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Arkansas Agency Reviews Plan For Closed Whirlpool Site

Arkansas Times

The Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality is reviewing a plan to deal with a degreasing solvent that was detected in groundwater at a recently shuttered Whirlpool plant in Fort Smith.

A company called ENVIRON submitted a final remedy work plan to the state environmental agency this week on behalf of Benton Harbor, Mich.-based Whirlpool Corp.

The plan comes decades after Whirlpool ceased using trichloroethylene at the Fort Smith site.

The Environmental Protection Agency says inhalation exposure to trichloroethylene can affect the human central nervous system.

However, Whirlpool says no one is drinking or touching the contaminated groundwater or breathing its vapors.

Whirlpool manufactured refrigerators and trash compactors at the site until last year.

The latest plan for dealing with trichloroethylene contamination calls for chemical oxidant injections and continued monitoring.