A work session on the Byford monofill between the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation and City and Borough of Wrangell has been scheduled for next week.
Around 18,500 cubic yards of treated, lead-contaminated soil is slated to be interred in a designated monofill as the second stage of site reclamation for a former privately-run junkyard along Zimovia Highway. The former Byford yard had passed to the City of Wrangell through foreclosure in 2009. Already on the Environmental Protection Agency’s radar as a contaminated site, after planned-for federal funding through its Superfund fell through in 2015, the state DEC was able to allot money through its emergency oil response fund for the cleanup.
Undertaking work in the spring of 2016, contractors found the extent of contamination at the property to be far greater than first estimated, with materials buried in a number of caches. After excavation, around two dozen drums and nearly 60 shipping containers of the worst-affected material and debris were transported off-island, at a cost of $6,000,000. An additional 18,350 cubic yards of lead-contaminated material still remain, and due to cost considerations it was determined treatment and interment would be a more manageable solution than transport off-island.
The monofill DEC designed for that purpose was to be situated at Department of Natural Resources rock pit #2, located a fifth of a mile away from the Pats Creek system. Along with Pats Lake, the creek is a popular system for fishing and recreation to Wrangell’s residents, prompting Wrangell Cooperative Association to raise its concerns about the presence of lead nearby. Work on the monofill meant to begin last summer was put on hold, while engineers met with tribal and city staff to assuage safety concerns.
Work had at first been scheduled to resume April 1, but the submission last month to DEC of a site report prepared for WCA has caused further delay. Kendra Zamzow with the Center for Science in Public Participation (CSP2) had been contracted by WCA to review the project in November. Based in Montana, CSP2 provides technical expertise on water quality contamination and other impacts associated with industry, primarily mining. An environmental geochemist with a doctorate in environmental chemistry, Zamzow represents the center in Alaska.
Examining site plans and other materials, her 19-page assessment raises a variety of questions, from the department’s choice of mitigation compound and the monofill’s design to groundwater quality and potential contaminants at the rock pit itself. During the project’s holding pattern, DEC project manager Sally Schlichting said the department has been putting together a response to Zamzow’s report. Many of the concerns raised by the report had been chemical in nature, and over the past month the DEC has collected soil and water samples from both sites as requested.
Schlichting said the department’s response also addresses the presence of petroleum contaminants at the rock pit site, lays out a groundwater contour map and proposes additional monitoring for the eventual monofill. DEC submitted its finished response to WCA’s report to them last Wednesday, and planned to make its contents public Tuesday after the tribe had time for review.
“It’s first for them,” Schlichting explained.
The presentation on the project and their findings to the Borough Assembly next week comes at its members’ request. DEC staff, engineers and contractors are to be on hand to present an updated overview of the Byford project and answer questions.
“We want it to be a dialogue, to allow the city assembly to ask us questions,” said Schlichting. The work session has been set for 5:30 p.m. on April 24 inside City Hall, just ahead of the assembly’s regularly scheduled 7 p.m. meeting. The public is welcome to attend.
Presently, the proposed monofill is still likely to be situated at the originally selected rock pit, based on cost estimations and the relative characteristics of other potential sites.
“We don’t have any other potential sites we are looking at,” Schlichting commented.
The treated soil is still being kept at the reclaimed Byford site, but its containment has a limited shelf life. By design, by this spring it was meant to already be disposed of.
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