CHARLOTTE, N.C. — The Charlotte Gateway Station will be a transportation hub spanning three city blocks when it's complete, but construction couldn't begin until contaminated soil was removed from the site at the corner of Fourth and Graham streets.
It's a common issue for construction projects in large cities, according to Greg Pillar, a professor of environmental science and chemistry at Queens University in Charlotte.
Pillar said Tuesday that loose environmental regulations in the past left a mess for developers to clean up.
"There (are) absolutely things out there, currently sitting in the ground that are a potential hazard," Pillar said. "It's one of those things where, until someone comes along to develop it or build something, no one will really shine a light on that."
Records from the Department of Environmental Quality show the North Carolina Department of Transportation discovered the contamination during a preliminary site assessment in the early planning stages for the Gateway Station.
[Station to connect Amtrak, CATS in uptown]
According to a 223-page report that NCDOT officials sent to the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality, the contamination came from a previous facility that operated on the site.
"The property was previously occupied by a printing shop and a brass-works facility," the report said. "The primary contaminants identified were total petroleum hydrocarbons as diesel range organics and elevated metals including antimony, lead and mercury."
Jen Thompson, a spokeswoman for NCDOT, told Channel 9 the hazardous soil has been successfully removed. The state spent $287,000 toward the investigation, removal and disposal of the hazardous waste.
"The hazardous soil encountered by the project has been successfully removed, treated to be nonhazardous and was properly disposed (of) off-site per DEQ guidelines," Thompson said.
Thompson said the public's health was not at risk during the removal process. She added that it is common to encounter some level of contamination in urban areas.
"That's an area of increasing study, urban soils," Pillar said. "Because in urban environments, you have so much disruption."
Pillar said developers across the country are finding contaminants at construction sites.
"It could be a threat to public health," he said.
Pillar added that developers play an important role in uncovering hazardous materials so that the threat can be safely removed.
He commended NCDOT's handling of the Gateway Station site after reading the state's report.
"This is a very good example of where some of the environmental protections that we have are actually working," Pillar said.
"There wouldn't have been the requirement to do the testing to determine that there's contamination, and the follow-up cleanup, if we didn't have the laws we have in place," he added.
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