YORK — The Environmental Protection Agency held a celebration of the bipartisan infrastructure bill, which helped fund York’s Superfund Site, on Thursday morning in York.
The celebration included speeches from EPA Region 7 Administrator Meg McCollister and York Mayor Barry Redfern and was followed by a tour of the York Superfund Site.
There are two clean up areas in York, one on Fifth Street, and another on Seventh Street, which are both the sites of former dry cleaners. The dry cleaners used PCE chemicals and other toxic compounds, some of which leaked into ground water and a created a plume that spread east and southeast from the sites.
While all affected homes are currently having their water treated, Bradley Johnson, the site manager, previously told the News-Times those are “temporary solutions until the source is treated.” He compared treating the sites of the former dry cleaners to cutting “the head off the snake.”
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York Mayor Barry Redfern speaking at the EPA’s celebration on Thursday morning of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Bill. Representatives from U.S. Sen. Fischer’s office, U.S. Sen. Ricketts’ office and U.S. Rep. Adrian Smith’s office were present during the celebration and tour.
On Thursday morning Redfern noted the importance of water to Nebraska and thanked the EPA for its work on the project.
He joked that York must have been a very “dapper” place a long time ago, given the number of dry cleaners it had.
“The people in York have accepted the inconvenience,” Redfern said, “even around one of their favorite restaurants,” referring to Chances “R” Restaurant.
McCollister said that funding from the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, which President Joe Biden signed into law on Nov. 15 2021, helped fund the York Superfund Site and many others like it.
“The remediation would not have started at the York site if not for the infrastructure bill,” said EPA Region 7 Superfund and Emergency Management Division Director Bob Jurgens, who was also present.
York Mayor Barry Redfern speaking at the EPA’s celebration on Thursday morning of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Bill. Representatives from U.S. Sen. Fischer’s office, U.S. Sen. Ricketts’ office and U.S. Rep. Adrian Smith’s office were present during the celebration and tour.
Representatives were present on behalf of U.S. Sen. Pete Ricketts, U.S. Sen. Deb Fischer and U.S. Rep. Adrian Smith. Sen. Fischer voted in favor the bill, while Rep. Smith did not. Sen. Ricketts was not a senator at the time.
After the celebration at York City Hall, Johnson led a group of about 20 people on a tour of the two sites.
Johnson said he has tried to work with the city to minimize the impact of the work and throughout the process has tried to take advantage of York’s local businesses.
Representatives from Nebraska Department of Environment and Energy were present, as well as some of the business owners involved in the work at the site.
Much of the work on the site has been done by Ayuda and Mc2, a thermal technology provider. Tom Lackman and Sonya Yungeberg were present from Ayuda and Brent Winder was present from Mc2.
Johnson, left, outside the EPA’s Superfund Site on 7th street in York during the tour on Thursday morning. The EPA demolished two two-story brick buildings at the site before installing the clean-up equipment.
York Elementary School currently has about 100 students per grade level, but is projected to have about 110 by 2033-2034, according to CMBA architects, the firm selected by the York School board to design the renovation.