DEP launching plan to clean up Harborcreek Township site gutted in 2011 biodiesel fire
American Biodiesel Energy in Harborcreek Township was gutted in a May 2011 fire that burned for nearly a full day and required dozens of volunteer firefighters to seek medical treatment.
More than a decade later, the 11-acre site “poses immediate and potential risks to the public health and the environment,” largely because of chemicals and other materials left abandoned there, according to the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection.
DEP officials are now planning a taxpayer-funded cleanup of the property, located at 4680 Iroquois Avenue. The DEP announced in August that it is launching what’s known as an interim hazardous sites cleanup response at the American Biodiesel property.
The state’s Hazardous Sites Cleanup Act provides funding and authority to remediate properties where hazardous substances are believed to be located.
DEP spokesman Tom Decker said the assigned cleanup contractor, Amentum Environment & Energy of Chantilly, Va., estimates the work will cost at least $1.3 million.
DEP hopes to have the work finished by the end of January 2024. An exact start date was unavailable.
Harborcreek Township Supervisor Dean Pepicello said Harborcreek officials have been told by DEP that “the site is pretty contaminated” and that remediation would carry a significant price tag.
“No local tax dollars will be included in this cleanup though," Pepicello said. “We were told (by DEP) that there will be a full cleanup of the site, and when they’re done it will be clean and ready for whatever might be next."
A legal advertisement published in the Erie Times-News in August states various hazardous materials were found and/or are still located at the site, including methyl ethyl ketone, toluene, sulfuric acid, sodium methylate, epichlorohydrin, methyl hydroxide, sodium methoxide and epoxybutane.
According to DEP officials, the property includes “one partially demolished, collapsed, and fire-damaged building” as well as “abandoned waste including miscellaneous scrap, large numbers of tanks, totes, and drums in various stages of degradation, and bags of powder coating materials.
“The Site poses immediate and potential risks to the public health and the environment including potential direct contact exposures” to those substances, according to the DEP’s legal ad.
The May 14, 2011 fire heavily damaged the business. Investigators believe the blaze started in a front office. The fire shut down the biodiesel operation and also destroyed a powder-coatings business that the property’s owner, Lee Akerly, operated there.
Akerly could not be reached for comment.
State law allows the DEP to seek reimbursement/cost recovery “from all known responsible persons” including Akerly, since he is the property’s owner. The DEP will pursue recoupment of remediation/demolition costs, Decker said.
What will the cleanup involve?
The site cleanup, according to DEP, would include the following steps:
Reducing/eliminating “the threats to public health, safety, and the environment”posed by hazardous materials, contaminants and structurally unsound buildings on the property.
Assessment of the structural integrity of buildings at the site and demolition of unsafe structures there.
Conducting an inventory of all potentially-hazardous substances/waste and the property so they can be properly disposed of, in compliance with local, state and federal environmental guidelines.
The cleanup is being funded primarily through the DEP’s Hazardous Sites Cleanup Act fund, with some funding coming from the state’s Solid Waste Abatement Fund.
Akerly previously said publicly that he wanted to reopen as early as 2014, and that he planned to sue several of the volunteer fire companies that responded to the fire for lost income, based on what he said were insurance claims by the departments that were later dropped.
The property, though, remains vacant.
DEP previously asked an Erie County judge to stop any demolition at the fire-damaged biodiesel facility until chemicals on-site could be removed/properly secured.
Pepicello said cleaning up the American Biodiesel property is important to Harborcreek Township.
“The property’s been an eyesore in this township for the better part of a decade,” he said. “I just think that overall, cleaning it up helps improve an area of our township zoned for industrial use and it makes for a much brighter future for that property. We’ve expressed our total support for the project to DEP.”
Public can weigh in on cleanup
Documents and other information about the DEP’s cleanup plans for the American Biodiesel site is on file at the DEP’s Northwest Regional Office, 230 Chestnut St., Meadville, and can be reviewed by the public Mondays through Fridays between 8 a.m. and 4 p.m.
The DEP will also take public comment regarding the cleanup through Nov. 10. Written comments can be mailed to Michael Hadden, A DEP environmental protection specialist, at the northwest regional office; the ZIP code is 16535.
Comments can also be e-mailed to mhadden@pa.gov or dropped off in person at the DEP office in Meadville.
Contact Kevin Flowers at kflowers@timesnews.com. Follow him on Twitter at @ETNflowers.
This article originally appeared on Erie Times-News: DEP targets fire-ravaged Harborcreek industrial site for cleanup
