A plume of trichloroethylene under a neighborhood next to the closed Whirlpool Corp. plant in Fort Smith has not moved but shows some signs of decomposition, according to an annual report submitted last week to the Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality by a Whirlpool consultant.
The report, submitted by Environ International Corp., stated that four of 13 monitoring wells in the neighborhood that were tested had detectable levels of vinyl chloride, which the report stated was one of the substances into which trichloroethylene degrades.
The report did not give any values for the amount of degradation that may be occurring.
It stated that concentrations of trichloroethylene in the groundwater under the neighborhood were generally stable. Along the northeast boundary of the plume, two monitoring wells showed a decrease in the concentration of the chemical, while another well showed an increase.
Tests performed last fall and this spring show that the plume boundary has not moved, according to the report. It stated that the groundwater flow is split by a divide just south of Ingersoll Avenue, the street that runs between the neighborhood and the Whirlpool plant.North of the divide, the plume moves northeast, and south of the divide, the plume moves south, according to the report.
Environ’s report is one of several annual groundwater monitoring reports that it and a previous consultant have submitted tothe environmental quality department since Whirlpool notified the department of the contaminated groundwater in the neighborhood in 2001.
“Based on the data, the plume appears to be somewhat stable,” department spokesman Katherine Benenati wrote in an e-mail response to a request for comment Wednesday. “The department also agrees there is some degradation of [trichloroethylene] occurring in the soil.”
The e-mail stated that the department staff received Environ’s report last week and is continuing to review it.
A statement from Whirlpool spokesman Kristine Vernier said, “The latest results are consistent with the positive trends observed in previous sampling.”
Bob Bowcock, a California environmental investigator who works with activist Erin Brockovich, said in an e-mail Thursday that he and Brockovich plan to return to Fort Smith, possibly next month. The two traveled to Fort Smith last spring, addressed residents about the contamination and promised to champion their cause against Whirlpool.
About Environ’s report, Bowcock said, “The plume is ‘stable,’ if that means parked under the homes, churches and businesses in the polluted neighborhood.”
If the trichloroethylene is decomposing, it’s breaking down into more dangerous chemicals such as vinyl chloride, and that decomposition could take 200 years, he said.
Whirlpool has proposed in a Revised Risk Management Plan to the department to remediate the contamination in the groundwater under the neighborhood through natural decomposition and restricting access to the contaminated groundwater through ordinances and deed restrictions.
Benenati said in Wednesday’s e-mail that the department is reviewing an amendment to the management plan submitted earlier this month and is on target to make a decision on the plan by the end of the year.
At least one resident was not impressed with the contents of the report. Ethel Fowler of 1504 Jacobs Ave., whose home is over the thickest part of the trichloroethylene plume, said she doesn’t believe anyone has checked the wells in front of her home for four or five years.
While they may be checking other wells, the company hasn’t done anything to clean up the hazardous chemical under the neighborhood, she said. She and other residents and property owners continue to claim that the contamination by Whirlpool has ruined their property values.
The Sebastian County assessor has lowered the values of about 75 homes and businesses north of the closed Whirlpool plant.
Fowler said the residents may not get satisfaction from the company in her lifetime but she plans to keep fighting.
Three lawsuits were filed in Sebastian County Circuit Court against Whirlpool last month over the trichloroethylene contamination. One seeks class-action status and the other two are filed by residents and nonresident property owners.
The lawsuits allege that Whirlpool fraudulently concealed the continuing nature of the damage caused by the contamination and has refused to clean it up. Residents of the affected neighborhood say they first learned of the contamination in January but that Whirlpool knew the chemical was in the groundwater under the neighborhood since 2001.
The suits also claim negligence, trespass, nuisance and violation of the Arkansas Deceptive Trade Practices Act and the Arkansas Solid Waste Management Act.
Whirlpool had not filed answers to the lawsuits as of Thursday.
Northwest Arkansas, Pages 9 on 06/28/2013