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March 16, 2006

State approves cleanup plan at fruit processing plant

Work expected to get under way next month

By
Record-Eagle business editor

      WILLIAMSBURG - The state approved a cleanup plan for property around Williamsburg Receiving and Storage and work there should begin by early next month.
      State Department of Environmental Quality officials signed off on the fruit processing plant's proposed cleanup plan last week with some changes, DEQ officials said. The plant submitted its remediation proposal in January after a major spill of cherry processing waste water in November.
      The DEQ directed the company to identify boundaries of groundwater contamination that resulted from the spill through a series of test wells drilled around the plant along Angell Road. The wells must be sampled for concentrations of iron, manganese and arsenic, sodium and chloride and work must begin with 30 days.
      The company already removed some contaminated soil. It's drawing down the contents of a large wastewater lagoon that gave way in November and spilled an estimated one million gallons of industrial waste.
      The state Attorney General's office filed a lawsuit against WRS in February. It alleges the November spill violated state environmental laws and that the company is out of compliance with an administrative consent order reached in the summer of 2002 over previous violations.
      No court dates have been set in the lawsuit, but assistant state Attorney General Alan Hoffman said talks are continuing with WRS toward a settlement.
      Janice Heuer of the DEQ's Cadillac office inspected the site last week and said the level of the storage lagoon has dipped markedly in recent weeks. Heuer estimated that around one quarter of the lagoon - estimated at between four and five million gallons of liquid waste when full - was hauled away in recent weeks..
      "We are making significant progress in getting the wastewater removed," said Joe Quandt, an attorney for WRS. He said more than a million gallons has been hauled away.
      Heuer also said the number of odor complaints from surrounding property owners has also fallen off in recent weeks after the company installed filtering equipment and covered some outdoor storage tanks.
     

See Related Stories:
      Group issues report on WRS - Feburary 9, 2006
      State lawsuit targets WRS - Feburary 7, 2006
      Processing plant's environmental issues linger - January 29, 2006
      Sewer plant to accept 5 million gallons of waste - January 19, 2006
      County, WRS are in talks - January 13, 2006
      No decision on intervention - December 22, 2005
      Proposed legal action against WRS on agenda - December 20, 2005
      Industrial waste spews from storage lagoon - November 14, 2005
      Complaints of odors lead to DEQ inspection - July 23, 2005

See Related Editorial:
      It's time to put an end to a cherry plant mess - February 7, 2006

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