[CPEO-MEF] Corps begins search for buried WWI chemical

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Ohio
CLEVELAND.COM
Corps begins search for buried WWI chemical
By Ray Jablonski
Thursday, July 24, 2003

On Monday, an environmental investigation will be launched to determine
the extent to which mustard agent has contaminated the ground at a
former military plant in Ward 10.

Local officials and members of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers told
residents Monday night there is little reason to be concerned about the
effects of the agent, which was believed to have been buried at the
former Cleveland Plant, at East 131st Street and Taft Avenue, at the end
of World War I.

I don't think we need to be alarmed, Councilman Roosevelt Coats, D-10,
told a small gathering of residents at Kenneth W. Clement Elementary
School. I would think that by now, that material would be dissolved and
non-threatening.

A preliminary investigation conducted in 2001 revealed 22 areas on the
four-acre site that were determined to have a metallic object below the
surface, indicating the potential presence of mustard agent.

They're scattered out all across the property, said Kevin Jasper of the
Army Corps of Engineers.

A probe will be used in each area to bore 8 feet into the soil and
collect samples that will be tested for the agent. Workers will be on
the site Mondays through Thursdays between 6:30 a.m. and 5 p.m., until
the investigation is completed, either in late summer or in the fall.

Until we know how many trenches we have, we can't tell you how long it
will take, Jasper said.

If the collected samples indicate mustard agent is in the soil, further
investigation will be done using a small backhoe under a vapor
containment tent to dig 8-foot trenches. Soil samples will be tested on-
and off-site. Once the investigation is completed, a determination will
be made whether to fully or partially remove the agent or to leave the
property as it is. The Army Corps of Engineers will then request federal
funding to institute a remediation plan in 2005.

This article can be viewed at:
http://www.cleveland.com/sun/sunscoopjournal/index.ssf?/sun/news/sj903072.html

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