Addition At Hospital Could Get Going
By David Howell
Editor
WATER VALLEY – The long-planned expansion at Yalobusha General Hospital for a second floor addition that will create space for a geropsych and chemical dependency unit appears to be moving forward after being stymied by environmental concerns for months.
Speaking at a recessed Board of Supervisor meeting on May 9, Board Attorney John Crow told supervisors that an environmental covenant from the Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality (MDEQ) that will allow construction to start on the hospital property is ready for board approval, contingent on several changes marked on the draft document that has already been reviewed by MDEQ.
Supervisors voted unanimously to approve the covenant with the changes, approval that will allow the final document to be executed without a board meeting to expedite the process and allow the hospital to move forward.
Last September supervisors awarded a $5 million bid for second floor addition and renovations at the hospital. However supervisors rejected the bid in November after concerns surfaced about the use of piers to support the second floor at the hospital The piers would require deep penetration in the ground and could disturb trichloroethylene (TCE) in the soil and ground water.
TCE is a non-flammable, colorless liquid used as a solvent for cleaning metal parts. It is a common ground water contaminant, but can also vaporize and migrate from ground water and through the soil into outside and indoor air in a process called vapor intrusion. The threat of vapor intrusion from TCE surfaced in early 2016, following renewed scrutiny from MDEQ into the decades-old contamination from the former Colt/Holley Carburetor plant.
Since the release of TCE, MDEQ reported the chemical has crept toward O’Tuckolofa Creek in an area described as a plume that spans an area north of the industrial site that includes an estimated 28 residences and 11 commercial buildings on portions of South Main Street, Frostland Drive and Champion Circle. The contaminated area includes the county-owned hospital and nursing home and Department of Health building on South Main.
“Before you put a hole in the ground, you are going to have to let MDEQ know if there is discovery of any environmental issues, like air vapor,” Crow explained about the terms of the environmental covenant. He also noted that neither the county nor hospital is waiving any rights to sue any guilty parties responsible for the contamination as part of the covenant.
Legal Action
Mississippi Attorney General Jim Hood has already filed a lawsuit on behalf of the State of Mississippi against EnPro Industries, Inc., Goodrich Corporation and Oldco, LLC regarding the contamination, claiming the defendants polluted the environment and contaminated the ground water with Trichloroethylene (TCE), a known hazardous substance and carcinogen.
The lawsuit filed in April, 2017, which tells one side of the story, alleges that from 1973 until 1982, the Holley Automotive Division of Colt Industries, Inc. (Colt) dumped and buried hazardous waste that contained TCE on the plant site or on properties owned by others. The suit also alleges that excessive amounts of liquid TCE from storage tanks outside of Colt’s plant building leaked, spilled or was intentionally discharged onto the ground.
EnPro Industries acquired liability for the site in 2002 following a string of ownership changes.
“Due to the Defendants’ failure to remove the TCE from the soil at the plant site and their failure to take other necessary actions, the groundwater in the vicinity of the plant and in an ever expanding plume emanating therefrom remains contaminated with TCE,” the lawsuit states.
The lawsuit seeks monetary compensation from the defendants for all costs incurred by the state for remediating and cleaning-up the groundwater contaminated by the defendants, and costs for remediation of all TCE contaminated soil to eradicate the source of contamination.
The lawsuit also seeks punitive damages, alleging that the defendants intentionally, recklessly or with gross negligence, released and discharged pollutants into the environment with will to harm the groundwater and surface waters of the State of Mississippi. The allegations also include that the defendants intentionally misrepresented the status and extent of their remediation of the contamination to the State of Mississippi.
Also listed as counsel in the Attorney General’s lawsuit are Jackson law firm Liston & Deas, PLLC and Grenada attorney Reid Stanford. Both firms are also among a group of plaintiff attorneys representing Yalobusha County and Yalobusha General Hospital and individual landowners in the contaminated area. Other attorneys listed in the consortium hired by the county and hospital in 2016 include Texas environmental law firm Ted B. Lyon and Associates, Southaven attorney Craig Treadway and Crow Martin, LLC.
