Thursday, March 15, 2001
The U.S. EPA has completed cleanup of PCB-contaminated materials at the site.
By AMANDA C. DAVIS
VINDICATOR TRUMBULL STAFF
WARREN -- Frank Stiles remembers when his teen-age buddies would play near property on Summit Street, where the Mahoningside Power Plant once stood.
It's been nearly two years since smokestacks on the property were razed during a St. Patrick's Day celebration, and Stiles, now 43, said Wednesday he's glad cleanup efforts are nearing completion.
Officials from the city and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced during a press conference Wednesday that cleanup efforts to rid the property and nearby Mahoning River of PCBs are finally complete.
From here, city crews and contracted workers will handle asbestos remediation, and officials say plans to develop the property are under way.
Stiles lives on Summit Street, a little more than a block west of the Mahoningside property.
As a kid, Stiles said he knew better than to play on the fenced-off property, but noted that he fished under a nearby bridge that extended over the Mahoning River.
His 9-year-old daughter, Mariah, has been warned to stay away from the site because of its dangers.
"It's a good thing they are cleaning it up," Stiles said. "It's not really a scenic part of Warren but it will look nice developed."
Stiles said he would like to see a restaurant or other commercial development at the site because it would tie into the city's Riverwalk project that includes plans for walking trails and an outdoor amphitheater along the banks of the Mahoning River.
What was done: The U.S. EPA in August took over remediation at the Mahoningside site, formerly known as Warren Water and Light Co., because of mercury traces and dangerous levels of PCBs, or polychlorinated biphenyls, a suspected cancer-causing agent.
Mark Durno, on-site coordinator for the U.S. EPA, said cleanup efforts stopped the migration of PCBs from the site to the Mahoning River.
The source of PCB contamination is being investigated by the EPA, Durno explained, saying that criminal charges and cleanup costs will be pursued if it's determined that PCBs were in materials illegally dumped on the site.
The EPA's cleanup cost is $860,000. Grants, loans and Community Development Block Grant money will pay the city's share for cleanup, or $2.1 million to $2.3 million, officials said. About $300,000 to $400,000 more in CDBG monies is needed for the rest of cleanup.
Durno said 1,770 tons of PCB-contaminated material were shipped from the site to a hazardous waste landfill in New York. Some PCB contamination remains beneath the site of the former plant, but levels are lower than the maximum amount allowed by the EPA, Durno said.
Test results: An acceptable level of PCBs is 50 parts per million, Durno said, noting that one sample taken from the site registered at more than 107,000 parts per million. Most samples registered about 6,000 parts per million, Durno said, and remaining PCBs are at less than 7 parts per million.
Ohio Edison once owned the plant but sold it to a private company that filed for bankruptcy, prompting the city to assume the mortgage a few years ago.
"This has been an eyesore to the city for better than 30 years," Mayor Hank Angelo said.
City Councilwoman Virginia Bufano, D-1st, said she has worked since 1980 to force cleanup at the site, which is in her ward.
The city will have asbestos removed or encapsulated at the five-acre site along the west bank of the Mahoning River, Angelo said, and it will then be marketed for commercial development -- all without help from the city's cash-strapped general fund.
Officials said the city received a $250,000 grant to study other brownfield sites along the Mahoning River in Warren.