EPA plans public meeting about 'Agent Orange' Superfund cleanup site in Verona

An industrial site in the small town of Verona that once manufactured the Vietnam War-era herbicide Agent Orange remains a concern to local officials, who fear the site may be polluting water wells in the area.

The 180-acre Syntex tract on the west edge of town was declared an Environmental Protection Agency Superfund Cleanup site in 1983, and tons of dioxin-contaminated soil and equipment were removed in the late 1980s and early 1990s.

Dioxin was a byproduct of manufacturing Agent Orange, and later from the production of the antibacterial chemical hexachlorophene at the site. Now, Verona mayor pro tem Claude Carr said he fears water wells are being contaminated by chemicals he believes are coming from the site.

On Tuesday, EPA officials will have a public meeting from 6:30-8:30 p.m. at the Verona High School cafeteria to talk about what has been done to clean up the contamination, as well as ongoing studies of the area. Verona has a population of about 600 people.

"They're supposed to do a five-year update every five years since 1988, but they've not done a good job informing the community with that," Carr said. "Several of the wells around here have tested bad and they're not wanting to do anything about it."

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The town of Verona gets its water from nearby Aurora, not individual water wells. But people living outside of Verona still rely on groundwater from wells for their drinking water.

In 1993, the EPA concluded "no further remedial action" was needed for groundwater because water samples taken from beyond the site showed no levels of hazardous material higher than "acceptable health-based standards."

In its fact sheet about the site, the EPA also notes that “Data collected since the 2012 FYR (Five Year Review), including limited private well sampling, does not indicate exposure to site contaminants above a level of health concern.”

However, another company — BCP Ingredients — bought a portion of the Syntex site in 2001 and has been manufacturing a product called choline chloride, "a nutritive additive commonly used in animal and human food and supplements," according to DNR.

According to DNR, a byproduct of that process is the hazardous chemical dioxane, which has been detected at the Superfund site. DNR notes that water well sampling of two farms downstream from the Superfund site found no contamination levels "at or above levels of a health concern."

The latest EPA five-year review of the Superfund site was completed in September 2017. According to DNR, the reviews are done to ensure that cleanup efforts are still protecting public health. But because of questions about the presence and source of dioxane, the EPA says more study is needed.

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According to DNR's fact sheet about the Syntex site: "The most recent review, conducted on Sept.28, 2017, concluded that EPA cannot determine the remedy’s protectiveness until they conduct further groundwater monitoring, conduct 1,4-dioxane analyses, and conduct a risk assessment."

It's likely that those issues and potential risks to public health will be a focus of Tuesday's public meeting.

Aside from water well concerns, Carr, Verona's mayor pro tem, said he and some Verona residents also questioned why Syntex purchased a 60-acre farm on the north side of the Superfund site. Carr said Syntex put up an industrial fence around the property, which abuts the Superfund site.

Karen Heinold, a spokeswoman for Syntex Agribusiness, confirmed the 2018 purchase but said the farmer approached the company with an offer to sell the land when his family decided to move.

"This purchase allows Syntex to have continued access to the property in connection with the ongoing environmental review of the former Syntex site," she said in an email. "The fence around the property is intended to prevent trespassing.

"Syntex currently does not have any long-term plans for the property."