EPA MEETING ON KEM-PEST THURSDAY

Environmental Protection Agency officials will be in Cape Girardeau this week to receive comments on the second phase of a $2 million project to clean up the Kem-Pest Superfund site.

The first phase of the project, which included excavation of soil from the site, was completed in June, and the EPA recently completed the design for the second phase.

That phase will include monitoring of ground water, decontamination of the Kem-Pest plant building and off-site incineration of debris.

On Thursday EPA officials will be at Victorian Inn in Cape Girardeau to receive comments on the proposed plan for the Superfund site.

Kem-Pest Laboratories, situated about three miles north of Cape Girardeau between Highway 177 and the Mississippi River, produced pesticides from about 1964 to 1977. The process generated chemical wastes that were disposed of in a lagoon that was back-filled with clay in 1981.

Field sampling by the EPA identified contamination, primarily pesticides, in soil and ground water at the site and in the plant building.

The Kem-Pest site is about 1,000 feet north of the Mississippi River. Surface runoff water from the site and the on-site lagoon flows through a drainage channel leading into a culvert, from which the water reaches the river.

When the laboratory was operating, waste water from Kem-Pest apparently was discharged in the lagoon, and over time pesticides and sludge built up and seeped into the ground water.

The federal government has claimed that before cleanup began, direct contact with contaminated soils at the site posed a threat to trespassers and future residential and industrial uses. A number of houses are within 1,000 feet of the site.

The proposed plan for the second phase will provide for demolition of the plant building and off-site disposal of the contaminated building materials. The plan will also included deed restrictions to limit future use of the land.

The proposal is available for public review in the administrative record file at the Cape Girardeau Public Library, 711 N. Clark.

The document contains the EPA's final decision for cleanup of the site and includes responses to comments received from the public. The public is welcome to comment on the proposal through Nov. 23.

For additional information about the Kem-Pest site, contact Hattie Thomas, the EPA's community relations coordinator, at (913) 551-7003.