Dodging An EPA Bullet---Polluted Montgomery Site NOT named "Superfund" site.

 

     A large portion of Downtown Montgomery will not become a Superfund site. That decision comes twenty years after that prospect was first raised by The EPA.

     There is a photo of The current Montgomery Advertiser building on top because there was evidence printing chemicals from the old Advertiser building contributed to the pollution that almost resulted in the finding of a Superfund...and the enormous economic impact that would have had on the city.

 

It was the OLD Montgomery Advertiser building that was suspect. It is now a Montgomery County office building on Lawrence Street.

The announcement from ADEM includes this: 

"Remediation actions taken included emergency soil excavation; groundwater monitoring; abandonment of all affected public water supply wells and closing all private wells in the area; planting trees that help remove contaminants; use of vapor barriers in some buildings; and implementing ordinances and other land use rules to prevent groundwater use and future potential vapor intrusion risks.In 2012, the City of Montgomery, Montgomery County, the Montgomery Water Works and SanitarySewer Board, the State of Alabama, the Montgomery Advertiser, Standard Roofing of Montgomery and other businesses formed the Downtown Environmental Alliance. The Alliance worked with the EPA and ADEM to develop an action plan and agreement to address remaining remediation needs. It also agreed to reimburse the EPA for the costs of the federal agency’s involvement with the site."

  That cost was in the millions of dollars, ($2.6 Million to be exact) but that's a pittance compared to what being named a Superfund Site would have cost the city.

In 2015 The Advertiser reported:

"Testing paid for by the Advertiser showed the contamination almost assuredly did not come from its presses, but was instead mostly consistent with chemicals used by dry cleaners."