By PAULENE POPARAD

Residents in the Town of Pines concerned about the unhealthy quality of their drinking water are expressing relief over the planned closure of the Brown Yard 520 Landfill, however, “Simply capping the dump does not protect the residents of the township from further ground and surface water contamination,” said Cathi Murray.

Murray represents People In Need of Environmental Safety (PINES). The grass-roots group was formed after high levels of contaminants such as boron, molybdenum, benzene, arsenic and manganese were found in several Pines-area wells.

In August, 2000 the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency began a Superfund investigation which led two months ago to Brown Inc. and the Northern Indiana Public Service Co. agreeing to pay about $2 million to connect approximately 130 Pines homes to Michigan City municipal water by Dec. 1.

Although they did not admit liability, both Brown and NIPSCO were named respondents and responsible parties in a consent order they signed with EPA that documents a northerly flow of groundwater from Brown’s Yard 520. NIPSCO has disposed tons of fly ash, a waste product of its coal-fired electricity generating stations, at Yard 520.

According to the EPA, fly ash is known to contain detectable amounts of boron, manganese, molybdenum and other metals.

Keri McGrath, a spokesperson for the Indiana Department of Environmental Management, said IDEM has been notified verbally by a Brown representative and is awaiting written notice of the planned landfill closure. The landfill’s first permit was issued April, 1983 to accept coal ash from NIPSCO.

Yard 520’s most recent operating permit expired in May of 2002. Since a renewal application was submitted in a timely manner, the landfill was allowed to continue operations, said McGrath, but no decision was made whether its permit would have been renewed. Records supplied to IDEM showed the landfill had not accepted fly ash since the first quarter of 2001, one year after IDEM launched its investigation into suspected Pines groundwater contamination.

To be closed is the 15.6-acre southern side of Yard 520. McGrath said the 27-acre northern section was closed July 27, 1998.

Once Brown gives formal notice of closure, the company will have six months to establish a soil cap, cover it with appropriate vegetative materials to discourage erosion, and establish a 30-year continuous groundwater monitoring program. During post-closure the site must be inspected regularly, the soil cap and vegetation maintained, and measures taken to prevent ponding of water.

According to NIPSCO spokesman Don Babcock, some of its fly ash now is disposed at Wheatfield but the majority is held in silos and sold for use in the manufacture of concrete. Fly ash is the unburned mineral portion of coal that’s captured from the generating plant’s exhaust gases; it closely resembles volcanic ashes used in production of the earliest-known hydraulic cements about 2,300 years ago, he said.

When asked what IDEM is doing about what is believed to be a contaminated plume spreading from Yard 520 into The Pines, McGrath said that’s part of the EPA’s involvement; EPA reached agreement with Brown/NIPSCO for those companies to provide long-term groundwater monitoring of the plume while the EPA continues its investigation into the source(s).

Said Murray in a statement, “PINES maintains that Brown and NIPSCO are responsible for the complete clean-up of this contamination. While closing the landfill is certainly a step in the right direction, nothing has been done yet to stop the existing contamination that continues to pollute our groundwater.”

In January, 2002 IDEM recommended that the EPA place The Pines on its National Priorities List that would make available Superfund money to more effectively address the existing contamination and prevent its future spread. However, NPL money may not materialize for years, even decades.

Babcock said all parties fully intend to meet the December deadline for having the water line connection in place. “A number of contractors have been proposed to EPA, however, formal approval is pending. Design is underway with a construction start date pending agency approvals.”

Many Pines residents are adamant that all properties, not just the 30 whose wells are most contaminated and the 100 additional ones that will serve as a “buffer zone” around them, should be provided with safe municipal water.

According to Murray, “Wells that have not been tested in the area or those that have not exceeded the maximum contamination levels to qualify for an alternate source of water will continue to be fed by contaminants from the landfill. These wells also will draw contaminated water no longer in use from the 130 homes whose wells will be capped when municipal water is brought to those homes.”

PINES blames IDEM for letting the contamination occur in the first place.

“IDEM, to date, has failed to protect the town and its surrounding areas from the grave risks posed by the coal ash landfill,” said Murray. “Proper construction and monitoring of the landfill could have prevented the migration of contaminates into the township’s drinking water and into Brown Ditch.”

Brown Ditch is located adjacent to Yard 520. According to the EPA’s consent order, surface water samples taken from Brown Ditch at locations upstream of Yard 520 showed the presence of boron in concentrations of 130 parts-per-billion, while boron was present in concentrations of over 13,000 ppb in surface water samples taken from Brown Ditch downstream of Yard 520.

Murray said IDEM now must ensure that contamination doesn’t continue to flow from the landfill, that it is cleaned up and that post-closure monitoring is sufficient to detect contaminant flows for decades to come.

“We are committed to watching IDEM make sure they are handling the closure properly and doing everything in their power to protect the township’s ground and surface water,” added Murray. “It is time for IDEM to take the responsibility for making Brown comply.”

Posted 3/3/2003