ELYRIA — The Ohio Environmental Protection Agency is seeking the assistance of the federal EPA to clean up the asbestos-contaminated former General Industries site because the owner has not told the state what his plan for the site entails.

The debris site — remnants of a July 3 fire that ripped through the complex and burned for 16 hours — has remained untouched for weeks as far as an Ohio EPA inspector can tell, said Mike Settles, Ohio EPA spokesman. It appears that the property owner, John Peshek, has all but abandoned efforts to remove asbestos-contaminated rubble from the site, forcing the state agency to step up its actions.

A fence was erected around the property in July at the urging of the Ohio EPA after field tests revealed high levels of asbestos. At that time, Peshek said he would work with the Ohio EPA to determine where asbestos was and how to dispose of it.

“Right now, the site has no violations that Peshek can be cited for, and inspectors who are out at the site twice a week have found no visible signs of asbestos emissions,” Settles said. “However, the site owner has made no plans to our knowledge to remediate the site.”

Aside from a few telephone conversations in which Peshek has offered suggestions that won’t work within Ohio EPA guidelines, Settles said, Peshek has failed to formally respond to a request sent by the Ohio EPA on Aug. 20 asking for a detailed site maintenance and cleanup plan.

Peshek has said he is willing to do one of three things: Sell the scrap metal from the site and use the money to fund the cleanup; decontaminate and reuse the material on-site; or remove the salvageable scrap material and bury the contaminated material on site.

In hopes of speeding up some kind of action, the Ohio EPA sent a letter Thursday to the federal EPA asking for its assistance in conducting a critical cleanup of the site.

Settles said that if the federal EPA intervenes, it has the option of cleaning up the site and going after Peshek for payment.

Signed by Paul Koval, supervisor of the Division of Air Pollution Control/Air Toxic Unit at the Ohio EPA, the letter states that such an action is needed because the Elyria Fire Department has stopped wetting down the site and city officials have asked for some kind of solution.

The site needs to stay wet so asbestos particles do not become airborne and pose a health threat to those in the area.

Mayor Bill Grace said Peshek has verbally expressed to city officials he plans to clean up the site and reorganize his business on the property. Right now, city officials are waiting on the federal EPA to respond to the Ohio EPA’s request before it moves forward with any kind of action.

Contact Lisa Roberson at 329-7121 or lroberson@chroniclet.com.

 

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