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This could be the year the city of Rome accepts ownership of an undeveloped tract fronting the General Electric Co. plant site at the corner of Redmond Circle and Lavender Drive.
“This is the closest we’ve ever been,” City Commissioner Buzz Wachsteter said. “There is a working document circulating between the parties. It continues to get marked up, but we are hopefully optimistic something can be worked out in the short term.”
The company’s offer to donate 123 acres stretching across its parking lot and down Lavender Drive has been on the table for eight years, but both sides want to protect themselves from future liability.
GE is in the middle of an extended remediation program to clean up PCBs — polychlorinated biphenyls — and other hazardous byproducts from nearly 50 years of manuf
Grass grows on top of a landfill at the GE plant next to a methan gas vent. |
acturing transformers at the now-closed plant.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has cleared the frontage property for commercial, light industrial or recreational use as long as it doesn’t involve any deep digging into the soil.
“The land remains available,” Plant Manager Richard Lester said. “It’s sort of up to (city officials) what they want to do with it.”
Wachsteter said it’s premature to discuss the use, although several groups including the Coosa Valley Fair Association and the Rome-Floyd Parks and Recreation Authority have expressed interest. Moving the city’s public works and water departments to the site is another optio
A stormwater collection tower is located at the GE site. |
n he did not dismiss.
“A lot of people have a lot of ideas, but until that document is agreed upon by all, we’re not sure what can go on that property,” he said. “GE wants to turn over the land as good citizens, but at the same time, they’ve put on several restrictions to protect themselves corporately.”
Wachsteter said he does not foresee heavy activity such as another manufacturing operation occurring on the site but fairgrounds, ball fields and even an office park are potential uses for the prime real estate.
Remediation continues
Meanwhile, remediation work monitored by the EPA and Georgia Environmental Protection Division continues at the plant and at off-site areas where PCBs have migrated.
Lester said grass is starting to take hold on the waterproof cap installed atop the 9.5-acre Landfill C as a protective measure last year. The graveled-over Landfill B, covering an adjacent third of an acre, will likely get a cap as well.
“We’ve investigated it and suggested a remediation plan to EPD,” Lester said. “We’re ready to move when they give the OK.”
Landfill A, the most contaminated of the three on-site GE landfills, was capped in 2001 and deep-set extraction wells have been siphoning up the groundwater for special treatment and disposal.
The company is preparing for the next step — a steam-injection, high-pressure extraction process — at the 2.6-acre landfill, Lester said.
“This is the last little piece,” he said. “Once we’ve done as much as we can do, we’ll squeeze the steam in for about three months, then go back and vacuum everything out.”
In addition to remediation at its 236-acre plant site, the company also is charged with removing contaminants from seven commercial tracts across Redmond Circle.
Lester said he expects to receive bids by the end of the month for soil removal at the former General Wholesale property.
“We’ll do the Lowe’s property in 2008, then work our way south across the wetlands to Wal-Mart,” Lester said.
A groundwater pump and treatment system was installed on the properties in 2005. Since then, the company has removed approximately 1.4 pounds of PCBs, 2.4 pounds of semivolatile organic compounds and nearly a pound of volatile organic compounds, according to a year-end report.
