DuPont Works manufactured explosives from 1906 until the mid-1970s and later sold the entire property to Weyerhaeuser. The cleanup has been in the works since 1991.
The original cleanup site was 841 acres, but the two companies already have spent about $50 million remediating 205 acres where DuPont produced black powder. Weyerhaeuser and DuPont plan to spend another $25 million over the next three years to restore the remaining 636 acres.
About 180 acres will be used for a golf course; much of the rest not set aside as open space will be used for commercial and industrial development, according to the recently released final cleanup plan. DOE Site Manager Mike Blum tells GlobeSt.com that cleanup and golf course construction is slated for 2006 and that development of the rest of the property will follow later.
The final cleanup plan is to scrape the top 12 inches of soil from 350 acres and use it to contour about 90 acres of the golf course. The contaminated soil would be covered with six inches of gravel and a 12 inches clean soil.
Blum says the title to the cleanup site will be deed restricted to prohibit certain future activities, such as residential development, construction of schools, daycare centers, developed parks or other activities that attract small children. Weyerhaeuser has developed residential on other portions of the 3,200-acre property that were not contaminated.
The public has until April 23 to comment on the so called Cleanup Action Plan and Consent Decree as well as four other documents addressing remedial investigation, risk assessment and feasibility.
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