PCB cleanup continues at Bloomington ABB site

The cleanup of toxic PCBs at a former electrical components factory in Bloomington is in its second month.

Tom Alcamo, remedial project manager for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in Chicago, said about 25,000 tons of soil at the site likely will be removed by late November.

The Bloomington Herald-Times reported CBS Corp. and ABB Inc. are paying the estimated $5 million cost of the cleanup.

CBS assumed responsibility for the site when it acquired Westinghouse Electric Corp. ABB became sole owner of the site in 1990.

The EPA said Westinghouse used PCBs – polychlorinated biphenyls – in manufacturing operations at the Bloomington capacitor factory.

Alcamo said the site was cleaned up in the 1990s, but additional PCB contamination was found after the factory was demolished in 2007.