Town Hall Meeting for old AEP Fly Ash Pit Closure

Town Hall Meeting for old AEP Fly Ash Pit Closure  

IVY Tech Riverfront Campus June 5, 2018  from 7-9 PM

Lawrenceburg City called the meeting.

Channel 19

Local media from Register Publications, WSCH, and Bright Beacon

8 video cameras were running during this meeting.

Del Weldon- L-bg city attorney welcomed the group. IDEM had 4 members and CDC had 4 members at two tables up front.

WSCH reported this was also a published closure plan meeting from ELT and so Weldon said they wanted all to know about it.

Del- We are the same as you wanting to ask the questions and get answers.

700 acres in this property from power plant started in 1951. Active coal fired power plant until closed recently. 

3 ponds and one dry landfill on the property. Fly ash, flue ash was taken out of the stacks taken out, wet down, and dried and then stored in the ponds. 

About 2 years- Oct 2016- ago ELT, CDC, and Tanners Creek LLC took over from AEP. They remediate and make them safe and prepare them for a future use. 

From day 1- we were interested in this being done safely to protect our water and environment. We maintain a relationship with IDEM. 

IDEM is in charge of monitoring this. They maintain a VFC- Virtual File Cabinet in order to get the information first hand. 

ELT has entered into an options contract with the Ports of Indiana. This is to be able to decide whether or not that sale should occur. Lawrenceburg maintains a relationship with the Port etc, to be sure it is one to the standards to benefit the most residents here- NOT the state of Indiana at our expense. Continually promised to maintain an ongoing active relationship with ELT and IDEM etc to keep environment safe.

Olen Clawson will present later for LMU.

Always monitoring our water. Key access to knowing what is happening there. 

Russ Becker- from Tanners Creek Dev LLC- slides- showing the process to close one of the Fly Ash ponds.

Demolition started in 2017 thru 2018- asbestos is done, demolition almost complete. Site cleanup and restoration is ahead. Redid the closure engineering for the Fly ash pond. Submitted those draft plans to IDEM. Still ahead is engineering and closure of main ash pond and other ash areas. in 2020 closure of ash landfills. THIRTY years after that it is monitored.

The areas on site are: Fly ash pond, ash land fill, ash pond, coal pit ,and slag processing areas.

Fly ash-pond 20 mil 1/4 in liner synthetic geomembrane in 1977-8 

Bringing the liner all the way down around the perimeter dikes.

Matt Miles asked about the dikes that were not done properly.

Becker reexplained that the liners and caps will go beyond the upper and lower dikes to secure the ash inside. Cover soil 6 in plus 30 in of protective soil. Drainage layer is geo-textiles. Impermeable cap - 40-60 mil geo-membrane. 

Audience question about leaking in the membranes with the jackhammer demolitions of foundations on the property. There is an independent engineer that has to oversee this per Becker. By keeping water from infiltration it keeps leakage from occurring. These liners are used worldwide to adjust to movement. HDPE and LLDPE liners. Geocomposite drainage net on top also to get water away. Construction work will have several quality assurances in the process.

Post Closure

Semi annual inspections and reports. Maintenance. Analysis and samples of about 20 wells. The parameters will be mostly metals tested for due to the fly ash. Groundwater sampling will be done by a certified sampling firm selected by CDC. All paid for by Tanners Creek LLC.

Miles asked about the testing. EAG is testing and they are the same company essentially as CDC. 

A guy from EAG answered this and said that they do things with integrity on all their sites. Wells that were installed and tested were installed by AEP. CDC is the company that they do exclusive consulting for. There has not been a violation in these testing wells. Repeated that several times.

Olen Clawson LMU- Everyone of those power plants and utilities self test. They report under penalty of law.

Russ Becker- sampling process for groundwater are very rigorous and records have to be submitted with the sample. Chain of custody process is included for hand offs.

DeBruler asked about a fugitive dust cloud April 12th and a water truck broke down and this happened. This is not the first issue. It looked like a picture from the dust bowl. They now have another plan to suppress dust.

THIRTY years to continue to monitor. 

