CLEANUP SET TO BEGIN AT ELECTRIC WORKS SITE

The grass isn't always greener in life. But Mark Fleri says it should be plenty green at the Missouri Electric Works site after his crews clean up the PCB-contaminated soil.

Fleri is vice president for Williams Environmental Services Inc. of Stone Mountain, Ga. The company has been hired to clean up the Missouri Electric Works Superfund site in Cape Girardeau.

The work is expected to cost $3 million to $3.5 million, Environmental Protection Agency officials have said.

Some 20,000 to 30,000 tons of soil at the site of the former motor and transformer repair business at 824 S. Kingshighway and neighboring commercial properties will be excavated and heat treated.

The treated soil will then be spread on the site.

"We will put it back, compact it and grade it, seed it," Fleri said. "There will be a stand of grass there."

Fleri was in Cape Girardeau Tuesday for an informational session put on by the Environmental Protection Agency to brief the public about the cleanup effort.

The informal session was held from 4-7 p.m. at the Victorian Inn.

About 10 state and federal agency officials, and representatives of the contractor and the potential responsible parties -- a group of businesses that are footing much of the cleanup bill -- attended the session.

By 6 p.m., about 20 people had stopped by the meeting room, including some who wanted to know how their neighboring businesses would be affected.

Pauletta France-Isetts, EPA's project manager, said every effort would be made to minimize disruptions.

Fleri said the work shouldn't inconvenience the public. The Missouri Electric Works business, which has been closed for years, sits well back from the road.

About all the public will see is the clean steam emitted from the 76-foot-high stack on the soil treatment equipment, he said.

Survey and soil sampling work should begin in mid- to late March. Clearing work is scheduled to begin in April.

The company plans to bring in the heat-treating equipment this summer.

The soil will be heated to a high temperature to separate the PCBs or polychlorinated biphenyls from the soil.

Fleri said that work is scheduled to begin in August. The entire project should be completed by the end of November.

At the height of the cleanup, about 30 people will be working at the site, he said.

The cleanup will go on 24 hours a day, once the soil treatment starts.