News Releases from Region 04
Construction Completed at the Chemfax, Inc. Superfund Site in Gulfport, Miss.
ATLANTA - Today, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced that the construction of all cleanup actions at the Chemfax, Inc. Superfund Site in Gulfport, Miss., are complete. The Site occupies 11 acres just south of I-10 at the intersection of Creosote Road and Three Rivers Road, and was placed on EPA's National Priorities List in 2012.
Site contaminants included benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene, and naphthalene, and have impacted groundwater. In 1999, EPA addressed immediate threats at the Site in its first cleanup action. Drums, storage tanks, tank contents, asbestos and approximately 3,400 cubic yards of contaminated soils were disposed off-site. Most of the processing lines, tank farms, bulk storage areas, buildings and structures were also dismantled at that time.
In April 2014, field activities began for the Remedial Action at the Site, with excavation and off-site disposal of contaminated soils, to address long-term risks. Significant challenges during this work included funding delays and higher volumes of contaminated soils than expected. Construction activities were completed in December 2015, with a total of 109,211 tons of contaminated soils/sediment disposed off-site. EPA and the Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality conducted a joint Site inspection on personnel on Jan. 12, 2016. The installation of groundwater monitoring wells at the Site was completed on Jan. 29, 2016, while a final Remedial Action report will be finalized in the summer of 2016.
Next Steps
The Chemfax, Inc., facility was established in March 1955 and produced synthetic hydrocarbon resins and waxes from petroleum products. Business operations ceased in 1995.
The Site was first proposed to EPA's National Priorities List in 1993. To date, 1,714 sites across the country have been placed on Superfund's National Priorities List. Of those sites, the Chemfax, Inc., Site becomes the 1,178th site to achieve Construction Completion status.
For more information about the Site, please visit: https://cumulis.epa.gov/supercpad/cursites/csitinfo.cfm?id=0402288
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