Published: June 29, 2009 11:43 pm      

No contaminated fill for quarry

EPA: Only clean fill on project

Lead- and arsenic-contaminated slag won’t be used to fill up the Markland Avenue Quarry, a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency official confirmed Monday.

Instead, only clean fill dirt from the Kitty Run drainage project will be used to fill in the quarry, which the EPA has spent millions decontaminating.

EPA project manager Nabil Fayoumi said original cleanup plans had allowed for use of slag to fill in the quarry, which is one of six areas of the former Continental Steel site undergoing environmental remediation.

The slag, located in massive piles along the north bank of the Wildcat Creek, is the byproduct of decades of smelting at the former steel plant.

Much of the slag will simply be graded in place, and covered with 2 feet of topsoil.

But some of the slag must be moved to another location.

If not for the Kitty Run project, that location might have been the quarry, Fayoumi said.

“It’s because we have this free, available fill we’re using, and we’re saving the project money by doing that, so I think that’s the main factor,” Fayoumi said.

Contractors are currently excavating a drainage basin in the area behind Bible Baptist Church, west of Dixon Road. When complete, the 24-acre drainage basin will open up a large new section for development just west of the current Kokomo city limits.

Despite plans moving ahead on the Kitty Run drainage project this spring, Fayoumi couldn’t rule out dumping some of the slag into the quarry without finalizing the decision-making process.

There were also questions arising from $6 million in federal stimulus money injected into the Continental Steel cleanup.

According to Fayoumi, the stimulus announcement moved the schedule for the slag piles up by two years, so decisions had to be made as to how best to place the slag.

In May, he called it “highly, highly unlikely” that the slag would be used as quarry fill.

Earlier this month, the EPA issued a work order to main cleanup contractor CH2M Hill, directing that any “excess” slag be moved to the acid lagoon areas of the Continental site.

That resolved any lingering questions about the quarry, which had been poisoned by years of dumping from the steel mill.

CH2M Hill finished the quarry cleanup last year, an operation which required contractors to drain millions of gallons of contaminated water out of the pit, remove tons of metal from the sides and bottom (including chemical drums) and finally, scrape contaminated sediment from the bottom and sides.

• Scott Smith is a Kokomo Tribune staff writer. He may be reached at (765) 454-8569 or via e-mail at scott.smith@kokomotribune.com