The state environmental regulator last week announced it would be postponing a planned monofill project on Wrangell Island until next year.
In a press release issued September 7, the Department of Environmental Conservation announced it will hold off on construction of a monofill site on the island. The department is currently engaged in the cleanup for the former Byford site, a property south of Wrangell that had for several decades been used as a junkyard.
The first phase of this project had been an extensive cleanup of the property by contractors last year, in an effort being funded by DEC and supported by the Environmental Protection Agency. As the city had acquired the property through foreclosure in 2006, there were no responsible parties to be held liable for the yard’s long-term contamination, which featured extensive lead and petroleum concentrations in the surrounding soils.
At Wrangell’s request, DEC ended up taking on the cleanup project, which subsequently proved to be larger than first estimated. Up to $3.9 million were set aside for the cleanup and disposal of impacted soils in 2015, but reclamation of the site undertaken last year has already cost around $6.5 million. Over 60 shipping containers of debris and the most heavily-affected soils have already been sent to Oregon for reprocessing, but a further 18,350 cubic yards of treated, leaden soil awaits disposal.
“Our current estimate is that it would cost approximately $12 million to ship and dispose of the soil at a permitted facility in the lower 48,” reported John Halverson, a DEC Contaminated Sites Program manager. “We do not have funds in our response and cleanup budget for this, so we had to seek an alternative.”
Because of the costs involved in transporting so much material, DEC has since proposed constructing a permanent monofill for its containment at a rock pit owned by the Department of Natural Resources. The monofill option would cost an estimated $5.7 million to undertake, according to engineers involved in the project.
“From an engineering and regulatory standpoint, the rock pit on DNR land is the best location we could find for the monofill,” Halverson explained in the release. The site is surrounded and underlain by bedrock, is sheltered from weather, can be secured and will be monitored by the state in future years.
The relocation was supposed to begin at the end of July, but local concerns about the containment site’s proximity to Pats Creek – a salmon-producing stream important to subsistence activities on the island – prompted a hold on second phase work.
During a series of meetings last month with city officials, Wrangell Cooperative Association leadership and the wider public, engineers attached to the project offered guarantees that the soil, which has been treated with a phosphate-based compound that prevents present lead from leaching, would not pose a threat to neighboring land or waters. Despite this, some residents have remained wary; WCA last month voted to maintain its opposition to the monofill.
After its meetings in Wrangell, DEC decided to postpone that part of the project until April 1, 2018. In its press release, the department explained the delay would allow more time to explore alternative plans and funding sources.
“We certainly want to continue to work with the local and tribal governments on the next phase of this project, which is to find a permanent and safe place for the treated soils,” said Halverson. “This postponement will provide them opportunity to seek project funding to have the treated soil shipped to a disposal facility in the lower 48, rather than disposing of it in an engineered monofill on Wrangell Island, as currently planned.”
If additional funds are not secured, DEC plans to start moving the treated soil to the previously identified monofill location after April 1, 2018. In that case, the department would expect to spend approximately $5.7 million to build the site, haul the material, and properly cap the monofill.
“We plan to finish site preparation work over the coming weeks so the project is ready to move forward in spring 2018 in the event no additional funding is found for this project,” said Halverson. “Our goal would then be to move it all to the monofill during the 2018 summer season.”
More information and photos of the Wrangell Junkyard cleanup, visit DEC’s Contaminated Sites webpage at http://dec.alaska.gov/spar/csp/sites/wrang_junkyard.htm
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