ, he said, "She was told, ‘You need to make an adult decision on whether to drink your water.’"

More...

Concerns Raised Over MI Dioxane Cleanup

May 26, 2009- An effort to change the cleanup of contaminated groundwater has come under fire by local residents and government officials who’ve been keeping an eye on the issue for more than 20 years.

At Wednesday’s annual meeting of the Coalition for Action on Remediation of Dioxane, residents said that requested changes filed by Pall Life Sciences earlier this month with the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality would allow higher amounts of the contaminant, 1,4-dioxane, in the groundwater. As a result, they said, the 1,4-dioxane, a presumed carcinogen, could flow northward and reach Ann Arbor’s primary drinking water supply at Barton Pond.

More...

Oregon DEQ Confirms Contamination Cleanup

May 1, 2009- The Oregon Department of Environmental Quality says it is satisfied with efforts to clean up contaminated soil and groundwater at the former Natron Plywood Mill site in Springfield.

Cleanup included removal and disposal of 118 tons of petroleum-contaminated soil, more than 100 metal drums containing various other wastes, about 1,200 gallons of oil and water mix, and 4,100 gallons of unused fuel oil. Sampling results from beneath the soil excavations and from the groundwater beneath the site show that the levels of contaminants in the soil and groundwater now meet state standards, according to a DEQ news release.

More...