Anyone with concerns or questions about the chemicals found at the site of a proposed multi-sport complex in Institute will have an opportunity next week to ask questions.
The Kanawha County Commission has scheduled a public hearing for 8 a.m. Tuesday to discuss the results of groundwater, air, soil gas and soil vapor testing done at Shawnee Park, where the commission plans to build a youth sports complex.
Ashok Sanghavi of S&S Engineers, a firm the commission hired to review the results of the testing, will be at the meeting, according to the agenda.
The commission on Tuesday released the results of the latest round of chemical testing at the park.
Those results indicate that chloroform concentrations decrease radially in all directions from the maximum detected location in the soil vapor, or the vapor in the air spaces between soil particles. The chemical was not detected in an ambient air sample at the park.
Commissioner Ben Salango said the results indicate the chloroform came from the golf course or some other localized source and not the nearby chemical plant owned by Dow Chemical.
An initial report, released earlier this summer from CH2M Hill, said that 1,2-DCA, 1,4-dioxane and naphthalene were found in the shallow groundwater of the park and 1,4-dioxane was found in the deep groundwater at concentrations greater than screening criteria.
Dow agreed to fund the chemical tests at the park after nearby West Virginia State University sued the company and previous owners of the plant alleging that decades of chemical manufacturing at the Institute plant contaminated the groundwater beneath its campus. The lawsuit insists the contamination poses no health risks because the campus does not use groundwater for its drinking water. It says the pollution threatens campus development plans and the school's reputation.
Also Tuesday, the commission will discuss repaying early the remaining $1.8 million it owes on the construction of a new bridge at Coonskin Park, Commission President Kent Carper said. With the state's approval, the county would make a one-time payment of $1.5 million, saving $300,000. The Central West Virginia Convention and Visitors Bureau, which had been making payments on the bridge, will continue to make those payments, but the money will go toward paying down the debt on the sports complex, Carper said.
Also on Tuesday's agenda is a public hearing on the commission's vote to raise the excise tax on property transfers.
The commission meets at the Kanawha County Commission Courtroom at the Kanawha County Courthouse.