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Brownfield update: consultant outlines $4.5M EPA cleanup plan for Elcam site; DNR review ongoing
Summary
A consultant for Keokuk updated the council on EPA brownfields grants and land recycling enrollment for the Elcam (Carbide Lane) property, saying parts of the site are not currently safe for residents or unprotected workers and outlining planned asbestos abatement, demolition, soil removal and bidder qualifications.
Emily Smart of Eene Environmental Group briefed the Keokuk City Council on progress at the Elcam brownfield site on Carbide Lane and the next steps required to move toward cleanup and reuse.
Smart said areas one and two are enrolled in Iowa's land recycling program and that two extensive assessment reports documenting soil, groundwater and vapor sampling have been submitted to the Iowa Department of Natural Resources for review. Area two is the subject of an almost $4.5 million EPA brownfields grant; a third, southern parcel received separate funding in a later cycle.
Smart summarized the risk evaluations: as currently measured the site shows concentrations that exceed acceptable thresholds for residential use and, for some job categories, exceed safe levels for construction workers without appropriate personal protective equipment. "Anything over one is an unacceptable risk," she told the council when describing the risk metric used by the DNR.
Planned next steps include issuing asbestos abatement specifications and demolition specifications for areas one and two, preparing soil‑removal bid documents and requiring potential contractors to be HazWoper/Hazwoper‑trained and to submit robust health and safety plans. Smart said contaminated soil is likely to be disposed of at an approved facility (she referenced Scott County landfill as a likely candidate) and that every truckload will be tracked with waste manifests. Clean Harbors has been engaged to remove and sample several on‑site drums; the consultant said only about eight barrels contained material of concern.
Smart asked council members to expect resolutions and bid specifications on upcoming agendas for abatement and soil work and offered to share her presentation and the larger DNR reports with council members by email.
What this means: the cleanup process will be phased, with abatement and demolition bids expected soon and soil removal and verification sampling following award of those contracts. The site will remain restricted until the DNR re‑runs risk calculations on post‑cleanup samples and signs off on safe reuse.
