PENSACOLA - The City Council has unanimously voted to oppose the federal government's plan to leave more than 560,000 cubic yards of contaminated soil untreated at a toxic waste site known as "Mount Dioxin."
The Environmental Protection Agency's plan to bury the dirt in a clay-lined landfill on site without any decontamination effort will cost $25-million - the cheapest of seven options the agency considered, except for doing nothing at the old Escambia Wood Treating Co. plant.
Councilman P.C. Wu on Wednesday called the plan a "betrayal of good faith." "I really thought they were going to treat the soil and detoxify it," Wu said.
Council members said they feared dioxin and other poisons eventually would seep from the landfill into groundwater and that the lack of any decontamination would thwart plans to redevelop the area as a commercial park.
Dioxin has been linked to cancer and other illnesses.
Escambia County commissioners are scheduled to vote on a similar resolution Sept. 15.
The EPA 13 years ago excavated 344,250 tons of toxic soil to halt groundwater contamination. The soil has remained there ever since, covered by plastic sheeting. The agency also plans to bury additional contaminated soil in the landfill.
EPA spokeswoman Dawn Harris-Young said the agency will not respond to complaints until after a public comment period ends Sept. 22.
In addition to the 26-acre Superfund site itself, the surrounding neighborhood also has been vacated in EPA's relocation program. About 350 families have been moved and EPA has proposed relocating some 50 more.
