A six-month cleanup by the Environmental Protection Agency of a V.I. government-owned Sub Base warehouse building is near completion, according to EPA officials who inspected the site with local government representatives Tuesday.
EPA Regional Administrator Jeanne M. Fox visited the site to observe the improperly stored chemical containers and potentially dangerous materials being removed from the warehouse and loaded onto a cargo ship for transport to licensed disposal sites on the U.S. mainland.
"The drum storage area of the warehouse will be completely cleared of hazards by the end of the week," Fox said during an impromptu news conference Tuesday afternoon.
Utilizing the federal Superfund program, EPA took control of the cleanup, defusing the problem before it caused harm to the community.
Fox explained that the program will formally end when the ship carrying the containers from the warehouse departs St. Thomas on Nov. 18.
The cleanup began in April and has cost the EPA a half-million dollars. During the cleanup, Fox said EPA found approximately 100 50-pound containers of a chlorine-based oxidizer, herbicides, 300 cans of solvent-borne paint, caustics and 10 drums of unknown substances. EPA testing also revealed the possible presence of PCBs in some of the drums.
The V.I. Department of Property and Procurement operated the warehouse for the storage and distribution of chemicals to different agencies within the government until the 1970s.
Over the years, the warehouse fell into disrepair, and materials stored inside, including several drums of waste oil, began to deteriorate.
Gov. Charles Turnbull, Planning and Natural Resources Commissioner Dean C. Plaskett and EPA's V.I. coordinator, Jim Casey, were among the officials on hand for the walk Tuesday through of the warehouse building.
