Acme Plant Project Could Be 5-10 Years From Completion

Completion of studies and cleanup of the old Acme Power Plant – both the five-acre site and the building – could take five to 10 years – or longer, according to Carrie Rogaczewski.

Rogaczewski is manager of the Sheridan County Conservation District, which acquired ownership of the plant site in June 2017. At a meeting Thursday night to update the public on what’s being done at the site, she talked about why the process could take so long.

The first part of the work has been assessment of the plant site, including surface and subsurface soils, groundwater and surface water. Loren Ruttinger, an engineer with WWC Engineering, said that report should be done by the third or fourth quarter of this year.

Still to come, Rogaczewski said, will be a study of the building and possibly the coal ash pile, where coal ash was disposed of after plant operators burned the coal to generate electricity.

During Thursday’s meeting, Ruttinger talked about some of the findings in the site assessment, such as the presence of asbestos in both surface and subsurface soil. He said there are still assessments to be done, including a complete ecological risk assessment of the site.

Rogaczewski said the five-to-10 years completion is the conservation district’s best guess at this time, and the district hopes to complete all of the work in that time.