News Releases from Region 05

EPA Adds Valley Pike Site in Ohio to Superfund Cleanup List

For Immediate Release   No. 16-OPA036

CHICAGO (Sept. 7, 2016) -- U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has added the Valley Pike VOCs (Volatile Organic Compounds) site in Riverside, Ohio, to the National Priorities List, the agency’s list of Superfund sites.

Superfund is the federal program that investigates and cleans up the most complex, uncontrolled or abandoned hazardous waste sites in the nation.

The Valley Pike VOCs site is in a mixed industrial and residential area where groundwater -- contaminated with tetrachloroethylene, or PCE, and trichloroethylene, or TCE – has been under investigation by EPA and the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency for several years. A residential neighborhood near Mullins Rubber Products, Inc. has been affected by vapors seeping up from the contaminated groundwater plume into soil and buildings. Vapor intrusion can cause harmful indoor air pollution.    

Since 2013, EPA, OEPA and the Ohio Department of Health have been working to test about 400 residences for vapor intrusion.  To date, testing has resulted in EPA installing vapor abatement systems for almost 90 residential properties. 

Earlier this year, Mullins Rubber Products and EPA agreed to actions to stop the offsite release of PCE and TCE and to continue the assessment for vapor intrusion and mitigation related to past releases.  EPA’s agreement with Mullins Rubber Products also addresses treatment/removal of contamination on Mullins property that continues to contribute to groundwater and vapor intrusion. 

For more information about the Valley Pike VOCs site: https://www.epa.gov/oh/valley-pike-vocs

Information about proposed and final NPL sites is available on EPA's website: https://www.epa.gov/superfund/current-npl-updates-new-proposed-npl-sites-and-new-npl-sites

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