MEW CLEANUP EXPECTED TO START IN EARLY '96

The $17 million cleanup of the Missouri Electric Works site in Cape Girardeau likely won't begin in earnest until 1996, an Environmental Protection Agency official said.

The federal agency has been dealing with the PCB-contaminated site for a decade.

The original cleanup plan called for on-site incineration of contaminated soil at the 6.4-acre tract at 824 S. Kingshighway.

But Pauletta France-Isetts, EPA project manager for the MEW site, said an alternative cleanup method might be used.

Under the alternative, the contaminated soil would be heated to 600 to 800 degrees Fahrenheit in a special chamber.

The result is a mixture of water and concentrated contaminant. "Instead of 20,000 cubic yards, you might end up with several thousand gallons," France-Isetts said when reached at her Kansas City, Kan., office.

The contaminant would then be treated chemically or shipped to a licensed incinerator.

In contrast, the original incineration plan called for heating the soil to 1,500 or 3,000 degrees to destroy the contaminant on site, France-Isetts said.

A St. Louis firm has pioneered the alternative method and has been given approval to test the process at the MEW site in January.

In terms of the overall cleanup, France-Isetts said the "settling defendants" have requested additional time to hire a contractor.

An additional field demonstration might be done in a year, with the full cleanup effort beginning in early 1996.

The EPA will update the public on the status of the MEW cleanup at a public meeting Thursday, from 4-7 p.m., at the Victorian Inn, Interstate 55 and Route K.

EPA staff will be on hand to talk individually with people at the informal session.

EPA investigations of the site and adjoining properties between 1984 and 1987 uncovered polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) in concentrations of 21,000 parts per million in the soil.

The site has been on the federal Superfund priority list since 1989.

The Superfund will pay up to 20 percent of the cleanup cost. The balance of costs will be paid by about 175 companies, cities and others who took electrical transformers to the business for disposal, repair or storage.

Most of the parties already have paid into the MEW trust fund, including some federal agencies.

The major cost, however, will be borne by about 42 parties, France-Isetts said.

On Aug. 29, a federal judge signed a consent decree involving all 175 responsible parties, setting out the schedule for cleanup work.

In addition to dealing with the contaminated soil, France-Isetts said there will be more investigation into possible groundwater contamination at the site.