Chippewa Falls land has history of pollution
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By ROD STETZER rod.stetzer@lee.net
Monday, March 17, 2008 11:44 AM CDT
The nearly 1 ½ acres Mason Companies, Inc. is considering buying from Chippewa Falls has a long history connected to it, and it’s not a particularly a good one.
The former Better Brite Plating site at 420 Palmer Street is the city’s most notorious example of industrial pollution.
The site was cleaned up after being included on the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Superfund list.
At its 6:30 p.m. Tuesday meeting, the Chippewa Falls City Council is scheduled to consider offering a right of first refusal to Mason Companies for the city land for $100.
The agreement is for 10 years, and can be extended 15 years for another $100 payment to the city.
Under the agreement, Mason may exercise its option to buy the property within 30 days of the city declaring it intends to sell the land. Mason would be able to buy the land by paying $500 more than any “legitimate offer” for the property.
The president and CEO of Mason Companies, Daniel J. Hunt, signed the first refusal agreement for the property, which is bordered by Palmer and North streets, on Feb. 28.
Better Brite Plating operated on the site from 1970 to 1985, according to the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry, a part of the Department of Health and Human Services.
The metal plating facility did chrome plating and metal finishing, and used sodium cyanide and hydrochloric acid to clean metal before electroplating.
The business closed and abandoned the site in June 1985 after the company declared bankruptcy. It left behind 3,300 gallons of chromic acid on the grounds.
“Evidence suggests that significant amounts of chromic acid leaked onto the floor and into floor drains, discharging to the (city’s) sanitary sewer system,” the agency said.
The EPA removed the acid from the site in 1987.
Then in 1995, the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources found high levels of chromium in the building, in the soil around the building and in the groundwater — although the city’s drinking water wasn’t affected.
The city acquired the site in 1997 under the Brownfields program, allowing it to get funds to clean up the property, sell it and put it back on the tax rolls. An underground synthetic membrane was installed on the site, which was paved over by the city, in September 2002.
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