ANDERSON — Eight years after the former Plant 7 Delco Remy manufacturing facility was demolished, the city of Anderson is hoping hazardous material will be removed in 2015.
The plant was constructed in 1940 by General Motors and was expanded several times in the 2900 block of South Scatterfield Road. It manufactured horns, light switches, turn signals, and aluminum castings for alternators, distributors and starter motors.
Gary McKinney, Brownfield coordinator for the Anderson Economic Development Department, said the problem involves one acre where a degreasing operation took place.
McKinney said levels of trichoroethene (TCE) were found on the site. TCE is classified as a carcinogen by the EPA.
The process to clean the contamination from the site started approximately seven years ago, he said.
“We had done some Phase II soil testing in 2009,” McKinney said. “What we found was no surprise.”
McKinney said there was off-site testing of monitoring wells that had been installed by General Motors. The samples found there were no off-site issues.
“We wanted to make sure no contaminates were migrating into the groundwater,” he said.
McKinney said that General Motors had obtained a $1.2 million Surety Bond for any possible clean-up of the property. He said when GM filed bankruptcy the EPA received the Surety Bond funds.
The EPA and the Indiana Department of Environmental Management reached a settlement in the amount of $3.6 million to clean the site.
“There is $4.8 million to clean the site,” McKinney said. “There are no city funds involved. The city will be reimbursed by the federal government.”
The work will involve digging out the one acre site, to a possible depth of 20 to 30 feet, and removing it to a hazardous waste landfill.
McKinney said the next step is for the city to send out requests for proposals to contractors to perform the work. He said a work plan will be developed and a contractor will be selected, all of which needs EPA approval.
Work on the removal is expected to start in 2015.
“We will continue to monitor the site,” he said. “That will be done to make sure the removal solved the problem.”
Once completed McKinney said there will be restrictions on the use of the site, likely to include no drinking water, no residential or agricultural development.
Greg Winkler, executive director of the Anderson Economic Development Department, said the clean-up will solve a lot of the issues with the property.
An estimated 161 million cubic yards of soil could be removed from the location, he said.
McKinney said this is the last of the GM sites along Scatterfield Road to be resolved.