FORT SMITH, Ark. — The ongoing monitoring of cancer-causing chemicals in the ground from when Whirlpool operated a manufacturing plant in Fort Smith shows that the pollution plume is shrinking. Some hot spots remain, according to the firm hired by Whirlpool to keep tabs on the problem.
The publicly-held appliance manufacturer closed the plant at 6400 Jenny Lind Road in June 2012, moving most production jobs to Mexico. One year later, officials with Benton Harbor, Mich.-based Whirlpool admitted to leaking trichloroethylene (TCE), a cancer-causing chemical, into properties north of the Fort Smith plant, which sat on 153 acres.
Copenhagen, Denmark-based Ramboll was hired by Whirlpool to monitor the pollution and provide remediation plans and information to the Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality (ADEQ). The company began remediation in October 2015 with injection wells around what was then the known plume.
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