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Cleanup of Stauffer site back on track

The EPA is allowing the company to return to the plan that was withdrawn in 2000 after residents protested.

By NORA KOCH
Published June 4, 2005

TARPON SPRINGS - A plan to clean up the Stauffer Chemical Superfund site is moving again, and company officials say the remediation could be complete by the end of 2006.

In documents filed in U.S. District Court in Tampa this week, the Environmental Protection Agency and Stauffer Management Co. formally agreed to the cap-and-mound method, the same remediation plan that was derailed by public outcry in 2000.

After the company completed nearly $4-million in tests between 2000 and 2004, Stauffer and the EPA determined they should stick to the original plan.

"We're very pleased" about the court action, "which finally enables us to move forward expeditiously," said Stauffer Management president Brian Spiller.

But the new agreement is virtually identical to the formal legal agreement that was withdrawn five years ago. The mound-and-cap method is still unacceptable, said Tarpon Springs resident Mary Mosley, a longtime opponent of the Stauffer cleanup plan. She wonders why the EPA won't push for Stauffer to physically remove the contaminated soil from Tarpon Springs.

"We're on the water, we're on an important estuary," she said. "The Anclote River is very important to our fisherman and economy, and they're just going to leave it here?" Mosely said she would learn more about the plan and, if necessary, fight it again.

"We're not done yet," she said.

Rules require a 30-day period for public comment on the agreement. Details are to be published in an upcoming Federal Register, according to the EPA.

Often known as the "mound and cap" approach, the plan calls for the contaminated soil to be piled up. A solidifying agent such as Portland cement would be added to the soil to harden it and chemically lock the pollutants in place. Then a watertight cap would be installed over the site to prevent rain from washing through the soil and flushing contaminants into the groundwater below.

The cleanup plan, called a record of decision, was made in 1998. Two years later, when the EPA tried to lodge a consent decree akin to the action made this week, residents protested. Stauffer agreed to withdraw the agreement and completed more tests on the site's geology and whether the mound-and-cap remedy was safe, according to the suit. The EPA approved the studies, which examined the risk of sinkholes, underground water conditions and the feasibility of turning the tainted soil into a solid, chemically stable mass.

The "implementation of this consent decree will expedite the cleanup of the site and will avoid prolonged and complicated litigation," the EPA's suit says.

The testing done in the last several years determined that the mound-and-cap plan was the best option, said Spiller.

"It proved out that the remediation that we had planned was appropriate," Spiller said. "It proved further to the agency and the public that the the remedy was fully protective to human health and the environment."

Details on the plan will come in the next several months. After the public comment, Stauffer is expected to submit plans to the EPA on how it will proceed with the cleanup. Stauffer also is required to pay for the entire project, according to the documents. The cost of the cleanup isn't known yet because the project still has to be designed, Spiller said.

Stauffer Chemical, a phosphorus-processing plant, operated at the site on the Pinellas-Pasco county line from 1947 to 1981. Twelve years later, the federal government declared the site a health hazard.

More than 30 hazardous chemicals - arsenic, lead, mercury and asbestos among them - contaminate the soil and the water beneath the land.

In May 1996, the EPA first suggested piling up the soil and capping it because hauling it away in trucks was deemed to be too expensive and might expose residents to harmful dust.

Residents opposed the plan at the time and asked the EPA to reconsider.

With the plan back on track, Stauffer intends to complete the design plan later this year and finish the cleanup by the end of 2006, Spiller said. He said the company has an ongoing dialogue with the city, county and private developers, and plans to redevelop the site for recreation, industry or commercial use. Spiller said the company will ensure no homes will ever be built on the land.

"We'll be intensifying discussions on the redevelopment soon," Spiller said.

[Last modified June 4, 2005, 06:14:28]