Limestone County awaits word on building site toxicity

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Limestone awaits word on building site toxicity

By Holly Hollman

DAILY Staff Writer

hhollman@...

ATHENS -- Limestone County Commissioner Gerald Barksdale once changed oil at

the service station site where the county is building a $3.1 million annex,

and where workers found high levels of chemicals.

QORE Property Services found high levels of dichloroethane and

trichloroethene in soil at the site on Clinton and Market streets in

downtown Athens after workers smelled an unusual odor last week.

The chemicals can dissolve grease. The amount found exceeds the maximum

containment level.

Long-term exposure the chemicals can damage the heart, kidneys and nervous

system. The Alabama Department of Environmental Management is testing the

groundwater. Results could be available today.

The contaminated soil is where 's, a service station, operated until

the late 1960s or early 1970s, Barksdale said.

He worked at the station in the summer of 1958 and after returning from the

Navy in 1963.

Limestone County Engineer said the county didn't conduct a

Phase One environmental test on the site.

Limestone County Commission Chairman Stanley Menefee said he thought the

site was clean and that initial environmental tests didn't indicate any

problems.

However, said the county removed five fuel tanks and checked them

for leakage " but that's all that was done. "