LAS VEGAS (AP) — State officials who monitor chemical contaminations at 40 sites in southern Nevada are now preparing for a large-scale cleanup at one that stemmed from a spill at a dry-cleaning shop decades ago.
The Las Vegas Sun reports that more than 200 homes sit atop a plume created years ago at a dry-cleaning operation. The cancer-causing chemical bled into groundwater after a 1982 spill, and officials say the plume now stretches more than a mile long.
State regulators hope to begin extracting the perchloroethylene, or PCE, by spring of 2017. Recently they have installed mitigating systems to keep the chemical out of homes.
Regulators are in the process of finalizing that plan with the former owners of the Maryland Square property, who were found responsible to pay for the cleanup.
