A routine check-in is underway at Superfund sites in Burlington and Williston where toxic waste cleanups were completed some years ago, the federal Environmental Protection Agency announced Wednesday.
The five-year check-in is required by the federal government to make sure the cleanups worked. The EPA plans to examine the 38-acre Pine Street Canal site, often called Barge Canal, in Burlington, and the 1-acre Commerce Street Plume in Williston, to ensure that past cleanup efforts “continue to be protective of human health and the environment,” according to an EPA press release.
The Pine Street Canal review should be completed by December 2021 and the Commerce Street Plume review by October 2022.
“These reviews are important because a lot of things can change post-construction,” said Dan Keefe, who manages Superfund cleanups in Maine, Vermont and Connecticut for the EPA.
Storms and animals can have an effect on a particular property, and federal and state cleanup guidelines can change, Keefe said, so “it’s important to keep eyes on the ground.”
The five-year reviews involve a physical inspection; a review of site monitoring data, such as groundwater samples; and an evaluation to make sure the cleanup work still complies with current regulations.
The EPA does not expect to find any issues in this routine check-in, Keefe said, though overall, about half of all sites that have gone through remediation need subsequent work.
The Superfund is a list of the nation’s most toxic properties — such as contaminated waterways, old industrial plants or landfills filled with hazardous waste.
Pine Street Canal, in Burlington’s South End, was once an industrial site where coal was turned into gas. In the 1970s, Vermont detected toxic substances associated with coal tar at nearby locations. Concerned that the substances could leak into Lake Champlain and contaminate Burlington’s drinking water, the EPA began removing the coal tar and containing the area where those substances were detected. Clean up began in 1985 and concluded in 2004.
Commerce Street Plume, near the intersection of Williston and Essex roads, was once the site of multiple manufacturing operations. Various companies dumped liquid waste containing heavy metals — chromium, cadmium and cyanide, among others — into an unlined lagoon and field. Contaminants subsequently leaked into soil, sediments and groundwater. Restoration began in 2015 and culminated in 2018.
There are 14 Superfund sites in Vermont, about 150 in New England and almost 1,500 in the nation.
As with many of those sites, five-year reviews for Pine Street and Commerce Street are scheduled to continue for perpetuity.
Correction: An earlier version of this story incorrectly stated which towns have Superfund sites.
