Fort Smith Board rejects Whirlpool well ban request

Emotions ran high Wednesday night (March 27) as the Fort Smith Board of Directors voted down an ordinance banning groundwater wells in a neighborhood just north of the former Whirlpool manufacturing facility.

The ordinance was originally brought before the board at its study session on Feb. 12, when representatives from Whirlpool told the Board that contamination had occurred at the site and a plume of trichloroethylene (TCE) was located within the area impacted by the proposed ban.

Wednesday's vote, which saw Director Andre' Good cast the only vote in favor of the ordinance, came after much discussion about the pollution in the neighborhood with Whirlpool representatives and representatives of the Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality (ADEQ).

Wednesday’s Board vote followed a Tuesday night town hall meeting in which around 350 city residents and former Whirlpool employees gathered to hear from the Erin Brockovich and Bob Bowcock, an investigator for the Brockovich Firm. Bowcock suggested that research identifying pollution near Whirlpool’s Fort Smith manufacturing plant used “creative math” to downplay the extent of the pollution. Brockovich said her firm would fully investigate the extent of Whirlpool’s pollution.

Jeff Noel, corporate vice president of communications and public affairs at Whirlpool, told Directors that the ordinance was not meant to be a permanent fix to the contamination problem, but rather part of a long-term solution to a contamination problem Whirlpool first reported to the ADEQ in 2001.

"We did propose an ordinance on banning well drilling in this area for a multitude of reasons, the first and foremost of which is a precautionary measure. It's a standard practice, i's a standard process that is followed at these TCE sites all over the country," he said, later adding that this is part of a comprehensive plan to address the pollution concerns at the site.

"It is not our plan for dealing with this site and I can appreciate why some in the community would say that our request for this ordinance was somehow an attempt to say, 'Pass the ordinance,' and we're done and that is not the case. In fact, I believe in the final plan that's submitted we will take additional steps. This is a part of a comprehensive plan, part of a whole multitude of things we need to do on the site, including communications."

Noel told the Board the contamination of TCE, which some studies say could cause cancer, was only dangerous near the Whirlpool area if ingested through drinking contaminated water.

During questioning from the Board, Vice Mayor Kevin Settle questioned why the company delayed requesting the ban until more than a decade after the pollution was reported to the state agency.

"Why are you asking for this now and why didn't you ask for it in 2002 as the safety of the citizens of Fort Smith and the neighborhood, when this whole thing started, why not just ask for this in 2002 and let everyone know then?" he asked.

According to Noel, guidelines and processes set forth by the ADEQ were followed and continue to be followed.

The answer did not satisfy Settle, who publicly scolded Noel and Whirlpool officials on their responsibilities as corporate citizens of the city of Fort Smith.

"But as a corporate citizen of this city it is your duty to let the citizens know. Why didn't you tell us what was going on? There was a letter sent to (an individual) and that was the only record we could find in our notes. As a good corporate citizen at the time, you were making refrigerators and y'all were blowing and going out there. Why didn't y'all say, 'Hey, we've got a problem and need to address it and see what's going on.'?"

Following the meeting, Noel did confirm to The City Wire that a meeting was held in March 2010 with one resident. He said residents in the area had been notified through the mail of possible contamination. According to Noel, information regarding the 2010 notifications and all other public documents regarding the cleanup will be posted online in the coming weeks.

Noel did assure Directors, in response to a question from Director Philip Merry, that there were currently no leaks at the former Whirlpool site, adding "I think every question is fair to be asked."

As part of discussion on the ordinance, the Board asked Ryan Benafield, the deputy director of ADEQ, to answer questions.

During his discussion with the Board, he assured city officials and residents that the "plume" of TCE previously identified to residents was not moving, contrary to a letter from his agency on Jan. 22. In addressing the letter, Tammy Hyman of ADEQ said the letter was phrased in a way that did accurately describe what was taking place with the plume.

Hyman said the levels of TCE were rising, or moving, not the location of the plume. She said it was a difference of moving "vertical or horizontal."

Benafield said it would be more difficult to clean up the TCE contamination at the Whirlpool site than other sites that may have different geological factors.

Asked by Settle if there was a chance of the Whirlpool site and the surrounding area being declared a Superfund site due to the TCE contamination, Benafield said there was.

"There could be. Now in this case, we have a responsible party actively pursuing the cleanup of the site. Should we no longer have a responsible party actively pursuing the cleanup, that is a possibility that the site could be listed on the federal Superfund. That's typically a longer-term re-remedy when it goes on the Superfund list. That typically takes a lot longer. I know this process has been long for a lot of folks already, but typically that would take the longest path to cleanup if it was to go on the federal Superfund list right now."

During Wednesday's meeting, Good proposed a resolution to state the city's concern over pollution issues at the site.

"It's my suggestion, and this is just a suggestion, that we ask staff to come up with an ordinance to express how concerned the city is and how concerned that our residents are, as well as Whirlpool and the ADEQ, come back and make that a resolution and go from there."

Directors will vote on the resolution at next week's meeting of the Board of Directors.