BAY POINT — PG&E is ready to restore a 78-acre pond polluted with metals and oil deposits.
The pond was a wastewater and stormwater discharge pond for a former Shell Oil Co. chemical plant. PG&E purchased a 273-acre parcel that contains the pond from Shell in 1973 for a possible expansion to its Pittsburg power plant.
The expansion never happened and the utility spun off the plant, whose smokestacks can be seen from many locations in Pittsburg, to Atlanta-based Mirant Power as part of a 2001 bankruptcy, PG&E spokesman Matt Nauman said.
The utility plans to dig up the pollutants at the bottom of the pond and haul them to a certified landfill, he said.
PG&E will publish the cleanup plan and hold a public meeting this fall. The public will have 30 days to comment after the plan is released. The cleanup will be supervised by the state Department of Toxic Substance Control.
If the department approves the plan, the cleanup is expected to begin early next year.
"We'll work hard to make sure that the community isn't affected," Nauman said. "We'll be constructing an access road to keep trucks off city streets."
PG&E is pumping water into the pond to make sure the bottom doesn't become exposed to air, which can cause odors, according to a company release.
The pond is an average of about a foot deep, and the utility and state regulators agreed in 2004 to keep the chemicals underwater, Nauman said.
But the state Department of Fish and Game objected to PG&E pumping water from Suisun Bay into the pond because of possible harm to the endangered Delta smelt, Nauman said.
The San Francisco Bay Regional Water Quality Control Board also objected to recirculating water from the pond into the bay because of the level of chemicals in the pond water, he said.
"(Our 2004) remedy became unsustainable based on regulatory changes," Nauman said. "We looked at it and decided it was time to look into a cleanup."
Dave Fogelman, a Pittsburg planning commissioner who lives near the power plant, said he has noticed oil or diesel smells that he thinks might be coming from the pond.
The cleanup has been years in the works. Fogelman said he's glad PG&E is finally ready to proceed.
"The only time you really smell it is when it is calm," said Fogelman, a 15-year resident of the New York Landing development on the Pittsburg waterfront. "We don't want to do anything that might slow (PG&E) down."
Contact Rick Radin at 925-779-7166.
*************************
Marc Fox
Assistant City Manager – Internal Services
City of Pittsburg
Office: (925) 252-4876
Facsimile: (925) 252-4138
Email: mfox@ci.pittsburg.ca.us
