A vacant facility near Pine Bluff is contaminated with polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), a suspected cancer-causing agent, and is slated to be cleaned up, the Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality said Thursday in a news release.
ADEQ said it will accept public comments until Aug. 13 on the proposed cleanup of the former Utility Services Inc. (USI) facility at 10184 U.S. 79, about nine miles southwest of Pine Bluff.
ADEQ plans to remove contaminated soil, concrete and equipment from the site. The facility is contaminated with PCBs and the material will be taken to a permitted disposal facility, AEDQ said.
The USI facility operated during the 1970s and 1980s and was contracted by several electric transformer manufacturers to filter transformer fluid containing PCBs, ADEQ said.
PCBs were commonly used as insulation fluid in electric transformers until they were banned in the U.S. 1979 because they are a suspected cancer-causing material, ADEQ said.
The ADEQ Hazardous Waste Division has developed a proposed Remedial Action Decision Document (RADD), a document describing the proposed cleanup, which is available for public inspection during normal business hours at the ADEQ headquarters in North Little Rock and at the Watson Chapel branch of the Pine Bluff/Jefferson County Library System, 4120 Camden Road, Pine Bluff.
Comments on the plan can be mailed to J. Ryan Benefield, P.E., Acting Chief, Hazardous Waste Division, Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality, 5301 Northshore Drive, North Little Rock, AR, 72118. Residents may also request a public hearing on the plan.