An environmental win for Valley 33 years in making

A federal consent deCree released this week for massive cleanup at and near the former Nease Chemical Co. in Salem represents a solid victory for public health and the environment in the Mahoning Valley.

It’s a pleasing victory that has been a long, long time in the making.

Thirty-three years ago last week, property on which the former chemical manufacturing plant once stood was added to the National Priority List of Superfund sites, a list of the most hazardous and health-threatening waste sites in the nation that require long-term and costly efforts to clean and clear.

In the decree, the Rutgers Organics Corp., owner of the former chemical- plant property, avoided federal legal action by agreeing to invest nearly $19 million into cleanup at and near the site, as proposed by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

The agreement with the EPA, the U.S. departments of Justice and Interior and the state of Ohio also mandates that Rutgers, based in State College, Pa., restore the injured natural resources at the site and nearby areas and to reimburse federal and state agencies for the $1 million they already have spent to respond to the problems and to assess public-health dangers and cleanup needs.

The focus of concern since the onset of the Superfund-listing of the site has been the chemical Mirex, once used at the plant that closed in 1973. Mirex, once a prime ingredient in pesticides, has been linked to pervasive and chronic physiological and biochemical disorders and to liver cancer in some animals.

Hazardous substances derived from Mirex have been detected in the soil, groundwater, sediments, floodplains and wetlands in the area, as well as in the fish in the nearby Middle Fork of Little Beaver Creek, the government reported in its filing.

‘UNDOING THE DAMAGE’

Now, some 43 years after the closing of the Nease plant that produced household-cleaning products and pesticides, long-term relief at long last is at hand.

“This agreement will undo the damage done in the past while preserving creeks and the [Little Beaver Creek] watershed for future generations,” said Carole S. Rendon, U.S. attorney for the Northern District of Ohio.

It is now up to Rutgers to deliver on its promises made in the decree. Indications are strong that it will do so.

Thus far, the corporation has worked responsibly and cooperatively with the federal and state authorities to investigate the site and to assist in its initial cleanup phases. We look for that same spirt of cooperation to prevail during the long-term comprehensive cleanup operations that lie ahead.

The sooner that cleanup can begin toward a thorough and efficient remediation of the 280 acres of contaminated habitat, the sooner the site can be removed from the embarrassing spot it has occupied on the Superfund list and the sooner that residents near the site can regain confidence in the integrity of their environment.