Southsider2k12
Feb 4 2015, 01:24 PM
http://m.nwitimes.com/news/local/porter/ar...bile_touch=trueQUOTE
THE PINES | Seven yards in the tiny Lake Michigan town of The Pines are contaminated with elevated levels of arsenic, including the lawn at Town Hall, NIPSCO representatives said Wednesday.
"It was a surprise to everyone, really," Nick Meyer, spokesman for NIPSCO said.
Meyer said the source of the arsenic is a landfill holding fly ash, a byproduct of burning coal at NIPSCO's power plants. Arsenic occurs naturally in coal.
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The elevated arsenic levels were discovered last week as part of follow-up sampling from an earlier fly ash issue. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency determined in 2000 that NIPSCO, Brown, Inc., Ddalt Corp. and Bulk Transport Corp. were the potentially responsible parties for contamination of groundwater in The Pines from the landfill near U.S. 20 holding more than 1 million tons of fly ash.
That landfill was deemed a Superfund site in 2000 as well. As part of a consent decree reached between the EPA and NIPSCO, municipal drinking water connections via the Michigan City system were established and bottled water was provided for some residents.
Southsider2k12
Feb 4 2015, 01:25 PM
I got this email from a representative at NIPSCo. Again, this will be a topic of discussion in the Pines town meeting tonight at 6:30 pm.
"I want to make sure to give you an update on the Town of Pines. The NIPSCO and NiSource environmental teams recently learned that the results of soil tests taken in late 2014 indicate elevated arsenic levels on seven properties within the Town of Pines, which is located near NIPSCO’s Michigan City Generating Station. The elevated levels likely stem from the presence of coal combustion byproducts (CCBs) generated in the 1970s.
For those properties with elevated levels, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has confirmed that there is currently no immediate health threat given the levels shown and the time of year. That being said, there will likely be media and other stakeholder comments regarding this news, and I want to walk you through the facts today, before you begin to see or hear comments from the public.
First of all, we are firmly committed to doing what is right for the community and for those affected by this issue. NIPSCO will continue to work closely with the EPA, the Indiana Department of Environmental Management, the Town of Pines, local residents and other stakeholders to quickly and safely address this issue.
Remedial work will be necessary for the affected properties with elevated arsenic levels, and further sampling will be required to fully understand the scope and impact of this issue.
What we do know is that this is an issue that goes back decades. Records show that some CCBs were used as roadbed by the Town of Pines and as yard filler by various residents.
The potential environmental or health risks associated with the constituent makeup of certain CCBs was generally unknown at the time. As the risks have become better understood by the industry and regulators, NIPSCO has safely managed its CCBs.
Which brings us back to the Town of Pines and its residents.
NIPSCO has been working with the EPA to investigate the extent of CCBs and potential impacts in the Town for more than a decade to address the concerns of Pines residents – including the installation of municipal water service throughout much of the Town. And we will continue to work with the EPA to address Town concerns until this matter is resolved.
Yesterday we went door to door to meet with all of the affected residents to hand deliver letters and address any questions. I also spoke with the Town Board President and Clerk Treasurer personally. I plan to be at the Town Board meeting tonight with a representative from the EPA to answer any questions."
Southsider2k12
Feb 4 2015, 09:47 PM
Some notes from the meeting in the Pines tonight regarding arsenic levels in the soil.
At least 37 properties (possibly more as apparently the record keeping by Brown was not the greatest) are known in the Pines received the coal by product "fly ash" in the past which was used as a ground fill.
Arsenic levels are tested by taking levels in areas of the same sort of soils and using that as a baseline. Apparently normal background for this region is 30 to 40 parts per million. 9 properties were tested (not all on record as having received the fill) received fly ash ground fill were recently tested for arsenic levels. 7 of those properties had levels of arsenic in the soil which were elevated above those levels, including one of over 800 ppm, and multiples in over 200.
The EPA is waiting for remediation information from the governmental agency which deals with this sort of thing (ATSDR), but the plan is for any properties which are connected to this product, and test for elevated arsenic levels to have the contaminated soil removed and replaced.
There is a plan to have a town hall meeting in the future once more concrete plans are arrived at.
Southsider2k12
Feb 6 2015, 12:15 PM