Weather | Sports | Forums | Comics | Classifieds | Calendar | Movies
Adding an equipment building and overhead electrical lines is a prelude to cleaning the Superfund site.
By ROBERT FARLEY
© St. Petersburg Times, published May 26, 2000
As they prepare for cleanup, the overseers of the Stauffer Superfund site in North Pinellas say they will need to build up before they can tear down.
Next week, Stauffer Management Co. plans to begin construction of an equipment building and installation of overhead electrical service at the site on the Pinellas-Pasco county line.
The work is being done in preparation for demolition of several structures later this year, and ultimately in preparation for work to clean up toxic waste at the 130-acre site, which once held a phosphorus processing plant.
"They want to get some work done ahead of time to get the site ready," said John Blanchard, project manager for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. "We're happy to see they're being proactive and moving forward."
The work plan has been thoroughly reviewed by the EPA, Blanchard said, and most of the work will take place in low-contamination areas.
Stauffer site manager Frank McNeice said workers, particularly those digging holes for 20 utility poles, will wear protective clothing.
"We're aware of the environmental concerns here," McNeice said.
Blanchard said a backhoe with sand will be kept nearby to quickly cover any phosphorus that may be unearthed. Phosphorus ignites when it comes in contact with air and can send off irritating fumes.
The existing buried electrical lines will be disconnected and replaced with overhead electrical services, McNeice said. Overhead lines will then be run to various portions of the site for lighting and to provide power to such things as test wells.
The new equipment building will be on the east side of the main parking lot, which is inside the entry gate on Anclote Road. It will house new switchgear for the relocated electrical service and other equipment needed for general maintenance and upkeep of the site.
The work, expected to be completed by mid-August, "is a necessary prerequisite to demolition," McNeice said.
Slated for demolition are a water tower, a large maintenance building, a boiler house, an electrical substation and miscellaneous tanks, concrete structures and block walls.
The electrical substation, inactive since 1981, has become a popular nesting site for ospreys. Hoping to entice them from the structure, Stauffer had five nesting poles erected next to the substation.
But the ospreys have been stubborn, McNeice said. Workers have had to regularly knock sticks off the structure to discourage nesting there.
"We have built five nice new condos up there," McNeice said, but to date only one osprey has taken up residence there.
Blanchard said the demolition work is being done in preparation for remediation work listed in the Record of Decision, a cleanup plan awaiting approval in federal court. It calls for piling and capping 300,000 cubic yards of toxic soil on the site beside the Anclote River.