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Superfund Cleanup Transforms Problem Property into Community Asset

Release Date: 10/24/2005
Contact Information: Alan Goodman
goodman.alan@epa.gov
(503) 326-3685

October 24, 2005


More than 30-acres of prime industrial/commercial property in Clackamas, Oregon have been cleaned up and are ready for redevelopment, more than a decade after being declared a Superfund Site by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

Part of the Northwest Pipe and Casing Company Superfund Site, located on SE Mather Road was purchased by the Clackamas County Development Agency (CCDA) for $3.375 million in mid-October. CCDA plans to use the site as right-of-way for the Sunrise Corridor, which is planned to eventually connect Interstate 205 with U.S. Highway 26. The remaining acreage will be available for light industrial/commercial development.

“It is very rewarding to oversee a cleanup that transformed this site from a problem property into a community asset,” remarked EPA Project Manager Alan Goodman. “We began working with the local community early on to ensure that the cleanup would be compatible with potential future uses of this site.” EPA's Superfund Redevelopment Program helps communities return some of the nation's worst hazardous waste sites to safe and productive uses.

Northwest Pipe and Casing – Hall Process Company was added to the EPA National Priorities List in 1992. The property was given to EPA and the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) in 1997 by the former owner, Wayne C. Hall Jr., as part of a settlement of Mr. Halls’ responsibility for contamination resulting from past pipe manufacturing and coating operations. EPA will use the sale proceeds to help pay for operating the groundwater treatment system on the property until groundwater cleanup standards have been met.

EPA completed cleanup of contaminated soil and started treatment of solvent-contaminated groundwater in 2004. As part of the site cleanup, EPA removed more than 22,000 tons of coal-tar contaminated soil and then capped the entire 30-acre site with a two-foot layer of clean soil. In addition, a 1-acre wetland was established at the site during restoration.

EPA will continue to monitor the site into the future to make sure the cleanup is effective and continues to protect human health and the environment, beginning with a formal 5-year review in mid-2006.

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Related Links:

National Superfund Site (https://www.epa.gov/superfund/index.htm)

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