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News Releases from Region 04

EPA Announces Start of Marsh Work Pilot Study at the LCP Chemicals Superfund Site in Brunswick, Ga.

02/23/2018
Contact Information: 
Dawn Harris-Young (harris-young.dawn@epa.gov)
(404) 562-8421 (Direct), (404) 562-8400 (Main)

ATLANTA (February 23, 2018) – The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announces commencement of a pilot study to demonstrate the effectiveness of one component of the remedy selected for the marsh at the LCP Chemicals Superfund site in Brunswick, Ga. The study is the next step in the cleanup at the site. Site contamination does not currently threaten people living and working near the site.

The responsible parties – Honeywell and Georgia Power – will conduct the pilot study in two areas that total approximately 2/3 of an acre. The pilot study will involve sediment sampling for marsh contaminants before a thin-layer cover is applied and then resampling of the covered areas several times after application. The study will also provide data to advance the design of the full-scale remedy and enable the development of effective techniques to minimize disruption to the marsh. Application of the cover will begin in late February followed by 24 months of monitoring.

In addition to the pilot project, Honeywell and Georgia Power will collect data designed to support the full-scale remedial design. These activities are anticipated to begin in late-spring of 2018.

The EPA’s selected remedy has several components that include a mix of technologies – dredging, sediment capping, and a thin-layer cover. In the Record of Decision signed in September 2015, the agency concluded that the thin-layer cover presented the best option for portions of the marsh that are relatively less contaminated and are subject to low levels of erosion.

The 813-acre LCP Chemicals Georgia Superfund site is located in Brunswick, Georgia. It includes an area where various industrial facilities operated from the early 1920s to 1994. EPA placed the site on the Superfund Program’s National Priorities List (NPL) in 1996 because of contaminated groundwater, soil and sediment resulting from facility operations. EPA, the Georgia Environmental Protection Division (Georgia EPD) and the site’s potentially responsible parties (PRPs) are investigating site conditions and are taking steps to clean up the site. By taking these actions EPA, Georgia EPD and the site’s PRPs continue to protect human health and the environment from site contamination.

Under Administrator Pruitt’s leadership, 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 LCP Chemicals Georgia Superfund site (https://cumulis.epa.gov/supercpad/cursites/csitinfo.cfm?id=0401634)

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Superfund Task Force. In May 2017 Administrator Scott Pruitt established a task force to restore EPA's Superfund program to its rightful place at the center of the Agency's core mission to protect health and the environment. Click here to learn more.