"Owners of Metachem Products LLC abandoned their 65-acre chlorinated benzene plant near Delaware City to the government in May 2002, leaving millions of pounds of toxic chemicals and more than $65 million in unfunded bankruptcy debts. Soils, sediments and groundwater are saturated in places with toxic chemicals from spills and illegal operations. Taxpayer cleanup costs are expected to top $100 million, with chemical contamination expected to remain high in some soil and groundwater for more than a century."

The blackest spot on Delaware's map of contaminated industrial sites could have a chance for a partial green comeback under a nationwide clean energy grant announced by the Environmental Protection Agency and U.S. Department of Energy.

Under the proposal, the worst 23 acres of the former Standard Chlorine-Metachem federal Superfund site will be among 26 toxic cleanup sites, former landfills, mines or brownfields evaluated for use as solar, wind, biomass or geothermal renewable energy facilities.

Collin P. O'Mara, secretary of the Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control, said staff members at his agency have been discussing options for salvaging some of the 65-acre site for more than a year, and were encouraged by the opportunity offered by the federal program. Discussions also are under way with New Castle County on a similar renewable energy project for the Army Creek federal Superfund site, a former county-operated landfill.

"At the end of the day, even after it's remediated, it's going to be difficult to put any kind of structure for any kind of reason" at the Metachem site, O'Mara said. "We'd like to make these two projects a statement about what the future can be for a Superfund site after cleanup, or even during cleanup."

Owners of Metachem Products LLC abandoned their 65-acre chlorinated benzene plant near Delaware City to the government in May 2002, leaving millions of pounds of toxic chemicals and more than $65 million in unfunded bankruptcy debts. Soils, sediments and groundwater are saturated in places with toxic chemicals from spills and illegal operations. Taxpayer cleanup costs are expected to top $100 million, with chemical contamination expected to remain high in some soil and groundwater for more than a century.

O'Mara said early studies concluded the main plant area could be suitable for a 5- to 10-megawatt solar farm, once cleaned up and securely covered with a thick, level cap.

Some of the electricity could power pumps and water-treatment systems needed for the cleanup. The rest could be fed into the regional grid via a nearby Delmarva Power substation or could go to neighboring industrial needs.

"There are some technical issues to work through: How do we continue some of the treatment at this site as you put up the system, what kind of reinforcement would be needed, what kind of settlement will there be," O'Mara said.

The EPA and National Renewable Energy Laboratory agreed to invest $1 million in evaluations of sites in 20 states, under a project called the RE-Powering America's Land initiative. The work follows success at more than 20 contaminated sites, including a 10 megawatt solar farm on a former brownfield in Chicago.

The initial evaluation, likely done by a federal contractor, could take six to eight months, O'Mara said.

Investigators are still trying to learn the extent of deep groundwater pollution at the Standard Chlorine-Metachem site, and earlier this year reported that toxic chemicals had been found in groundwater 150 feet down to the east and west of the plant, in the upper part of an aquifer that plant operators had long claimed was untouched and shielded from spills.

The plant ranked for years as one of the world's top producers of chlorinated benzenes, toxic compounds used in manufacturing herbicides and pesticides. Some of the plant's byproducts were used in manufacturing Agent Orange, the highly toxic herbicide used in Vietnam that was tied to health problems among some U.S. veterans and Vietnamese. At times, the sloppily run plant imported wastes from herbicide production in Europe to recycle in its distillation units, as well as chemicals used to clean out PCB-filled transformers.

In recent years, state officials identified the plant as a leading source of toxic polychlorinated biphenyl, or PCB, runoff to the Delaware River.

DNREC's project application said other idle industrial sites near Metachem could be suited for green energy use. The Coastal Zone Act bars their conversion to other heavy industrial operations, and the presence of the neighboring Delaware City Refinery and "contamination issues" makes redevelopment for residential use unlikely.

"A narrow window of beneficial reuse for these properties is emerging with renewable energy as the preferred leader," the application said.

Source: Delaware OnLine