Crews from Ohio Edison work to restore power on Campbell Road in Hanoverton while HEPACO performs environmental cleanup on Thursday after a snapped utility pole caused an outdated transformer to crack open and spill toxic materials during last week’s high winds. (Photo by Stephanie Elverd)

HANOVERTON — Two years ago, Keith and Jamiella Hilderbrand lost their home to a house fire. Now, the Hanoverton couple is facing more homeowner adversity with the potential poisoning of their land.

During last week’s high winds, a utility pole snapped and brought down another pole on the edge of their front yard. That pole sent a transformer crashing to the ground. The resulting explosion shook homes on the street. Unfortunately, that transformer was manufactured and installed before 1979. It didn’t just cause an explosion, it caused an environmental calamity, spilling polychlorinated biphenyls (or PCBs) onto the street and into the streams that run through and behind the Hilderbrands’ property.

PCBs are toxic and persistent chemicals that were primarily used as insulating fluids in heavy-duty electrical equipment, power plants, industries, large buildings and transformers before 1980. In 1979, the Environmental Protection Agency banned the manufacture of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and began phasing out PCB uses.

But the transformer on Campbell Road remained. When it broke open just feet from the homes, there was no rush to remedy the situation. For two days, the busted transformer sat where it came down as 50 gallons of PCB contaminated liquid seeped into the ground underneath it and ran into the nearby streams. The road was closed, but the cleanup was delayed as Ohio Edison tended to other calls caused by the windstorm.

“For days, all that PCB was just left exposed on the road,” Keith Hilderbrand said. “It was left there and now it has been absorbed into the soil and groundwater, and made its way to the streams.”

When crews finally came to Campbell Road to replace the pole and restore power, the full scale of the crisis was realized and the EPA was called in.

For the Hilderbrands, it was too late. The damage had been done. The couple was forced to surrender four goats to the EPA who were likely poisoned after drinking from the PCB-laced stream. Jamiella had hoped the goats would be tested and quarantined but she was told the animals would have to be euthanized.

“It broke my heart when the EPA told me they couldn’t be saved,” she said. “I was really hoping that something could be done and we would get them back, but I was told it was too dangerous and would risk re-contaminating our property because their manure and urine would have PCBs. So they will be euthanized and then cremated. That’s the only way to dispose of them safely.”

It also means the Hilderbrand will have to be vigilant of their other livestock. Jamiella is worried that their four dogs, too, may be exposed to the contaminated water that flows through their property. She is more worried about her family, as their well house rests next to the stream and just a few feet from where the transformer came down.

Keith said not knowing if the water is safe or when it will be safe is the worst part. He plans to have a carbon filtration system installed on his well immediately.

“The county health department came out and tested the well, but what about all the PCBs that have soaked into the ground already?” he said. “What happens in a month or a year? Will our water be contaminated later?

Keith is also worried about the property value of his land.

“There are a lot of implications,” he said. “Is this something I have to disclose down the road if we decide to sell one day? There are just a lot of questions that need to be answered.”

The general consensus is that 50 parts per million (ppm) is a safe level of PCB. The disposal of items that contain 50 ppm or less of PCB are generally not regulated. Keith said the soil around his property measured at 138 ppm.

“That’s almost three times the amount that is considered to be safe,” Jamiella added. “The whole thing is scary and I am worried sick about what this all means.”

HEPACO, one of the nation’s leaders in environmental and emergency services, has been excavating the dirt on Campbell Road. The EPA is overseeing the cleanup and the further environmental remediation that will be needed.

So far, Keith said the efforts have focused on digging up the dirt in and along the streams. Samples have been taken and once those samples show no further contamination, rock and new soil will be brought in to replace the dangerous dirt. The contaminated soil will have to be disposed of at a licensed hazardous waste facility. The process and the disposal of the contaminated soil is much like the cleanup efforts taking place in East Palestine in the wake of the Norfolk Southern train derailment. The similarities, though on a much smaller scale, are uncanny according to Jamiella.

“My heart already went out to East Palestine, but now I have a better idea of what they are going through,” she said. “It’s just a terrible, terrible situation.”

And just like the residents of East Palestine, the Hilderbrands worry about the long-term health effects exposure to PCB may cause and the stress over the unknown.

“I am concerned about what we are going to find out in a month or a year or 15 years from now,” Keith said. “This isn’t going away anytime soon. This is something we are going to have to deal with for a long, long time.”

selverd@mojonews.com