LUCKEY, OH (WTOL) - Hazardous material will soon be excavated from the former Brush Wellman site in Luckey.
Community members learned directly from the Army Corps of Engineers how this would happen Tuesday night at a poster presentation where they could talk one-on-one.
If you drove by the former site of Brush Wellman, you'd see an abandoned 40 acre property. What you can't see is the beryllium, lead, uranium and more in the soil from when it was operational.
The Army Corps of Engineers has created a plan to clean up the site.
"All soils above the cleanup levels that we set in the record of decisions will be excavated. They will then transport it off the site to off-site disposal facilities that are properly permitted to accept the soils that we will be digging out," explained Stephen
Buechi, project manager of the Luckey site for the Army Corps of Engineers.
The cleanup is expected to cost more than $240 million. The timeline is expected to be several years, but could change based on funding.
Officials say they will be testing the air and soil quality throughout the process.
"We've been engaged with them developing plans so that the safety of the public comes first," explained Brad Gilbert, director of the Wood County EMA.
Close to a hundred people packed into the American Legion to ask questions about the cleanup.
Several were curious about the safety, how it will be done and the multimillion dollar price tag. Community members say they were encouraged by what they heard and it's been a long time coming.
"In a sense, I am glad they are cleaning it up," explained Kelley Knitz who lives a little more than a mile away from the Luckey site.
"It looks like a dump over there and on the other hand you're almost afraid to mess with it."
"We live in this community these are farms these are waterways, you want to make sure it's safe because it will be for generations if it's not done safely," said Ellen Hatcher, a resident of Dunbridge.
"I think it's a good deal," stated Bob Hickok, a resident of Luckey. "I think it's costing them way too much myself, but I don't know all the details of why it costs so much to dig out dirt and haul it away."
The project will be completed in several phases with some work expected to start this spring.
To learn more about the Luckey site or see the Army Corps of Engineers plan you can click here.
