North Ridge Estates cleanup continues

Klamath Falls, Ore. – A 38 million dollar project to clean up the asbestos contaminated North Ridge Estates subdivision in Klamath Falls is about two-thirds of the way complete.

More than 170 acres are contaminated with asbestos from a former military barracks.

Several feet of topsoil is being replaced at North Ridge Estates, and nearly 800 trees have been removed.

E.P.A Project Manager Linda Meyer briefed the Klamath County Commissioners on the cleanup effort Wednesday.  “We’re at the end of season two, and we should be done by the end of October.  We’ve moved about 150,000 cubic yards of contaminated soil.”

Landscaping crews are now working to plant new trees and grass where the soil has been replaced.

“The green stuff is hydro-seed.”  Explains Meyer.  “That contains tacifier, which helps the seeds establish and take root.”

Former Oregon Governor Ted Kulongoski put North Ridge on a fast track for federal cleanup funding in 2010.

The third and final season of cleanup will resume next spring.

The E.P.A. estimates that about 321,000 cubic yards of soil is being removed, and replaced.

That much soil would fill more than 123 Olympic-sized swimming pools, or cover a football field about 150 feet high.

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