Plans for closure available at the library and on IDEM’s site at VFC. Thirty days is the comment period. 

IDEM- Rebecca Yonerschcaan sp? - they have been working with Tanners Creek LLC since 2016. They are getting close to approving a closure plan. Once the cap is done the dust problem should go away. They viewed the site today. They have been looking at the proximity of the drinking supply wells. They want to set up a system to anticipate any issues to have an early warning system.

Monitoring wells are installed around the pits. They do not produce drinking water. She reiterated the plans for testing and chain of command. John Guitteraz sp? and staff review those reports. Then they need to create mitigating plans if there is a release. These are small wells to just get a few gallons as samples. 

She hesitated a bit on the older liner of this pit. (It’s 20 mil as opposed to the 40-60 mil liners they are capping with.)

IDEM does not monitor the demolition materials!!!!!

CDC said the demolition bricks and concrete get reused as much as possible. It can be used as back fill for basements and structures. Asbestos is monitored, mercury switches and electrical waste are regulated. They are removed prior to demolition. Inspection will occur for those items once per month. 

Restricted waste site landfill review occurs next and by August there will be a closure plan for the main ash pond by the river. That has not had a plan submitted yet. 

More discussion on the age of the liner. Staff is focused on these issues at IDEM. 

Olen Clawson- LMU- very concerned about our water quality. They test LMS and Auroras wells also. They compare their data with CDC’s test results. Boron gets brought up  at 10,000 ppb and one of our wells tests at 1,000 pub at WHO standards. There are no standards in Indiana for Boron either. Things on Facebook cause fear in some of our residents as to water quality.That concerns him. If there is a problem that warrants it - no one will scream longer or louder than LMU. 

IDEM was encouraged that LMU is sampling water and looking at water that is at their well. They would like to have that info shared with IDEM.

Brian DeBruler- asked for IDEM to introduce themselves.

Becky Yonershcaan ( sp?)  from IDEM introduced the other IDEM people- John Hale and Amy McClure, John Guiterritaz,(geologist) in office of land quality with 11 other geologists. He said they look at results in detail and often make more tests be done.

Brian DeBruler went on about our concerns. 2015 EPA updates require liners now.

Becky IDEM- said they developed rules recently to get public informed and able to comment on the plan. The fugitive dust incident resulted in a warning per Weldon. 

Jerry  ?? last name asked- How many fly ash ponds on the property? Just one- There is also a Main ash pond and and old ash pond. There is an ash landfill.There is boiler slag or bottom ash. 

The main ash pond was constructed with CLAY- no other liner. There are 3 wet ponds and one dry landfill. 

Matt Miles said there is silty clay there and has documents. Monitoring wells are there to monitor the release from the landfill. He wants to know whose responsibility is it to take care of the issues with the entire property. John G said it is IDEM’s problem if they get their additional monitoring wells and they get it. 

Chris Mueller- I drink the water and I like it. I asked what happens if arsenic gets into the groundwater? Basically it gets really expensive.- pump and treat and large containment plans and the company that monitors has to provide water for the area, etc. 

Another resident asked about what is happening to the asbestos etc. Russ Becker said they have done it all prior to demolition. Who monitors that stuff being buried? IDEM? Becker said they CAN come in- but apparently haven’t. Re-explained about the clean demo parts and the stuff that has to go to special landfills etc. Solid waste compliance inspectors can come out to look at these materials per Becky IDEM. Asbestos abatement is monitored by their office of Air Quality. Complaint needs to be filed.

Weldon- anytime any one sees something- say something. Call IDEM or local officials. 

There is a required financial insurance mechanism posted with IDEM to insure the company for leaks etc. 

There are many ways to clean up heavy metals per CDC rep…

Radium does not show up in our water per Clawson.

Randy Turner Aurora Utilities- LMS water and they use the wells. AEP assured Aurora that they will continue to monitor their water. He’s impressed all the people are here, This water is one of the best assets of our area. Well head protection started 15-20 years ago. He said the Ohio River also produces a water supply that many people in Ohio drink. 

Meeting adjourned at 9:15 PM

Christine Brauer Mueller

Lawrenceburg Township