In a settlement agreement filed in federal court in Boise, Idaho on Nov. 9, two companies and the city of St. Maries, Idaho, agreed to clean up a superfund site in St. Maries at a cost estimated at more than $12 million, according to a press release issued by the U.S. Justice Department and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
The site, a former wooden utility pole treatment plant, is located on the banks of the St. Joe River on the Coeur d' Alene Tribe’s reservation. The tribe joined with the federal government in signing the settlement.
B.J. Carney & Co. owned the now-defunct plant from 1960 through the early 1980s, demolishing site structures and re-grading contaminated soil from 1960 through 1965. Although the creosote operation ended and B.J. Carney & Co. sold its interests to Carney Products, Ltd., from 1982 until 2003 Carney Products peeled, sorted and stored poles at the facility.
The creosote operation and demolition process polluted the land, river bank and river sediments, the release stated. EPA's cleanup plan calls for excavation and thermal treatment of more than 70,000 cubic yards of creosote-contaminated soil and river sediment.
No comments:
Post a Comment