Louisville officials report progress, ongoing work at still active UPS plane crash site

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) — One month after the deadly UPS plane crash in Louisville, city officials say the environmental cleanup remains a large, active operation, with crews still removing debris, contaminated soil, oil and water from the site.

According to Greenberg, the southern most area of the crash site, where the majority of the victims were found, is still active with crews removing debris.

Greenberg said four major items has been removed from the crash site: plane fragments and debris, which have been categorized and removed properly; soil, which is to be incinerated and disposed of; oil that has been removed and disposed off site; water with the oil separated and removed, treated, then treated again by MSD sewer system.

Brian Bingham, Chief Operations Officer with MSD, said crews have recovered pure oil and water with oil in it.

"I would say 98% of the oil has been removed that hit the ground," Bignham said.

Bingham said the pure oil recovered will be incinerated out of state and placed in a certified landfill. Transfer of the oil will start Thursday, Bingham said.

Bingham said about 125,000 gallons of oil will be transported via train five days a week, which is "the best practices for the industry."

Bingham said about 6,000 gallons of water have been processed to remove oil from it, and then the water is run through the MSD sewer system to treat it. Bingham said about 2.5 millions gallons of water have been treated.

Jody Meiman, Executive Director of Louisville Metro Emergency Services, said the clean up from the site is happening in three phases. Each phase opens another section of roadway, allowing certain businesses to reopen to employees and the public.

""It's an operation that has to be done in segments," Meiman said. "It's a delayering of things."

Meiman said they have deployed "Operation Midnight," which is from 11 p.m. to 7 a.m., allowing businesses on certain streets to come in while clean up contractors are off-site. Meiman said they are expecting to extend those hours soon.

Meiman also said the last day the Community Resource Center will be Friday, Dec. 12, but resources will still be available.

Meiman said the crash site is still active, and work goes on every day. There is still no timeframe - cosmetic things still need to be done, repaving of the roads

"We need to keep this site secure because there is still evidence out there," Meiman said. "This is still an active cleanup operation that is still very busy every single day."

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