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Capitol City Plume Superfund site

Overview

The Capitol City Plume Superfund site are plumes of contaminated groundwater located beneath government and private property in the western downtown area of Montgomery, Alabama. The contamination was discovered in 1993 by the Alabama Department of Environmental Management (ADEM) which was investigating soil contamination at the Retirement Systems of Alabama Energy Plant in the city.[1] After assessment by the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) it was proposed for inclusion in the National Priorities List in May 2000. The city of Montgomery managed to keep the site off of the National Priorities list, eliminating the possibility that it could be labeled a superfund site, by taking fiscal responsibility for the site and its cleanup. The mayor of Montgomery called for a creation of the Downtown Environmental Alliance (Alliance), which would be responsible for planning and undertaking the cleanup costs of the contaminated site. The agreement between the city of Montgomery and the EPA is historically significant and groundbreaking because the parties who are going to pay for the cleanup costs have voluntairly joined the Alliance. The city of Montgomery hopes that it can serve as a model that other cities can follow when faced with similar situations. The site does not affect drinking water or the majority of citizens in downtown Montgomery, but soil vapor intrusion and groundwater contamination has been detected and has been found to effect buildings.

History

The contamination that makes up The Plume was discovered in 1993 during construction of the Retirement Systems of Alabama (RSA) Tower energy plant. In the late 1990s the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) got involved, and in 2000 the EPA proposed that the Capital City Plume Site be put on the National Priorities List (NPL). Although proposed, Capital City Plume never made it on the NPL because it was very hard to determine the risk to the public as well as where the source from the pollution came from and who was responsible, which need to be defined before a site can be placed on the NPL. The site also managed to stay off of the NPL in part because of the city of Montgomery. All cities are aware that it looks bad to have a superfund site in your town and it can devastate the tourism economy because people don't want to visit and spend time in an area that has been deemed hazardous to human life. The mayor of Montgomery wanted to keep the city away from any correlation with Superfund sites, so the city actively worked with the EPA and agreed to clean up the site effectively and in a timely manner.

The first step the city took was in developing the Downtown Environmental Alliance (Alliance). In the beginning of June 2015 the city of Montgomery sent letters to 12 companies who were possibly responsible for the contamination and encouraged them to join the coalition. Additionally the 12 companies were encouraged to attend a meeting on June 15th that would bring all entities that were potentially liable for the pollution together at the County Commissioners' Court so that further steps could be discussed. The following companies received letters: Alabama Power Company, Capital Motor Lines, Chevron, USA Inc., Colonial Trailways, Davis Cleaners Inc., Harper-Lee Machine Works, Hormel Foods Corporation, Knox Kershaw Inc./Kershaw Manufacturing Company, Retirement Systems of Alabama, Shell Oil Company, Standard-Taylor Industries Inc., and Swift & Company. . The EPA now has a list of 25 businesses that are potentially liable for the pollution, and are being reminded that if they chose not to join the Alliance that the legal process could be much more costly for them. The Alliance includes businesses who the city suspects could be responsible for the contamination, and therefor responsible for the costs of the cleanup and reimbursements to the EPA. The Alliance also includes governmental agencies such as The City of Montgomery, Montgomery County, Montgomery Water Works and Sanitary Sewer Board, the State of Alabama and the Montgomery Advertiser who will be working in accordance with the Alabama Department of Environmental Management. The Alliance has agreed to pay back 3.5 million dollars to the EPA, which were spent investigating the area over nearly 20 years, but surprisingly in January of 2015 the EPA dropped the amount it needed to be reimbursed to 2.6 million dollars.

Through its testing the EPA found Montgomery Advertisers, state agencies, and other closed businesses as the culprits for the contamination, and therefor liable, but through independent tests Montgomery Advertisers found something quite different. The environmental experts that were privately hired by Montgomery Advertisers had vastly different results than the EPA and pointed to nearby gas stations and dry cleaners as the culprits of the environmental hazard. Although Montgomery Advertisers proved their innocence, their President came out and publicly stated that it did not matter who was responsible, the issue and focus now had to be on the cleanup and the bettering of the city environmentally. The city of Montgomery accepted public comments for a period of 30 days following their initial acceptance of the terms from the EPA, and during those 30 days, from July 30, 2015 to August 31, 2015, the comments would be considered in any modifications or amendments to the agreement.

Site Testing

From 2008 to 2010 the United States Geological Surveys' Alabama and South Carolina Water Science Centers conducted tests on numerous things in and around the site of the plume in downtown Montgomery. Contaminants had been found in groundwater, so the tests were to reveal where the source of contamination was stemming from as well as the pathways the contamination was taking underground. Additionally, the USGS was aiming to reveal when the contamination occurred. In order to find answers to these questions the USGS conducted many tests and methods of sampling including but not limited to sampling of creek water, ground water, trees, and soil. The USGS also looked at how the land was historically used so that a correlation could be drawn between locations of high concentrations of chemicals and the source polluters. Scientists used passive-diffusion bag samplers to collect pore water from Cypress Creek and groundwater from other locations, which would provide data and concentration levels of the contaminants in the creek. Scientists also took tissue samples from trees there were growing along the Alabama River, Cypress Creek, and downtown Montgomery so that the analysis and data could give a better idea of the big picture and the true reach of the pollution.

The tests concluded that that the aquifer residing below the Capital City Plume site was contaminated with perchloroethylene (PCE) and trichloroethylene (TCE) and that the contamination was likely caused by the commercial printing industry that resided in downtown Montgomery int the late 1800s and early 1900s. The USGS scientists also concluded that the contamination likely was attributed to wastewater containing chlorinated solvents that had gotten into stormwater systems, thus polluting the aquifer. Additional studies concluded that other chemicals and metals were also present in the groundwater such as BTEX which includes benzene, toluene, ethyl benzene and xylenes (found in gasoline and petroleum products), and metals such as chromium and lead (found in paint, dye, and ink).

As part of the remediation action, the City of Montgomery planted 2 acres of poplar trees, which take up and break down contaminants from shallow groundwater through their roots.[2]

See also[edit source | edit] Groundwater remediation Rhizofiltration References[edit source | edit] Jump up ^ "NPL Site Narrative for Capitol City Plume" (PDF). United States Environmental Protection Agency. May 11, 2000. Retrieved April 24, 2013. Jump up ^ "Capitol City Plume". Region 4 Superfund. United States Environmental Protection Agency. March 6, 2013. Retrieved April 24, 2013.