RALEIGH-The state of North Carolina took a significant step toward fulfilling its promise to detoxify the Warren County PCB Landfill. The state executed a contract between the Department of Environment and Natural Resources and The IT Group. The contract outlines plans to remove and destroy the PCBs (polychlorinated biphenyls) from the landfill soil and allow for redevelopment of the site.
The IT Group received the detoxification contract based on its low bid of $13.5 million. The project will consist of two phases. Phase I includes preparing the site, installing utilities, constructing facilities, mobilizing equipment, performance testing, and treating a limited amount of material. Phase II will complete the detoxification and allow the site to be redeveloped. Current funding is sufficient to complete Phase I, which will cost $6.6 million.
The contract is a product of the collaboration between DENR’s Division of Waste Management and the Warren County community. Since 1994, both groups have worked together to select and test an appropriate treatment technology and to design and implement the detoxification project. The General Assembly supported the process through legislation introduced by Senator Frank Ballance and Representatives Stan Fox and Jim Crawford.
The legislature has provided funds totaling $9.6 million and the US EPA pledged support through in-kind services. EPA’s contribution allows funds to be spent on other project requirements. Because additional funds are needed for Phase II, federal, state and private funds are being pursued.
The landfill was constructed in 1982 to contain PCB-contaminated soil from over 210 miles of North Carolina roadsides. The contamination resulted from the illegal disposal of transformer oils containing PCBs. The roadsides were listed as an EPA Superfund site and the landfill was constructed to dispose of these soils. Warren County residents vehemently opposed the location. Their protests are considered by many the "watershed event" that started the environmental justice movement.
The IT Group, Inc. provides consulting, engineering and construction, infrastructure, water, facility and environmental management services. A wholly owned subsidiary of The IT Group, IT Corporation will use resources from their Morrisville, NC and Trenton, NJ offices. Other services and supplies will come from local subcontractors and businesses. Local residents will also be hired for the detoxification effort.
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