Navco Road Clean Up

By Jene' Young Meteorologist

The EPA will be cleaning up the old American Bumper Plating facility for several months. Navco Road Clean Up

Published: Fri, August 08, 2008 - 4:50 pm Last Updated: Fri, August 08, 2008 - 4:59 pm

Jene' Young

The facility that use to house American Bumper Plating has been out of use for three years.
Now the Environmental Protection Agency has stepped in to make sure that the hazardous chemicals left behind are safely disposed of.

Eric Sewell has lived along Farnell Drive with his three children for over years.
"I think it will be a big improvement from me looking in the backyard everyday and seeing this big tore down building and all those bumpers and chemicals and all."
But the appearance is not this neighbors only concern.
"My dog was out here in the yard, and there was a rat outside. And he grabbed the rat, I guess he was trying to play with him and prance on him, and then the next day my dog died. I don't know what caused it, I don't know if it was the chemicals from back there, or chemicals in the rat."
Sewell does not let his children play outside. I asked him why. “Because of the incident with the rat and dog and I don't know if there is anything in the grass or soil."

Michael Sparks is a Federal On-scene Coordinator for the EPA. He says there is a lot of work over the next few months.
"Within I'd say four months or so, the building itself will have to be taken down basically so we can get into the building to see what we have our hands on. And to determine the amount of what chemical we have to deal with, the concentration of that chemical and how it should be removed and exposed of."

Sparks says the front of the building doesn’t look that bad, but it’s the back side that’s collapsed. That’s why there is security on site 24 hours a day.
"We are surrounded by residential, so that was our first issue and problem."

The EPA and the Coast Guard test the site on a daily basis to make sure none of the hazardous chemicals have leaked out. According to Sparks, the tests have all come back negative, and he said that's a good thing. Sparks also plans to continue testing until the clean up is complete.

To find out more from the EPA about the site, click here.