Events Calendar
In This Section
Most Read Stories
Man found dead in North Akron home is identified
NFL star Chris Spielman's wife loses cancer battle
Dad accused of forcing son into field, killing him
Poor machine maintenance blamed for fire at Akron business
Coventry man killed in crash at I-77 ramp
Man allegedly paid teens to spit in his face
College student mistaken for deer, shot to death
Indians add 7 players to 40-man roster
Body with gunshot wounds found in Canton Township creek
Blogs:
Pets:
Cat-loving chihuahua suckles seven abandoned kittens
The Heldenfiles:
Friday Night Notebook
Patrick McManamon:
The proposed new LeBron mural doesn't do it for me
Akron Zips:
Two blowouts, one night
Tribe Matters:
Seven players added to Tribe’s 40-man roster
Cleveland Browns:
Hey, somebody's gotta stick up for the Browns
Kent State Sports:
Singletary update
Cleveland Cavaliers:
Gameblog: Cavs at Indiana Pacers – Here’s to LBJ and Free Throws
Buckeye Blogging:
OSU – Michigan college football rivals meet in Baghdad
Varsity Letters:
Bowling season starts today
All Da King's Men:
Headed For Disaster
Blog of Mass Destruction:
Muslim McCarthyism & Death Prayers
Akron Law Café:
Federal Judge Declares DOMA Unconstitutional
See Jane Style:
Vintage Chic
Car Chase:
TIME TO GET YOUR COLLECTOR CARS WINTERIZED
Let's Talk Real Estate:
Silverdome Potentially SOLD!
Ohio Travels with Betty:
Norma asks if Barkitecture is still at Stan Hywet.
Sound Check:
Steely Dan Plays "The Royal Scam" at E.J. Thomas Hall
HRLite House:
Colloquium at University of Akron
Akron Gamer:
Nintendo's Mario endures even as games come and go
More than 225,000 tons hauled away from toxic site. Tests, grading are next
By Bob Downing Beacon Journal staff writer
Published on Saturday, Oct 06, 2007
A major milestone has been reached in the $60 million cleanup of a toxic-waste dump in northern Summit County.
The contractor, EQ Industrial Services Inc. of Wayne, Mich., has hauled away in excess of 225,000 tons of contaminated soil and debris from two parcels off Hines Hill Road in the Cuyahoga Valley National Park.
The work to stabilize the dump that was owned and operated by the Krejci family took two years to complete.
The two tracts, together covering 47 acres, are on opposite sites off Hines Hill Road in Boston and Northfield Center townships. The sites are separated by Interstate 271.
The contractor will soon test soils to determine whether they meet all remediation standards, the National Park Service said.
Any areas that fail to comply with toxic limits will require additional excavation work, starting next spring.
Once the site passes all testing, grading, planting of grass and final restoration plans will be developed.
Site activities until next spring will be limited to soil testing, water-quality monitoring and sediment/erosion control, the park service said.
Before it closed in 1980, the dump took in solvents, paint waste, industrial sludge, pesticides and herbicides.
The soil was contaminated with polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), polyaromatic hydrocarbons, dioxins-furans, benzene, arsenic and toxic heavy metals.
This phase of the cleanup, costing $30 million, is being largely paid for and managed by the Ford Motor Co.
Ford and General Motors Corp. both dumped material there from their Cleveland-area auto plants in the 1950s and 1960s.
The work supervised by the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation required the removal of 12 inches or less of contaminated soil in some areas and up to 25 feet of tainted soil in other areas.
Most of the contaminated soil was determined to be nonhazardous waste and went to Ohio landfills. The more severely contaminated waste was hauled to a licensed dump outside of Detroit.
The dump was run by the Krejci family from 1948 to 1980 and was acquired by the park in 1985. Park officials thought it simply was an old junkyard.
Then in 1986, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency found 5,000 leaking drums.
The federal government spent $30 million on the initial Krejci surface cleanup. The government later reached a $20 million settlement with six companies: 3M, Chrysler, Waste Management, Kewanee Industries Inc., Chevron USA Inc. and Federal Metals, all of which had dumped there.
Officials have said that there is no evidence that the contamination has polluted streams or moved off the site.
The site was the first toxic-waste dump in the national park system.
Information on the cleanup is available at http://www.nps.gov/cuva/parknews/krejci.htm.
Bob Downing can be reached at 330-996-3745 or bdowning@thebeaconjournal.com.
A major milestone has been reached in the $60 million cleanup of a toxic-waste dump in northern Summit County.
Get the full article here.
