The Greenfield Environmental Multistate Trust announced on Aug. 23 that it will soon begin cleanup efforts at a Superfund site in Navassa.
It's been more than a decade since the EPA placed the former site of the Kerr-McGee wood treatment plant, located off Navassa Road, on its National Priorities List. But according to the state, the Multistate Trust will hire two remediation firms to clean up one portion of the site. Operable Unit 2, or OU2, spans 16 acres.
From 1936 to 1980, Kerr-McGee Chemical Corporation ran a wood treatment plant in Navassa. The plant was responsible for a lot of local pollution, including dumping wastewater into the marshes bordering Sturgeon Creek and contaminating the soil with the toxic wood preservative creosote. OU2 was where workers stored treated and untreated wood.
Right now, the plan is to begin remediation in fall 2023. The cleanup crews plan to excavate contaminated surface soil from OU2 and temporarily store it in the adjacent parcel, OU4. The work is estimated to take three to four months. Once completed, OU2 will be ready for unrestricted use.
According to the EPA, the site's contamination does not currently present any threats to people living or working in the vicinity. The reason why the Multistate Trust is undertaking cleanup efforts is because of a historic legal battle. Over the course of several decades, Kerr-McGee and its subsidiaries were responsible for widespread pollution on Navajo tribal lands and in 31 states, including North Carolina. After Tronox, a spin-off corporation, filed for bankruptcy, it struck a deal with federal and state agencies to clean up its work sites. So in 2011, the court ordered the creation of the Multistate Trust, which is responsible for planning site cleanups.
The Multistate Trust is holding a community meeting on cleanup efforts at the Navassa Community Center. The meeting, which locals can also join virtually, will be on Aug. 29 from 6 to 7 p.m., with an hour-long in-person drop-in session immediately afterward.
Tuesday, August 29, 2023
· Community Meeting: 6 p.m. – 7 p.m. In person and virtual.
· Drop-in Session: 7 p.m. – 8 p.m. In person only.
Location: Navassa Community Center, 338 Main Street, Navassa
Join the meeting online or by phone:
· Online: Use this Zoom link or enter tinyurl.com/NavassaMeetings into a browser.
· Phone: Call (301) 715-8592. Use meeting ID 946 584 8922 and passcode 664564.
For More Information:
· March 23, 2023 Community Meeting Presentation
· Multistate Trust website https://navassa.greenfieldenvironmental.com
· EPA website www.epa.gov/superfund/kerr-mcgee-chemical-corp
· NCDEQ website https://deq.nc.gov