EPA will wait until summer to begin tainted soil removal.

Concerned parents who have children attending Norris School in Elmwood Township have successfully pushed for a delay in the planned cleanup near the school until after the school year ends.

"The school's closing in June. We
just wanted (the agency) to press
the 'pause' button for a few months."
—Jane Breederland,
Mother of two Norris School students

Jane and Mark Breederland of Elmwood were among more than two dozen parents who attended a meeting with the Environmental Protection Agency last week regarding plans to remove contaminated soil from the former site of Grand Traverse Overall Supply adjacent to the school on Cherry Bend Road.

“We’re delighted,” said Jane Breederland in a phone interview Monday afternoon. “Toxins aside, the volume of soil to be removed is equal to 330 gravel haulers.”

The reality is that the Superfund site, which is delineated from adjacent properties by a chain link fence, sits just 58 feet from the door of the kindergarten room at the school.

“The cafeteria is even closer,” she said.

Work to remove contaminated soil from the site was scheduled to begin during spring break next week. A final cleanup plan for the site, announced earlier this month by the EPA, includes the removal of 11,000 tons of contaminated soil from the site. About 1,000 tons are expected to be disposed of as hazardous waste in an approved facility since it contains elevated levels of tetrachloreoethylene, a cleaning agent. That phase of the project is expected to take four to five days. The remainder of the soil, with contaminant levels not high enough to be considered hazardous but above the cleanup goal of 100 parts per billion, will be dug up and handled as non-hazardous waste in a local landfill.

In total, the agency estimates the work may take five weeks to complete.

The EPA action plan included several measures to serve as safeguards to exposure to contaminants— namely use of a soil-vapor extraction unit and extensive air sampling and monitoring. However, that wasn’t the only concern for parents.

“It’s an uproar in the backyard of the school. The school’s closing in June. We just wanted (the agency) to press the ‘pause’ button for a few months,” said Breederland, whose daughters Anna, 5, and Lauren, 8, attend Norris. “We are also anxious to see it cleaned up.”

Michelle Jaster, onsite cleanup coordinator for the agency, said she believes cleanup could have begun without incident. However, Jaster and her associates in the agency division based in Chicago agreed to postpone the removal in deference to parents.

“It could have been done safely,” said Jaster, who confirmed that it’s rare that action is postponed once authorized. “We felt, in this case, we can make it work.”

Delaying the excavation is not expected to harm the public or result in appreciable damage to the environment. However, it will likely increase the cost of disposal.

“We may have to dig a little deeper because the groundwater will be lower,” Jaster said.

The site will remain secure and locked until work resumes in mid-June.

The building that housed the old dry cleaning operation was demolished in December during the school’s Christmas break. Soil under the building is contaminated with dry cleaning chemicals.

Long term, the agency will continue to use its vapor extraction system and plans to pump and treat contaminated groundwater at the site. The treated water will then be discharge to either the municipal waste system or nearby Cedar Creek.