FAIRVIEW TWP — Now that the state Department of Environmental Protection has closed the book on the Kelly Farm cleanup, it’s focusing on secondary areas in the Bear Creek Chemical Site.

Charles Byham, DEP site manager, explained the plan at a Wednesday night meeting in the township building.

The Bear Creek site extends across Fairview, Concord, Parker and Washington townships in Butler County as well as Perry Township in Armstrong County.

The last four areas were among 24 in the site determined to have industrial waste disposed there.

According to the DEP, ground water and springs, including wells, were contaminated by liquids produced by the Koppers and the Witco Chemical.

In May, the Kelly Farm disposal site was addressed. The areas along Hemlock and Apple roads were previously addressed.

The final areas to be identified were the Jameson, Spitzer Pines, Wade Parsonville and Bureau of Investigation No. 8.

The substances found in these areas include benzene sulfonic acid, copper, formaldehyde and lead.

The total estimated cost to remove the hazardous waste is more than $2.8 million.

Funding for the work comes from the state’s hazardous Sites Cleanup Act, which is from a hazardous waste transportation fee as well as a capital stock and franchise tax, and a $22.2 million settlement recovered from parties deemed responsible for the contamination.

The Jameson Disposal Area, which is adjacent to Butternut Road near the Pine Road intersection in Fairview, was a refuse dump.

DEP investigations showed evidence of industrial wastes, including rusted drums containing unknown liquids, amounting to roughly 20,000 cubic yards of waste and impacted soil.

Most of the total cost, or $2.7 million, is allotted to the Jameson area.

The Spitzer Pines Disposal Area is northeast of the Bear Creek Cemetery along a dirt road connecting Hemlock Road and Forrest Street in Fairview.

The Spitzer area, which will cost an estimated $48,737, has surface sludge and debris amounting to less than two 20-cubic-yard disposal bins.

Drums and waste will be removed from The Wade Parsonville area, which is accessed by Bill Morris Road in Washington Township, for an estimated cost of $17,148. The volume is less than two, 20-cubic-yard bins.

The BOI 8 area, which is along Magnolia Road in Fairview, requires soil be removed from underneath one drum at a volume of less than one bin.

Only seven people attended the presentation. No one spoke at the subsequent presentation.

Fairview Township Supervisor Dennis Bryan, who was one of the seven, said in an interview the township hasn’t recently received complaints about the Bear Creek site.

“It has simmered down,” Bryan said.

The DEP will accept written comments about the four disposal areas until Nov. 2 to: Department of Environmental Protection, Northwest Regional Office, 230 Chestnut St., Meadville, PA 16335, attn: Gary Clark.