AVX demolition plans delay pollution cleanup proposal in Myrtle Beach
AVX Corp. plans to demolish its manufacturing facility in Myrtle Beach, and that likely demolition will delay a plan to clean up decades-long groundwater pollution at its site, according to officials with the S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control.
DHEC this week proposed a plan to remove the degreaser trichloroethylene, or TCE, from the neighborhood’s groundwater. The plan would reduce the levels of TCE to drinking water standards within a 15-year period, and work could begin as early as next fall.
Cleaning up the AVX property, however, could take longer because of the company’s demolition plans.
AVX plans to tear down the old manufacturing facility – referred to as MB-1 – that has been a mainstay along 17th Avenue South for decades.
The planned demolition caused DHEC to divide its cleanup plan into two phases – the neighborhood near AVX and then the AVX property itself.
“The removal of buildings at the AVX site will help with the environmental assessment of the property,” said Carol Minsk, a hydro geologist with DHEC and the project manager overseeing the cleanup. “We didn’t want to hold up offsite remediation, however, so we divided the site into two units.”
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