WKSU News: National park system's costliest clean-up is complete

Friday, August 31, 2012 National park system's costliest clean-up is complete After hauling out barrels of toxic waste and 370,000 tons of contaminated soil, the former Krejci dump is ready for restoration by WKSU's JEFF ST. CLAIR	Morning Edition Host Jeff St. Clair

Rusting barrels of toxic waste greeted the new owners of the Krejci dump in 1985. The National Park service announced this week the cleanup is finally finished.

Courtesy of NPS

In The Region:

Trees will soon grow where barrels once sat rusting in the Cuyahoga Valley National Park.

The park service announced this week that nearly three decades after acquiring the 46 acre Krejci dump, the cleanup is officially complete and the restoration phase is set to begin.

EPA officials began hauling out barrels of toxic waste in1987. Ten years later the government sued Ford, GM, Chrysler, and 3M - along with waste hauler Waste Management of Ohio to recoup the costs of the $60 million dollar cleanup. That price tag was estimated to be the costliest ever in the National Park system, according to a lawyer for the park system interviewed by the Akron Beacon Journal in 2001.

Park ecologist Kevin Skerl says the Krejci cleanup is an example of effective enforcement of environmental laws.

He says contractors removed 370 thousand tons of contaminated soil filled with... "PCB’s, Dioxins, furans, benzene, pesticides, solvents, heavy metals…all sorts of nasty things that we wanted to see dealt with on the landscape here in the national park.”

Now that the site is free of pollutants, Skerl says the park is moving on to the next phase. Fresh topsoil has been trucked in, and restoration this fall means trees, shrubs, and flowers will be planted on the former dump.

It opens to the public next year.

(Click image for larger view.)

Private contractors completed the final phase of the clean-up, requiring the removal of 370,000 tons of contaminated soil.

Listener Comments:

This is a fine example of what effective enforcement of our environmental laws can achieve. Unfortunately, some of our politicians want to gut our clean air and clean water laws and relax environmental standards for industry in the name of the economy. The people of northeast ohio are very fortunate to have such a gem as the Cuyahoga Valley National Park. I hope that the folks of Northeast Ohio will remember which of our elected officials who are pro-environment and support them.

Posted by: physician environmentalist (Port Clinton, OH) on August 31, 2012 12:08PM

where did the dirt go !!!

Posted by: debbie baker (wooster) on August 31, 2012 9:08AM

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