Jim and Kathy Pifko will be glad when they can start their walks on the Montour Trail at Mile 0.
The couple lives in Coraopolis, just a few minutes from the start of the popular hiking-and-biking trail at Route 51 in Groveton.
Along with many other trail-users they have been driving to the Hassam Road parking lot while the first half-mile of the path has remained off limits. The U.S. Environmental Protection closed off the trail while its contractors continued to clean-up of the 7-acre Breslube-Penn Superfund site.
Since mid-June crews have been digging and lining a large trench around the perimeter of the area where chemical contamination was found. Tainted soil is being consolidated into a 5-acre waste management area. The bathtub-like containment area adjoining the trail also will get a waterproof cover.
The Justice Department and the EPA announced five years ago that they had reached an agreement with 36 companies linked to environmental problems at the Breslube-Penn site.
The settlement provides $12 million for future cleanup costs, a $3 million reimbursement to the EPA for its past expenses and $41,000 to the state for its enforcement and response costs. The government previously had reached $4.2 million in settlements with other companies.
The Breslube-Penn property adjoins Montour Trail and is within 50 feet of Montour Run, a tributary of the Ohio River that is popular with anglers. The land was home to a fat-rendering plant and later used for fuel oil recycling.
Ed Krall of Robinson said he walks the trail almost every day. He, too, said it was more convenient for him to start at Mile 0, which is just south of Route 51 in Moon.
“I’ve been walking it since it first opened,” he said one afternoon as he started his exercise session. But even with the closing of the section at the start, the trail has continued to grown in popularity, he said.
While bicyclist Robert Mays of Robinson usually starts his rides at Hassam Road, he said he is curious to go back and see the first mile of the trail when it reopens.
He said he is even more interested in plans to extend the trail from Mile 0 into a new county park that will have access to the Ohio River.
No date has been set for the reopening of the first section of the trail, EPA spokesman David Sternberg said. Current plans call for remediation work to be completed by the end of 2014, with full trail access restored by late fall or early winter.
The nonprofit Montour Trail Council, which oversees and maintains the biking-and-hiking path, opened it at Mile 0 on Sept. 20 for its annual fund-raising event. That may happen again on selected weekend days this fall if the weather remains good, council President Dennis Pfeiffer said.
With the Mile 0 trailhead parking spaces unavailable, the closest parking lots are at Hassam Road (Mile 1.4), Beaver Grade Road (Mile 3.1) and Montour Run Road (Mile 4.4). A trail map and driving instructions are available at the website www.montourtrail.org.
The Breslube-Penn settlement said the rendering plant and oil recycling operations had contaminated soil and groundwater with a variety of chemicals and other pollutants. They include volatile organic compounds, semi-volatile organic compounds, polychlorinated biphenyls, metals and cyanide.
Len Barcousky: lbarcousky@post-gazette.com or 724-772-0184.
First Published: October 2, 2014, 4:00 a.m.
