Plans to drill a well to monitor a plume of contaminated groundwater migrating from Aerojet's Rancho Cordova rocket-engine facility have stalled as a result of residents' objections.
"We won't be drilling in seven days," Aerojet's Timothy Murphy told the sometimes angry and loud crowd at a community meeting Wednesday night.
The meeting was to inform area residents of a planned well at Park Avenue and Winding Way. Some are critical of the well's planned location and say there was inadequate public notice of the project.
To serve as a monitoring well, the drilling site needs to be at a leading edge of the plume that has migrated under the American River and is advancing on Fair Oaks and Carmichael 250 feet underground.
The well is planned as part of Aerojet's $1.2 billion Superfund site cleanup of the rocket fuel contamination from its Rancho Cordova site.
Aerojet postponed its plans for the monitoring well in a road right of way after the residents objected.
"We will explore options. We will evaluate the sites," Murphy said of at least two nearby locations suggested by the residents.
– Ramon Coronado
