CLEANUP OF ILLINOIS SUPERFUND SITE OVER

GALE, Ill. -- No further cleanup is needed at the Ilada Energy Co. Superfund site, said the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency.

A proposal for no further action comes eight years after the final tank was removed in 1991 from the site along a gravel road between East Cape Girardeau and Gale.

The site has been monitored and tested since 1991, but before making a final decision the EPA wants to consider all public comments. A public hearing to gather comments will be held at 7 p.m. Aug. 26 at the Bud Pearce Community Building in East Cape Girardeau.

The public comment period starts Monday and will continue through Sept. 7. Major documents on the site plan will be available at the Cape Girardeau Public Library, 711 N. Clark St., and at the McClure Community Library behind the McClure Post Office.

The public should ask for the Ilada Energy Co. Superfund Site Information Repository at either of the libraries, said Stan Black, community relations coordinator for the Illinois EPA at Springfield.

The 16.7-acre site operated by Ilada contained 22 storage tanks with 12 million gallons of storage capacity. The plant closed in the 1980s when state and federal EPA inspectors found large concentrations of toxic chemicals and metals in used oil shipped to the plant for recycling. The plant contained waste oil and solvents contaminated with toxic materials, including polychlorinated biphenols, said Black.

Sampling of stained soil near several of the tanks led to the site's addition to a national priority list of cleanups on Oct. 4, 1989. Removal action was started in 1989 and completed in March 1991. All tanks and their contents, piping, structures and contaminated soils were removed.

All wastes were moved from the site and treated or disposed of elsewhere. Of the original structures, only repaired fences and a water well remain.

The latest report regarding the site indicated its surface and subsurface soils contained only low levels of volatile and semi-volatile organic compounds. The only area of possible concern is a 50-by-75-foot area where some aviation fuel contamination dating back more than 40 years is present.

"The presence of the contamination is not considered to be a threat," said Black.

Testing and analysis of groundwater flow and the nature of the area of contamination show the contamination has little or no chance of spreading off the site, said Black. The adjacent properties to the south, east, west and north are unavailable for future development because they have been acquired as part of the federal flood-control program.

The cleanup was conducted by four companies declared responsible for the contamination: Emerson Electric Co. of St. Louis, Metal Container Corp. of St. Louis, Granite City division of the National Steel Corp. and Shell Oil Co. of Houston.

"These four companies paid for the cleanup," said Black. "Even though they were unaware that the problem was happening, they stepped to the plate and handled the problem."