The cleanup of contaminated surface soil at the Kerr-McGee Chemical Corp – Navassa Superfund site started Monday, March 4. The cleanup is expected to take four months. (Photo: Multistate Trust)
Federal contractors have begun removing nearly 3,000 cubic yards of contaminated soil — about 100 dumpsters’ worth — from the Navassa Superfund site in Brunswick County, according to the Multistate Environmental Response Trust which is managing the remediation.
The cleanup could take four months to complete and is expected to make the former treated and untreated wood storage area suitable for any future use. The Multistate Trust, the EPA and the N.C. Department of Environmental Quality, will host a community meeting with a virtual option on Tuesday, March 12, to provide an update about the soil cleanup. There will be information and a discussion of other topics, including the Moze land donation and the sale of 87 acres owned by the Multistate Trust. NOAA representatives will join the meeting to share updates about ongoing restoration projects.
From 1936 to 1974, Kerr-McGee and its predecessors operated a wood treatment plant on 244 acres of a former rice plantation in the historically Black community of Navassa. The company applied creosote to utility poles, railroad ties and other wood products to repel pests and prevent rot.
Decades of misuse poisoned the site with carcinogens, including dioxins and PAH, also known as polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons. To shield itself from environmental liability, Kerr-McGee spun off a company, Tronox, which declared bankruptcy in 2009. The site entered the Superfund program the next year. The Multistate Trust was appointed by a bankruptcy court to manage the cleanup, work with communities, and redevelop hundreds of Kerr-McGee sites nationwide.
Sampling showed the soil in this section of contains high levels of several contaminants. Those include benzopyrene, a known carcinogen, up to 600 times above residential standards and 33 times above those for industrial uses. A half-dozen other compounds exceeded residential standards, including naphthalene, a possible carcinogen that can damage the retina and cause anemia in people who are chronically exposed, according to the EPA. Some of the soil samples were composites, which represent the average contaminant concentrations.
The original cleanup plan for the wood storage area was controversial, Newsline previously reported. The EPA had approved sending the contaminated soil to the Sampson County landfill, the largest such facility in the state, and one that sits in a largely Black and low-income community already burdened by hundreds of industrialized hog farms, a biogas plant, and an untold number of unregulated poultry operations. In effect, the original plan would have moved toxic pollution from one underserved community to another.
After public outcry, the EPA changed course and opted to stockpile the soil on a separate portion of the site. Not only did the new plan keep the contamination out of the landfill, but it saved $120,000.
Contractors will monitor the air and erosion control during the cleanup. Those plans, and others, will be available on the Multistate Trust website here.
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