>>ANNOUNCER: Promoting a healthy environment:
It's the air we breathe... Clean, safe water
Responsible management of our natural resources -
We protect and restore for a sustainable future.
Environment Matters... >>NARRATION: Demolition work begins at Freedom
Industries as crews begin the removal of all above ground storage tanks at the site. Plus:
>>Wendy Radcliff “I think I have a unique perspective on the agency and on the state
of the environment in West Virginia. You know, I’m a native of West Virginia. I started
this position – the first time around was when I was 25 years old. Twenty years to the
day, I've come back.” >>NARRATION: We’ll sit down with the DEP's
Wendy Radcliff on her return to the Office of Environmental Advocate and her vision for
encouraging meaningful public input on matters of environmental protection.
>>GREG ADOLFSON: Hello everyone and welcome to another edition of Environment Matters.
I’m Greg Adolfson with the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection. More
than six months after a leaking storage tank contaminated the drinking water supply for
roughly 300-thousand West Virginia residents, demolition work at the now bankrupt Freedom
Industries is now under way. The restructuring team and the contractor,
Independence Excavating began work on July 15th. The project involves removing ten steel
tanks, including tank 396 which leaked roughly 10-thousand gallons of the chemicals MCHM
and PPH into the Elk River on January 9th. Four tanks will remain on the site to store
stormwater runoff – any rainwater or shallow groundwater that comes into contact with potentially
contaminated soil. The DEP’s Sarah Sharp joins me now with
the latest on the demolition and the investigation. >>SARAH SHARP: Greg, demolition for this phase
of the project is expected to take two to four weeks, barring any major weather delays...
>>NARRATION: DEP inspectors were on site for the beginning of the demolition and will remain
on site for the duration of the project. There’s also an asbestos removal contractor on hand
to look for any asbestos containing materials in areas inaccessible during last month’s
pre-demolition inspection. During demolition, areas inside the footprint
of the tanks will be covered with liners so contaminated soil won’t be exposed to rain
during the demolition process. Crews will take steps to avoid cross contamination from
excess dirt and mud at the site tracked by equipment and boots and will use a vacuum
truck to collect any liquids found at the surface after the tanks are removed. Work
at the site will stop during significant rain events and contractors will place the remains
of the dismantled tanks inside a containment area until it can be loaded and hauled away.
Once the tanks are removed, an extensive soil and groundwater analysis will begin to determine
the scope of the contamination at the site and the steps needed to remediate it.
The U.S. Chemical Safety Board recently released the preliminary findings of its ongoing investigation
of the accident. It found two small holes, roughly one half to three quarters of an inch
in diameter in the bottom of Tank 396 that were likely caused by corrosion from water
that leaked through holes in the roof of the tank and settling to the tank floor. Investigators
also found a similar hole in the bottom of neighboring tank 397. Investigators have removed
sections of the tank for analysis. The investigation has also turned up no records
of any formal, industry approved inspections performed on any of the tanks by Freedom Industries
prior to the January 9th leak. Earlier this year, Governor Tomblin signed legislation
requiring annual inspections for aboveground storage tanks, along with leak detection systems
and spill response plans. The DEP is currently working out the details of those new regulations.
Speaking to Metro News Radio recently, DEP Cabinet Secretary Randy Huffman said:
“…holes don’t rust in steel overnight or in a year or six months.”
“I believe that the testing protocols that we are going to be proposing here through
the rule would absolutely have caught this, maybe have prevented it to begin with.”
“…these tanks have been here for decades. They’re very old and if there had been any
kind of a certification testing process mechanism in place for looking at these tanks and ensuring
their integrity these tanks may have been torn down years ago.”
Greg, companies that have storage that are covered under the new law have to register
their tanks with the DEP. The law also requires all public water utilities that rely on surface
water to have a source water protection plan in place by next July. For Environment Matters,
I’m Sarah Sharp. >>GREG ADOLFSON: Thanks, Sarah. Tank owners
are required to register their tanks with the DEP by October 1st. Information needed
for the registration process includes the tank location and the specific liquids stored
there, the age of each tank, the material it’s constructed of, what sort of secondary
containment measures are in place and whether it’s regulated by any other state or federal
programs. Tanks owners can get more information and register their tanks through our website:
dep.wv.gov. Registration opened June 10th and so far, more than 22-hundred tanks have
been registered. That number is expected to increase dramatically before the October 1st
deadline. Last year, the West Virginia Legislature passed
a bill requiring the DEP to produce new water quality standards for selenium as it relates
to waterborne aquatic life. Now, halfway through a two year study, some interesting results
are popping up. The DEP’s Mike Huff has the details.
>>NARRATION: Located at number 34 on the periodic table of elements, selenium occurs naturally
in various minerals. It’s a trace element, essential to life in humans and some other
species in small quantities but toxic in greater concentrations. It gets into the water when
rock strata containing selenium is disturbed and exposed to erosion by rainwater, rainfall
and runoff. In West Virginia, surface mining is one of the largest contributors to selenium
inputs in the water. The US EPA currently recommends a standard of five parts per billion
for chronic exposure to aquatic life – the DEP study looks to determine if that standard
should be changed by studying fish reproduction in streams that have had historically higher
concentrations of selenium. >>Ben Lowman: “The most vulnerable stage
of aquatic life is larval freshwater fishes so this study required an examination of multiple
species of the eggs and subsequently reared fish larvae of our state stream fishes.”
>>NARRATION: As part of the study, eggs are collected and hatched and the fish larvae
are screened to look for potential deformities that could be related to chronic selenium
exposure. That’s the stage of the study right now.
>>Ben Lowman: “The mechanism that makes selenium problematic is the potential to substitute
for sulfur in egg bearing animals, particularly vertebrate animals – birds and fish that
use yolk to fuel the developmental stages of their offspring. Those yolks are typically
rich in sulfur and the purported mechanism is that is selenium is present instead of
sulfur; you get deformities that are created as the progeny begin to develop. It’s particularly
during protein making processes you can have selenium substitute for sulfur. The bonding
is different between the two so you get gross deformities that can develop with selenium.
Typically you screen larval fishes for facial deformities, eyes, jaw deformities, fin deformities
and spinal deformities. In West Virginia waters, we believe – or it initially looks like
that even though we have areas where we have exceeded the current national recommended
water quality criterion, we really don’t see the population levels with fish yet. For
example, we many sites that have exceeded those in-stream numbers for years but yet
we haven’t seen in the resultant consequences that should be taking place within the fish
community if there are those types of biological effects taking place. That’s part of this
study as well is to examine why in this stream that typically runs 15 parts per billion haven’t
we seen the loss of taxa in regard to the fish assemblage we would expect if, in fact,
the criterion should be a five or maybe in that particular case where you have flowing
water, the real criterion should be 15 or maybe even higher depending on what we see
in the fish community. Obviously if the exposure is there, and we don’t have the effects,
that tells us that we are at least protected at that level.
>>NARRATION: And that’s the importance of setting a state specific standard – once
selenium gets into dissolved form, it can be very difficult to remove from the water
column. Getting an accurate idea of exactly where selenium in the water starts creating
problems for aquatic life allows resources for mitigation to be used where they’re
actually needed. >>Kevin Seagle: “The study is also very
large in scope for selenium evaluations that include early life stage or larval evaluations.
We have around 30 sites in six different watersheds that are covered and additionally we’re
looking at species that have not really been examined before – not when the larval evaluation
was part of that process. >>NARRATION: The study also uses underwater
video to document fish behavior – giving a rare glimpse into the reproductive cycle.
>>Kevin Seagle: "One of the most surprising aspects of the video, to me, was the degree
to which the fish totally would disregard the camera’s presence. They very quickly
after setting up the camera would come back and continue their spawning activities because
the reproductive drive was so strong we would be within just a few feet of them with the
camera there and they were right back going back to their spawning activities...”
>>NARRATION: In Charleston, I’m Mike Huff for Environment Matters.
The DEP is partnering with Marshall University researchers for the study. Coming
up: >>MARIA ARNOT: “people are seeing that Hey,
what we’re doing is really unique and worthwhile and I think it’s increasing participation
overall.” >>NARRATION: A sustainability program in one
West Virginia is getting some national recognition, plus:
>>WENDY RADCLIFF: “I really see this office as being here to help those that are interested
in trying to get the most out of the DEP that they can and working to try and effectively
change things through the process.” >>NARRATION: A conversation with DEP Environmental
Advocate Wendy Radcliff – those stories and more when Environment Matters continues.