Field Office Compliance - Assistance

Assistance ID - 134908
Imperial Chemical - 312056285
1102 W 6th Avenue Shenandoah, IA
Page County

FO 4

Report
File Name File Type File Date Note
Comments
7/1/2025 Jessica Niskin asked what permits would be required to remediate contaminated land with biochar. She explained that the biochar would be inoculated with microbes and applied to soil where the microbes would remediate the contamination. For petroleum contamination, the biochar would be inoculated with “oil-hungry bacteria” - “basically microblaze” - but the biochar would give the microbes a carbon source so it would be “like they’re on crack.” The biochar would absorb contaminants and could then be removed. I explained that, in the case of spills, we would typically require that the contamination (oil, if that’s the case) and any contaminated soil be removed (excavated) for proper disposal without delay. In situ remediation is not a common practice. Jessica also asked about remediating a contaminated site. She specifically asked about the Imperial Chemical site (Contaminated Site ID 1790, StateFacID 312056285) at 1102 W 6th Avenue in Shenandoah. Per Jessica, the site has been sold and the owners have been told that they have to let the property just sit but the community would like the property to be available for a new business. She acknowledged that the site was severely contaminated after an event involving a fire. She has not contacted Imperial Chemical or the property owner but has been talking to people in the community and has spent some time figuring out what she would do. I advised Jessica that she should contact Jake Bucklin in the contaminated sites section regarding any proposed actions at the Imperial Chemical site and agreed that I could forward any information to Jake if Jessica emailed it to me. Jessica is also currently working on a sidestream treatment pilot project at the Essex WWTF. She stated that the WW project is so much more challenging because of all the monitoring. DAN OLSON
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