Toxic quarry clear-up could cost anywhere between a “few million to tens of millions”

Cleaning up a toxic quarry could cost anywhere between a “few million to tens of millions” of pounds, a senior council officer has admitted.

The council-owned Ty Llwyd quarry, near Ynysddu, was used as a dumping ground for harmful industrial chemicals such as polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs).

It is thought PCBs were dumped at the quarry by chemical firm Monsanto from its Newport factory decades ago.

PCBs were widely used in electrical equipment before they were revealed to be carcinogenic. They were banned in the UK in 1981.

Leachate from the site overflows into the Pantyffynnon Woodland and beyond, and could be running into the two nearby rivers – the Sirhowy and Ebbw.

As part of efforts to manage the site, following pressure from local councillors, Caerphilly County Borough Council, Natural Resources Wales and Welsh Government officials have been meeting regularly to discuss future options.

Minutes of the meetings have been published on the Welsh Government’s website under the Freedom of Information Act.

According to these, remediation options have been drawn up by council contractors Arcadis and are being reviewed by NRW.

At a meeting on June 4, Maria Godfrey, the council’s team leader for pollution control, emergency planning and resilience said the potential cost of remediation ‘ranged from a few million to tens of millions’ and would need to be ‘proportionate to the risks’ when deciding on a course of action.

She also explained that publicity about the quarry site has placed significant pressure on the council’s pollution team.

Ceri Edwards, the council’s environmental health manager, admitted some remediation options may not be economically viable and that it was likely the council would need Welsh Government help.

Options mentioned in the minutes, but not yet decided on, included treatment of the leachate, removing the waste from the quarry, capping and grouting/solidification of the waste with it remaining in situ. A combination of measures could also be used.

A timetable for deciding the options was still being developed.

According to the minutes, the site is tested daily when there is heavy rainfall. Sampling has found ‘elevated levels of contaminants of concern within the fenced off woodland area’, but that levels were within ‘Environmental Quality Standard thresholds at the point where they leave the fenced off area’.

A designated contaminated site?

Ty Llwyd quarry is one of a number of suspected Monsanto dump sites across south Wales. Brofiscin Quarry, in Groesfaen, Rhondda Cynon Taf, is the only one designated as contaminated land at the moment – and campaigners want Ty Llwyd to have the same status.

It has yet to be designated a contaminated site under Environmental Protection Act Part 2A.

The council’s assessment under this regulation is currently being put together by contractors Arcadis before it is sent to NRW.

The site has a leachate drainage system, but this can prove ineffective when there is heavy rainfall, leading to spills.

In July last year the council was slapped with a warning letter from NRW for allowing contaminated water from the site to spill onto a public road.

Council leader Sean Morgan has previously written to the Welsh Government calling for more support in managing the site, which it bought from Monsanto.

BBC Sounds documentary

The quarry, and the wider controversy over dumped PCBs, is featured in a BBC Sounds documentary for Radio 4 called Buried – The Last Witness.

Ynysddu independent councillors Jan Jones and Janine Reed, who have led the campaign to clean-up the quarry, were interviewed by journalists Dan Ashby and Lucy Taylor, and actor Michael Sheen for the series.

They explain how they believe there had been a cover-up by the authorities surrounding the toxic nature of Ty Llwyd and the frustration they feel at what they claim to be inadequate testing of the site in wrong locations.

Dave Megson, a forensic scientist from Manchester Metropolitan University, partnered with the BBC to carry out testing at several sites – including the forest near Ty Llwyd.

Results indicated PCBs there were 138 times the UK background average level.

Speaking as part of the programme, Cllr Jones said: “We always knew there was something very wrong and that we were having the wool pulled over our eyes – we couldn’t prove anything.”

Cllr Jones and Cllr Reed also pointed to a 2001 council-commissioned report into the site which concluded it would be deemed contaminated land under the 1990 Environmental Protection Act Part 2A.

However, when the report was reissued six months later, that sentence was missing.

The journalists from the podcast put this to the council, which could not explain the omission.