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EPA to Hold Public Meeting for Mill’s Gap Groundwater Contamination Site in Skyland, N.C.

Release Date: 01/14/2008
Contact Information: Dawn Harris-Young, (404) 562-8421, harris-young.dawn@epa.gov

(Atlanta, Ga. – Jan. 14, 2008) The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) will hold a public meeting on Thursday, January 31, 2008 regarding current activities at the Mill’s Gap Groundwater Contamination site in Skyland, N.C. EPA, North Carolina Department of Environment and Natural Resources (NCDENR), Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry, and Buncombe County Health Center officials will provide information and answer questions about recent sampling related to the site and an enforcement update.

The public meeting will begin at 6:30 p.m. at the Skyland Fire Department, 9 Miller Road, Skyland, N.C. Community members interested in obtaining additional information are encouraged to contact Sherryl A. Carbonaro, EPA Community Involvement Coordinator, at (678) 575-7355.

The site is located off Mills Gap Road, approximately one mile east of Skyland, in Buncombe County, N.C. and consists of approximately nine acres of maintained grounds containing a large, single-story building. In 1952, IRC, Inc. (IRC) bought the land and constructed the building which was used for its electroplating operations. In 1959, IRC sold the property to CTS, Inc (CTS). From 1959 to 1986, CTS operated an electroplating facility at the site. In 1987, Mills Gap Road Associates (MGRA) purchased the site and is the current owner. Environmental sampling has indicated the subsurface beneath the former plant is contaminated with the chemical compound trichloroethylene (a.k.a. trichloroethene or TCE) as well as petroleum products. In 1999 TCE was discovered in nearby springs and one residential drinking water well. This past December, EPA and DENR commenced more extensive sampling that included expanded residential well sampling and vapor intrusion sampling at homes in close proximity to the site.

ATTENTION: A media availability session will be held at the Skyland Fire Department, 9 Miller Road in Skyland, N.C. from 5:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. on Thursday, January 31, 2008. Officials will be available to answer media questions concerning current activities underway at the site. This arrangement will allow for the public to use the entire public meeting to get information and have their questions answered.