{Toxic soil gets new solution
I I By Chad Lorenz
Staff Reporter
University of Nebraska-Lincoln
researchers may have found a safe,
economical way to clean up toxic
soil at a decommissioned bomb fac
tory near Mead, an agronomy pro
fessor said.
- The Environmental Protection
Agency has decided to incinerate
the highly contaminated soil at the
Nebraska Ordnance Plant, which is
130 miles north of Lincoln.
But a UNL research team that
I studied the soil near the decommis
sioned plant may have found an
alternative to the incineration plan,
agronomy professor Pat Shea said.
This alternative includes chemi
cal and biological treatments to the
soil. The treatments may replace
incineration plans at other con
taminated sites across the country,
Shea said.
| Contaminants such as TNT and
cyclonite explosives washed into
drainage ditches near the plant
during World War II and the Ko
rean War, when the plant produced
more than 3 million bombs.
The contaminated soil now rests
QP university property at the Agri
cultural Research and Development
Center.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engi
neers and the EPA are responsible
for cleaning up the soil.
Incinerating the soil for cleanup
. .the concern is that if something were to go
wrong, hazardous emissions could be released. ”
PAT SHEA
agronomy professor
would be expensive and a potential
environmental hazard, Shea said.
The incineration of 8,400 cubic
yards of highly contaminated soil
at Mead would cost the govern
ment $14 million, Shea said.
Incinerating the soil wouldn’t
release any pollution if done prop
erly, he said.
“I think the concern is that if
something were to .go wrong, haz
ardous emissions could be re
leased,” Shea said.
The contaminants could be bro
ken down into safer, more biode
gradable components by using
chemical treatments, Shea said.
Shea said the treatment involved
mixing iron and hydrogen perox
ide with the toxic soil and water.
The chemical reaction converts
the contaminants into water, car
bon dioxide and harmless organic
acid, Shea said.
Helen Tilson, an EPA spokes
woman, said cleaning up the con
taminated site was an immediate
concern because the explosives may
also contaminate Mead’s ground
"water.
Shea said the kind of toxins in
the soil had been known to cause
gastro-intestinal and liver disor
ders.
“Some hazards have been asso
ciated with these and similar com
pounds,” he said.
Shea and his colleague Steve
Comfort, a soil chemist at the Insti
tute of Agriculture and Natural
Resources, also have developed a
biological treatment in which mi
croorganisms transform the toxins
into different compounds.
Tall fescue grass also would help
break down the contaminants, Shea
said.
The root system in the grass
would providea biologically active
area that could successfully clean
up the soil, Shea said. The roots
also could slow run-off of toxic
ground water.
That method is slower, Shea said,
but could be effective for less-con
taminated soil and chemically
treated soil.
Shea said he wanted to develop
these methods as quickly as pos
sible for use at other contaminated
sites.
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Continued from Page 1
criminate against one media outlet,
Bender said.
If Osborne worked at a private
institution, Bender said, the case would
be different.
If the Daily Nebraskan had taken
legal action, it would not be the first
time. The newspaper went to court in
the 1987 Sinn v. the Daily Nebraskan
case.
Two students sued the newspaper,
the University of Nebraska, and other
officials because the newspaper would
not runaclassified advertisement seek
ing roommates based on their sexual
orientation.
The newspaper rejected the adver
tisements because they discriminated
against individuals who were not gay
or lesbian and violated the Daily
Nebraskan’s policy.
The court ruled in favor of the
Daily Nebraskan because the
newspaper’s student staff made the
decision and not the university.
Mike Hiestand, an attorney at the
Student Press Law Center in Vir
ginia, said the case enforced the prin
ciple that student newspapers have
the same rights as other commercial
newspapers.
The Daily Nebraskan, which was
founded in 1901, is the independent
student newspaper of the University
of Nebraska-Lincoln. It is governed
by a board of students, faculty and
community members.
The newspaper is financially inde
pendent of the university. The Daily
Nebraskan receives a minor portion of
its operating budget through student
fees. Advertising revenues cover the
majority of the newspaper’s operating
costs.
Senior Reporter Jeff Zeieny contributed
to this report
Wesley Patrick John
SNIPES SWAYZE LEGUIZAMO
'
