Million dollar cleanup by Wildcat Creek nearly complete

Sep. 26--A former dump site on the city's westside near the Wildcat Creek has housed toxic contaminants for decades, costing millions in cleanup costs.

Sampling of surface and subsurface soil, numerous drums and waste piles by the Environmental Protection Agency in December of 2012 at 1114 S. Dixon Road found high levels of arsenic, lead, mercury, hexavalent chromium, cadmium, and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCB).

"Dixon Road Site," as it's called by the EPA, is now undergoing a yearslong cleanup by the city of Kokomo and the landowner Vernon L. Graves Revocable Living Trust -- a process that the EPA estimates could cost upwards of $6 million.

INITIAL DISCOVERY

The contamination was first discovered in 2011 by the Indiana Department of Environmental Protection while the agency was responding to a separate oil spill at the nearby Haynes International plant.

During the visit, according to an EPA memo, employees with IDEM noticed exposed drums in a creek bank at the neighboring "Kokomo Dump Site," 1130 S. Dixon Road, now the Howard County Recycling Center. The drums were in poor condition and leaking its contents, which resembled paint, onto the creek banks.

On Aug. 19, 2011, the EPA conducted tests on the leaking drums and nearby surface soil. It found:

* Two drum samples exceeded the industrial and regulatory limit for arsenic of 1.6 mg/kg at a maximum concentration of 57.9 mg/kg.

* Another drum sample and the surface soil sample exceeded the industrial and regulatory limit for lead of 800 mg/kg at a maximum concentration of 16,100 mg/kg.

Subsurface soil sample results from the "Kokomo Dump Site" found:

* Arsenic was above the industrial and regulatory limit of 1.6 mg/kg in 6 of 7 samples with a maximum concentration of 39.8 mg/kg at a depth from 6 to 8 feet.

* Lead exceeded the limit of 800 mg/kg in 3 of 7 samples, at a maximum concentration of 1,500 mg/kg at a depth from 6 to 8 feet.

* In two samples collected at depths of 3 to 4 feet, PCBs exceeded the industrial RSL of 740 ug (microgram)/kg in two samples at maximum concentrations of 5,200 and 1,500 ug/kg, for Aroclor-1248 and Aroclor-1254 respectively, at a depth of 3 to 4 feet.

While investigating the "Kokomo Dump Site," IDEM also discovered the exposed drums and waste piles extended north to the "Dixon Road Site" located just north of the "Kokomo Dump Site" and called in the EPA to perform sampling.

There, too, contamination similar to what was found at the "Kokomo Dump Site" was found at "Dixon Road Site" by the EPA, including elevated lead concentrations, arsenic, mercury and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCB) at both the surface and subsurface levels, as well as drums leaking their contents onto the banks of the Wildcat Creek.

After the sampling was done, the EPA ordered cleanup to be done at both sites, citing an exposure threat to both the nearby Wildcat Creek and onsite workers, visitors, recreational users of the Wildcat Creek and nearby residents.

"The OSC [on-scene coordinator] observed that one of the drums was close to a child's swing set on a neighboring residential property," the EPA wrote in a memo.

A BIT OF HISTORY

So how did the contamination get at both sites?

According to the EPA, both sites have, at least for some time in their existence, were essentially landfills.

In the 1950s, Edward and Melba Graves operated a dump at the "Dixon Road Site." The two, according to the EPA, in May of 1958 entered into a contract with the city of Kokomo to allow the city to dump trash and refuse on their property.

The couple was then sued in 1958 by neighboring landowners over their dumping operations. The neighbors won and obtained an injunction in 1959.

Just south of the Graves' property was the old location for a city landfill. From about 1963 to the 1970s, the city of Kokomo operated an incinerator and municipal landfill at the "Kokomo Dump Site," according to the EPA.

According to a list of Howard County dumps provided to the EPA by IDEM, some of the ash from the city's incinerator went into the Graves' property.

CLEANUP

On Aug. 1, 2014, the EPA and the city of Kokomo entered into a settlement agreement for cleanup and disposal at the "Kokomo Dump Site."

According to an EPA spokesperson, cleanup at the dump site was completed in 2016 and cost the city $500,000.

For the "Dixon Road Site," the EPA, the city of Kokomo and Vernon L. Graves Trust entered into a settlement agreement on April 2, 2015, for cleanup and disposal at the site. Cleanup could end up costing both parties a total of $6 million and is still ongoing.

In fact, the Kokomo city council is currently in the process of approving a payment of $750,000 for "PCP soil excavation and mobilization" related to the "Dixon Road Site." According to the city and council members, all payments made by the city are reimbursed by its insurance company.

Cleanup at the "Dixon Road Site" will continue this year, though work is nearing its end.

"There will be additional remediation work completed at the site later this year and work could continue into 2021," Kokomo Mayor Tyler Moore told the Tribune in an email. "As with any environmental concern, all work is coordinated through IDEM and EPA for compliance and safety of all. The city will be glad to see this site remediated to safe levels over the coming months."

Tyler Juranovich can be reached at 765-454-8577, by email at [email protected] or on Twitter at @tylerjuranovich

Tyler Juranovich can be reached at 765-454-8577, by email at [email protected] or on Twitter at @tylerjuranovich

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