FORT SMITH - Whirlpool Corp. announced Monday that it was moving ahead with implementing a plan to clean up a hazardous chemical that has contaminated soil and groundwater under its closed Fort Smith plant and that seeped into the groundwater under an adjoining neighborhood.
The announcement came on the heels of the signing Friday by the Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality a Remedial Action Decision Document that sets out the strategy for the former Fort Smith appliance manufacturer to deal with the trichloroethylene it allowed to leak into the soil from 1967 to 1981.
The company detected the chemical in the soil under its plant in 1989 and under the neighborhood north of the plant in 2000. Company officials notified the environmental quality department after each discovery, but residents of the affected neighborhood did not learn of the contamination until January.
Whirlpool must submit a draft work plan to the agency within 30 days with a schedule for field testing, construction and remediation, according to the announcement.
The company plans to treat the contaminated soil and groundwater under its property by putting an asphalt cap over the area and pumping in an oxidizing agent into the ground to neutralize the chemical.
It will rely on natural decomposition of the chemical in the groundwater under the neighborhood. The company said the treatment of the chemical under the company property will halt migration of more chemical into the neighborhood and speed its decomposition there.
Company spokesman Jeff Noel said last week it could be a year to 18 months before treatment with the as-yet undetermined oxidizing agent begins.
Arkansas, Pages 11 on 12/31/2013