Published: December 15, 2008 11:15 pm         

EPA arrives, begins cleanup at Wabash Environmental Technologies site

TERRE HAUTE — Cleanup efforts are beginning at the site of the former Wabash Environmental Technologies on South First Street in Terre Haute.

Theresa Holz, an official with the Environmental Protection Agency, arrived at the WET property Monday and is assembling a team of cleanup experts for the job, which could last until late February, EPA officials said.

“There are some strong acids, some caustics, some oxidizers, a large quantity of used oil” at the WET site, Holz said. “This week we’re just going to clean up any spills inside the building and we are going to segregate everything appropriately,” she said.

EPA officials already have checked the WET property to see what hazardous materials are there. A large part of the cleanup effort involves making sure incompatible materials are not shipped away from the site together, EPA officials said Monday.

In addition to Holz, there are about four environmental expert contractors working on the job, EPA officials said.

WET was a wastewater treatment facility. Its former president, Derrik Hagerman, was sentenced last year by a federal judge to five years in prison for falsifying documents related to the discharge of materials into the Wabash River.

There are some material spills on the WET property, but all appear to be inside buildings, Holz said. “I don’t really think that there is a need for people to feel that they are in danger since we are out here working,” she said.

The EPA had been talking with the WET property owners about who would pay for the cleanup, said Mic Hans, an EPA spokesman in Chicago; however, those “negotiations have come to an end and EPA has made the decision that it was time for us to secure the site and take some action because we’ve been negotiating for quite some time,” Holz said.

In the past, environmental officials used a court order to enter the WET property. In this case, EPA officials entered the property using a “signed access agreement,” Holz said.

“It’s not like there is any communication cut or any burned bridges,” Holz said of the negotiations with the property owners. “We’re still talking with them … and they are well aware that we are here.”

EPA will pay for the cleanup and then the federal agency will take steps to try and recover some of the costs, Hans said.

Eventually, the EPA will launch a Web site that will include information about the WET cleanup, Holz said. That Web site should be operating in January, he said.

Arthur Foulkes can be reached at (812) 231-4232 or arthur.foulkes@tribstar.com.