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EPA and MDEQ to Meet with Stakeholders regarding Soil Cleanup and Land Use plans at the Picayune Wood Treating Site

Release Date: 01/24/2013
Contact Information: James Pinkney, (404)-562-9183 (direct), 404-562-8400 (main), pinkney.james@epa.gov

(Atlanta-January 24, 2013) US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality (MDEQ) will meet with Mayor Ed Pinero and other local officials to tour the Picayune Wood Treating Superfund Site in Picayune, MS and to discuss the final phases of the soil cleanup on January 24, 2013.

The meeting will also provide the opportunity to update the conceptual Reuse/Redevelopment Plan. The plan developed in 2005 by city leaders, local stakeholders, and residents, primarily identified the property for recreational use. The Reuse Plan will then be provided to MDEQ and the City of Picayune by the summer of 2013 in an effort to place the property back into productive use.

The Picayune Wood Treating Site has been undergoing a cleanup of the contaminated surface and subsurface soil since late November 2011. The surface work is scheduled for completion by summer 2013. The soil remedy involves construction of two slurry walls and excavation of approximately 160,000 cubic yards of soil contaminated with creosote and pentachlorophenol. The excavated soil will be placed in two separate cells. The next phase of the cleanup will involve groundwater treatment. The total cleanup costs for both soil and groundwater are estimated at $30 million. The cleanup is being conducted through an Interagency Agreement with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and contracted with Kemron/CMC.

The wood treating property is approximately 30 acres in size and is located in the City of Picayune at 403 Davis Street in a mixed residential, commercial, and industrial neighborhood. A wood treating facility operated at the Site for more than 50 years. It ceased operation in 1999.

For more information on this issue, visit http://epa.gov/region4/superfund/sites/npl/mississippi/picaywtms.html