Monofill moving forward next week

Construction of a designated monofill site to store treated soil from a contaminated site cleanup will begin next week, after nine months’ delay.

To be interred at a state-owned rock pit off Pats Creek Road, the site will house around 18,500 cubic yards of earth pulled from the former Byford junkyard property along Zimovia Highway’s 4-Mile stretch. During 2016 the Department of Environmental Conservation led efforts to remediate the disused junkyard, which had extensive contamination after decades of battery and junk vehicle storage.

The scale of the project exceeded expectations as further debris was found buried on the property. By the time the first phase of the cleanup was completed, DEC reported the price-tag had been about $6 million. The state agency had stepped in with its emergency response funding after Environmental Protection Agency sources initially earmarked for the cleanup were diverted to the Gold King mine spill in Colorado.

Sixty-two containers of the most heavily contaminated debris and soil were removed from the island for disposal elsewhere, while the remaining soil had varying degrees of lead contamination. It was treated with a phosphate-based compound called EcoBond, which chemically stabilizes the lead to drastically reduce its ability to leach out. Already over-budget, instead of removing the soil by barge DEC decided to have it interred on Wrangell Island.

Of the site options available, engineers selected Rock Pit #2, owned by the Department of Natural Resources. But due to its proximity to Pats Creek – 0.2 miles – a popular fishing and recreation site along with nearby Pats Lake, local concerns prompted a delay of the monofill’s construction, set to begin last August.

In the months since, DEC has reportedly been exploring other options with the City and Borough of Wrangell and Wrangell Cooperative Association, which had voiced concern. WCA remains formally opposed to the site selection, though other sites were deemed to be unsatisfactory for the project, usually for drainage or grading reasons.

After meeting with the city last week, DEC on Monday announced its contractors would begin moving the soil over to the monofill site next week.

“That’s what we’re planning to do, and partly that’s because if the option that’s chosen is the monofill, we need to start now if we’re going to finish this year,” explained Sally Schlichting, the department’s project head for Southeast Alaska.

Its primary contractor, NRC Alaska, will be using a 1.7-mile section of Forest Service road to relay materials by truck to the rock pit. Each truckload represents 10 cubic yards of soil, so running loads five days a week it should take contractors the rest of the year to complete.

Minus costs for the site study and engineering designs, Schlichting estimated the second phase of the Byford cleanup has so far cost $1.5 million. When all is said and done, the monofill should cost $5.5 million, less than half DEC’s estimated cost to transport the affected material southward for disposal.

“We’re hopeful we can keep it to that,” said Schlichting. The project has already seen additional costs through last fall’s demobilization, additional sampling and modeling work, and maintaining the temporary stockpile over the winter.

Starting as early as May 9, the contractors’ work schedule will be flexible through the week, avoiding wet weather whenever possible. Due to Pats Creek’s appeal to local user groups, a handful of holiday weekends will be set aside as off-days for transporting soil. These include May 26 through 28 for Memorial Day weekend; June 16 and 17, and 22 and 23, for the statewide designated youth fishing weekends; June 30 to July 5 for Independence Day celebrations; and September 1 through 3 for Labor Day weekend.

DEC will be holding a public open house next week ahead of the project, with a function scheduled to start at 6:30 p.m. on May 7 to be held at the Nolan Center. Community members will have the opportunity to overview the project and schedule, meet with project planners, and get other information. All are welcome to attend.