Extras

Photos

Click to enlarge

PHILLIPSBURG, Montgomery County — The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency will need three to four months to excavate 8,000 tons of soil contaminated with lead from Phillipsburg Community Park, an agency official told a group of 20 residents Thursday evening, Oct. 16.

The 15-acre park, which includes baseball fields, was the site of a now defunct sportsmen's club that began in 1925. The area was used as a shotgun trap shooting range until 1988, when the village took ownership.

Arsenic-coated lead pellets showered the ground there for decades, contaminating the soil, said Steve Renninger, EPA on-scene coordinator.

Lead levels have ranged from 1,000 parts per million to 6,000 parts per million — well above safe levels.

Testing has shown that three acres of soil is hazardous and dust kicked up by activity in the park could harm children who play there. The park, closed this summer during an environmental investigation, should reopen next summer, Village Mayor Kenneth Henz said.

"I'm glad it's being addressed. It will leave a clean park for future generations to enjoy," he said.

Henz said it should be no serious problem to reconstruct a ball diamond that will be lost during the excavation work that began this week.

There have been no reports of lead poisoning, said Mark Case, director of Environmental Health for Public Health — Dayton & Montgomery County.

Bob Frey, Ohio Department of Health, added that the cleanup is more preventative in nature.

The cost of soil removal, at least $500,000, will be paid for by the U.S. EPA Superfund.

Renninger said contaminated soil will be trucked to the Stony Hollow landfill in Dayton, where it will be entombed.