At Monday’s Chestertown Town Council meeting, town utilities Manager Bob Sipes addressed concerns over unanswered questions given to Maryland Department of Environment (MDE) in regard to the hospital site oil cleanup.
“We’ve asking MDE to address the site cleanup in its entirety, not just around the monitoring wells,” he said.
Sipes noted that that town is waiting to hear from MDE regarding the town’s request for a meeting with town officials, MDE, and University of Maryland Shore Regional Health.
He said that a letter had been sent to MDE on behalf of the town asking MDE for answers unaddressed in previous communications.
Sipes is concerned with the time element and scale of the injection of Ivy-Sol surfactant —- the non-toxic and biodegradable desorbing liquid -— in relationship to how it may possibly move the underground oil. If it is used for months at a time, and its success is measured solely at the monitoring wells, an inaccurate reading could occur, according to Sipes. More oil could exist outside the testing radius.
A pilot test using Ivy-Sol was made last fall with results disclosed in February. Sipes also questioned the accuracy of the data.
In this short video, Bob Sipes explains.
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