Acme Power Plant Building Demolition Work And Cleanup Underway

A building that has stood for about 116 years and once provided power to the Sheridan area, is being torn down and most of it is heading to the junkyard.

For the past month, demolition crews have been tearing down the old Acme Power Plant building about 10 miles north of Sheridan, along the Tongue River.

The facility was constructed in 1910 and was closed and abandoned in 1976.

It was later declared as an environmental hazard, because the building had been filled with asbestos.

During the past few years, the Sheridan County Conservation District, through various federal grants from the EPA, has been working on reclamation efforts on the building and the property, including asbestos cleanup and removal, and building demolition.

District Manager Carrie Rogaczewski says about 85-to-90 percent of the asbestos has been cleared out, and the remaining portions of the building that are still contaminated, will have to stay behind on site.

“The existing basement portions of it will serve as a way to entomb any asbestos that was left on site, other materials, things like the brick, which we had hoped to be able to reuse somehow, because they may or may not contain some asbestos fibers, because they’re porous, those will all go in the basement which will essentially serve as a small landfill.”

Pieces of the demolished building that have been deemed safe are being hauled to a landfill near Billings.

Rogaczewski adds once demolition and soil cleanup work has been completed, the next phase is to determine how the site will be redeveloped, if it can.

The old Acme Water Tower near the building will remain on site and its fate will be determined later.

Demolition Timeline Photos: