News Releases from Region 04

Cleanup Completed at Susie Tolbert Elementary School in Jacksonville, Fla.

ATLANTA (August 14, 2018) – The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announces that the  Florida Department of Environmental Protection (FDEP) has completed the soil excavation and cleanup at Susie Tolbert Elementary School in Jacksonville, Fla. The cleanup, under an agreement with EPA, involved the removal of soil containing arsenic and restoration of the property. EPA will continue to work collaboratively with state and local government.

The Fairfax Street Wood Treaters site is in a predominantly residential area of Jacksonville owned by Fairfax Land Management, Inc., and was formerly used as a wood treating facility. From 1980 to 2010, the facility pressure-treated utility poles, pilings, heavy timber and plywood lumber products using the wood treating preservative chromated copper arsenate (CCA). Some of the CCA preservative dripped onto the ground during the wood treating, which resulted in soil and sediment contamination.  The arsenic levels detected in the soil were well below the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Removal Management Level and did not pose an imminent threat to public health or the environment. Additionally, as a result of cleanup activities, the impacted soil has now been excavated and removed from the site.

Under the Trump Administration, the Superfund program has reemerged as a top priority to advance the Agency’s core mission of protecting human health and the environment.

More information on EPA's cleanup work at the Fairfax Street Wood Treaters (FSWT) site (https://www.epa.gov/superfund/fairfax-st-wood-treaters)