Thursday, September 4, 2008 9:42 PM CDT
Work to begin to remove contaminants from soil at former coal, gas plant site
By ROB STROUD, Staff Writer
rstroud@jg-tc.com
CHARLESTON — Tours were held on Wednesday at the cavernous tent structure under which a former manufactured gas plant will be excavated starting today.
Property owner Ameren Illinois Utilities is having contaminated soil and residues removed from the site northeast of Washington Avenue and Third Street, where a manufactured gas plant operated from 1906-28.
The approximately $2-million project is being conducted in cooperation with the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency through its voluntary site remediation program.
“You can’t see it, but it is there below ground,” said IEPA spokesman Stanley Black of the contaminants, which include benzine.
Donald Richardson, a consulting environmental engineer with Ameren, said Environmental Operations Inc. of St. Louis will dig down approximately 10 feet at the deepest in the tent-covered project area.
Contaminated materials will be removed with earth-moving equipment and dump trucks following the same techniques as a typical construction site, Richardson said.
“We are more concerned about the dust and odor than a construction site would be,” Richardson emphasized.
Richardson said air from inside the tent, made of an impervious fabric, will be blown through a carbon filter before it is released outdoors. He said contaminated groundwater will be pumped through a carbon filter and treated on site before being released into the sanitary sewer system.
Jack Gardner, a section chief for air quality services with Philip Service Corp. of Columbia, said his crews will monitor air quality at all hours during the project to ensure safety in and out of the tent.
“When we are digging inside (the tent), the two doors will be down except to let trucks in and out,” Richardson said.
Richardson said neighbors may smell a moth ball-like odor from the tent, but the odor is not a health risk. He estimated the project will be completed by Halloween at the earliest or Christmas at the latest.
Ameren has reported that Charleston Illuminating Co. started to make gas at the site in 1906, and Charleston Gas & Electric Co. operated the plant until 1912. Central Illinois Public Service. Co., predecessor of AmerenCIPS, then acquired the site and ended production in 1928.
Brad Rucker, a project manager with Environmental Operations, said one of their sample digs’ discoveries included a gas holding area underground that is more than 20 feet wide and 10 feet deep.
He said this brick-lined holding area later held the tar byproduct of converting coal to gas.
Black said these brick-lined holding areas tended to deteriorate over the decades and leak even though the long-ago owners intended to keep the contents sealed.
Rucker said he has tested groundwater in the surrounding neighborhoods and not found any contaminants. He said a hard level of silt is located approximately 12 feet below the former plant.
“I saw no impacts below that,” Rucker said.
Ameren has placed a copy of its clean-up plans for the site at the reference desk of the Charleston Carnegie Public Library.
Contact Rob Stroud at rstroud@jg-tc.com or 348-5734.
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julio wrote on Sep 4, 2008 7:05 AM: