Public comments will be accepted until March 8
The Environmental Protection Agency on Feb. 5 provided the required notice of a proposed administrative settlement with Electrolux Home Products Inc concerning the Electrolux industrial site in Jefferson.
Under the settlement, Electrolux Home Products Inc must perform several activities related to contamination from tetrachloroethene (PCE) and trichloroethene (TCE) and their degradation chemicals in soil and groundwater at the site. The public notice lists several contaminants found in degradation chemicals.
The settlement directs Electrolux to conduct a Resource Conservation and Recovery Act investigation; develop a corrective measures study; perform the corrective measures approved by the EPA to prevent, mitigate, and/or remediate any migration or release of solid and/or hazardous wastes and/or hazardous constituents; and conduct interim measures to prevent, mitigate, and/or remediate any migration or release of hazardous wastes and/or hazardous constituents to prevent immediate or potential threat to human health and/or the environment.
The EPA will receive written comments relating to the settlement until March 8. The agency will consider all comments received and may modify or withdraw its consent to the settlement if comments received disclose facts or considerations that indicate the settlement is inappropriate, improper or inadequate.
The agency’s response to any comments received will be available for public inspection at the Jefferson public library in Jefferson and the EPA Region 7 office in Lexexa, KS.
Electrolux operated the plant from 1960 through March 2011, manufacturing washing machine motor transmissions.
Continued monitoring of the site since then suggests shallow groundwater contamination migrating off-site. “Due to current conditions, there is a risk of drinking water contamination from the site. The main exposure pathways of concern for the solid wastes and/or hazardous wastes released at the facility are soil and groundwater,” the EPA Administrative Order on Consent states. The full document, including the EPA docket number needed to submit comments, can be found on the EPA website.
