SHARON, PA. EPA orders more cleanup at Westinghouse

So far, $23 million has been spent on work at the Superfund site.
By HAROLD GWIN
VINDICATOR SHARON BUREAU
SHARON, Pa.-- The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has ordered Viacom Inc., Winner Development LLC and AK Steel Corp. to clean up groundwater, sediments and riverbank soils at the Westinghouse Electric Superfund site.
The work includes cleaning polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) from a 600-foot section of the Wishart Court storm sewer, removing 4,100 cubic yards of contaminated sediments from the Shenango River between Clark Street and Consumers Water Co. and removing 300 cubic yards of contaminated riverbank soil in that same area.
Further, additional groundwater monitoring wells will have to be installed, the EPA said.
The work will cost an estimated $6 million.
Deed restrictions will also have to be placed on the property in question to prevent inappropriate development of that land, particularly as housing sites.
The EPA said the three companies are already conducting cleanup of soil and buildings at the old Westinghouse plant.
Contamination
Westinghouse Electric operated the plant from 1922 to 1985, manufacturing electrical transformers on the 58-acre site. Between 1936 and 1976, PCBs (a cancer-causing agent) and trichloro-benzene were used in some of the transformers produced, resulting in contamination of parts of the plant as well as adjoining areas such as the Wishart Court sewer and the river.
PCBs and trichlorobenzene were used as electrical insulation fluids but later were found to be health hazards.
Testing on the site has also turned up manganese, arsenic, solvents and transformer oil in the groundwater.
The EPA declared it to be a Superfund hazardous waste site in 1990.
Ownership
CBS Corp. acquired Westinghouse in 1998 and CBS was then acquired by Viacom, which still owns a small portion of the site. The rest is owned by two commercial enterprises, including Winner Development, which is developing an industrial park there, and AK Steel Corp.
Westinghouse spent $12 million on cleanup work, and CBS spent $3 million more while Winner has spent $8 million so far.