Story - The Meade County Messenger


Vol. 114, No. 34	August 15, 2007

Derby Tank Car
Update on cleanup efforts

Photo by Sandra Stone
The Derby Tank Car site as it is today. Vast improvement should be seen by this time next year.

By SANDRA STONE
Messenger Staff

On Aug. 9, Fazi Sherkat, branch manager, and Nathan Hancock, geologist with the Division of Waste Management’s Superfund Branch, Department for Environmental Protection, met with Judge Executive Harry Craycroft, 5th District Magistrate Steve Wardrip and Ekron Mayor Gwynne Ison to provide an update on the cleanup project at Derby Tank Car. The site, which sits on county property just outside the Ekron city limits, was abandoned many years ago, and no effort was made at that time to clean up the debris and hazardous materials accumulated during the years the company built and refurbished train cars.

Hancock led off the discussion, advising the three local officials of the latest progress. Shield Environmental is currently developing a remedial design based on its investigation of the property, and Hancock anticipates the plans will be complete by the end of August. When the plan receives final approval, the Finance Cabinet will bid the job out. Shield will provide oversight of the project.

“There will be a lot of truck traffic during cleanup,” said Hancock, who added they didn’t want to start the cleanup project without a preliminary discussion. The majority of the truck traffic will be hauling in fill dirt to the site. Very few trucks will be hauling hazardous materials from the site, and those will be covered.

Ison is particularly concerned about the route truck traffic will take to and from the site. The primary entrance to the site is Willie Dowell drive which Ison said is barely wide enough for a garbage truck to traverse. The back entrance off Smith Road, she said, would be preferable, as it would not have as great an impact on the Ekron community as the Willie Dowell Drive option. The two access roads will be evaluated to determine which will work best within the confines of project costs. Either way, work will need to be done to ensure safe access for trucks to and from the site during cleanup.

Looking to the future, Wardrip asked what the property could be used for after it is cleaned up and was advised it could be used for industrial or commercial, essentially anything but residential. According to Hancock, there would be more limitations on the property because of its proximity to a residential area than to its being an old industrial site. Hancock said corrective actions would not put many limitations on the future development of the property. It would not be available for residential development, but most types of commercial and industrial development could be built there. The proximity of the property to a residential area and the issues of noise, odor, etc., would be a bigger consideration regarding the type of facility that locates there than the fact that it is an old industrial site.

They looked over the preliminary plans from Shield Environmental. Majority of the site will be cleaned up, fill to the depth of one foot brought in and topsoil and vegetation placed over that. The areas requiring excavation are few and relatively small. The sandblast building will be removed and the area drained and capped. The paint building will remain, with the foundation serving as a cap for that area, and the building will be secured to make it less accessible.

Ison expressed concerns about the plan to leave this building as it is an eyesore. Removing the building and hauling away the debris, said Sherkat, would be cost prohibitive, and there are limited hazardous waste management funds for state led cleanup projects.

The other consideration, according to Hancock, is that a prospective buyer may want the building as it is large and, by all reports, structurally sound. “If you needed a big building, you could start with it,” said Hancock. “We want to leave options open for prospective buyers.”

Photo by Sandra Stone
Fifth District Magistrate Steve Wardrip, Ekron Mayor Gwynne Ison, Meade County Judge Executive Harry Craycroft and Nathan Hancock and Fazi Sherkat with the Department for Environmental Protection review the preliminary plans for cleaning up the Derby Tank Car site.

At this point, no one is claiming the Derby Tank Car site, but Hancock and Sherkat encouraged Craycroft to be looking into taking the land over once it is cleaned up. The county could then sell the land to be developed for commercial or industrial use.

The ultimate goal is to have someone reuse the property, create jobs and take care of the property so a situation like this doesn’t occur again. Sherkat encouraged Craycroft to begin looking at the process for the county to take over the property once the cleanup is complete. Not only would the county be in a better position to sell the property for development, it would have a better chance of the lien being foregone. Additionally, it would be better to have institutional controls in place regarding the usage of the property, controls the county could place on the property and which would go with the deed when the property is sold.

Craycroft asked if the outcome of the gubernatorial race could affect this project and was assured it would not. Information on the bidding process and deadlines will be available on the Finance Cabinet’s Web site. It is hoped work will begin on the cleanup project this fall with completion by the end of 2008. “This project,” said Sherkat, “is one of the department’s priorities.”

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