Milwaukee River PCB Cleanup Delayed

[excerpted from Milwaukee News Buzz]

A long-anticipated cleanup of PCBs in the Milwaukee River has been pushed back to next year. Officials had originally hoped to begin work this year but are still determining how, exactly, to remove about two tons of the hazardous industrial waste from about 100,000 cubic feet of river sediment. Using state and federal funds, the cleanup is expected to cost about $20.2 million.

Since 1993, the DNR has tested the river and adjoining channels for PCBs. It’s created a list of the three areas most needing cleanup. The first, a shallow area near the Blatz Pavilion just south of the Estabrook Dam in Estabrook Park, was the smallest of the projects and completed in 2008.

The second area on the list – the one officials want to tackle next – is located in Lincoln Park where Lincoln Creek meets the Milwaukee River. The creek, which winds through industrial areas in Milwaukee before running north to join with the river on the western side of the park, is believed to be one of the river’s biggest sources of PCBs. The chemicals, largely banned in the 1970s, came from companies no longer around to help pay for the cleanup, officials say.

“We have a lot of ‘historical pollution,’” says Marsha Burzynski, a DNR water specialist in the agency’s Milwaukee office.

The DNR had originally hoped to start the cleanup this year, but planning is taking longer than expected. However, “We’re confident we can get the work done in 2011,” says Ajit Vaidya, a project manager with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Great Lakes office.

But County Supervisor Theo Lipscomb, who represents the area, says he worries that children and other people using the park are exposed to the PCBs contained in dried river mud. According to a DNR report, the area surrounding where Lincoln Creek meets the river “contains the most significant deposits of PCBs known within the Milwaukee River system.”

Water levels are low because the DNR, since 2008, has ordered the Estabrook Dam’s gates to remain open. The DNR questioned the dam’s structural soundness and worries a sudden rain could cause a flood if the county doesn’t open the gates in time. Debris clogs the dam’s spillway, the escape route for excess water.

Lipscomb would like to see the dam repaired to restore past water levels. Tanya Meyer, DNR water engineer, says such a rebuild wouldn’t eliminate the need for Lincoln Park remediation. “That sediment would need to be cleaned whether the dam is repaired or not,” she says.

Supervisor Gerry Broderick, chairman of the board’s parks committee, disagrees with Lipscomb’s argument that restoring the dam and raising water levels would make the river safer. Many neighbors also want the old water levels restored for boating and other recreation.

“The same people that see children playing in the sullied banks of the river are the same people that want their children to be able to go out and water ski on the water,” Broderick says. He argues for removing the dam, a position shared by the Milwaukee Riverkeepers, an environmental group.

The DNR will provide 35 percent of $20.2 million needed for the PCB cleanup, and the EPA will provide the other 65 percent through the Great Lakes Legacy Fund.

The two agencies are proceeding with plans to excavate the contaminated sediment and ship it to landfills. The most toxic sediment would be sent to out-of-state landfills licensed to handle the waste. The DNR and EPA selected the second-most expensive option for remediation after considering several others ranging in cost from $2.2 million to $20.3 million.

The cheapest option was “monitored natural recovery,” which meant waiting for the PCBs to degrade naturally while periodically testing the area to track their progress. The testing would have gone on for 30 years. The next-cheapest options, ranging from $6.5 million to $11.5 million, called for capping the sediment in some way to lock in the PCBs.

After the cleanup of the western half of Lincoln Park is completed, the next project would be addressing channels on the eastern side.

PCBs are linked to organ damage and cancer in humans. Because they break down very slowly, they reach high concentrations in animals that are high in the food chain, such as salmon or humans, if they’re not careful.

The largest PCB cleanup in U.S. history is still under way in the Fox River in Northeast Wisconsin, where much of the contamination came from the paper industry.