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Recovery Act Funding Accelerates Cleanup, Boosts Economy, Creates Jobs and Helps Protect Human Health at Woolfolk Chemical Works Superfund Site / $1.8 million in Recovery Act funds added to cleanup at Woolfolk Chemical Works Superfund Site; City of Fort Valley receives EPA Site Reuse Award

Release Date: 07/09/2009
Contact Information: Davina Marraccini, 404-562-8293, marraccini.davina@epa.gov

(ATLANTA – July 9, 2009) At a ceremony today, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency honored the City of Fort Valley, Ga., with the EPA Region 4 Excellence in Site Reuse Award and announced $1.8 million in new funding through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA) for the Woolfolk Chemical Works Superfund site. The money is helping accelerate the hazardous waste cleanup already underway at the site. It will also jumpstart the local economy by creating jobs in the Fort Valley area in Central Georgia. This Recovery Act funding is part of the $600 million that Congress appropriated to the Federal Superfund remedial program.

“Recovery Act funding has allowed EPA to continue its aggressive cleanup at the site,” said Stan Meiburg, EPA Region 4 Acting Regional Administrator. “As a result, the environment will be made cleaner and safer while providing a much-needed boost to the local economy through the creation of green jobs during cleanup and by returning the site to productive use.”

ARRA funding will accelerate the ongoing cleanup and more quickly eliminate human exposure to contaminants. By accelerating the cleanup and on-site construction already underway, ARRA funding will make the site available for redevelopment earlier. The City of Fort Valley is considering redevelopment options that include creating a downtown commercial district, a recreational complex, a community park, and a multi-jurisdictional record center after the remediation activities are complete. Redevelopment is expected to create additional jobs in the Fort Valley area.

The Federal Superfund program was created in 1980 to clean up uncontrolled hazardous waste sites that pose unacceptable risks to human health and the environment. Superfund sites are often found in industrial areas hardest hit by the recession. Superfund cleanups are major construction projects which employ thousands of workers nationwide. The Superfund program is implementing new or expanded cleanup actions at 50 sites around the country and since it began, the program has completed construction of remedies at more than 1,060 of the 1,596 sites on its National Priorities List.

By starting or speeding up cleanup at Superfund sites, Recovery Act funding is also increasing the speed with which these sites are returned to productive use. When the Woolfolk Superfund site is redeveloped, it will offer significant economic benefits to the local community, including future job creation.

President Obama signed the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act on Feb. 17, 2009 and has directed the Recovery Act be implemented with unprecedented transparency and accountability. To that end, the American people can see how every dollar is being invested at www.Recovery.gov.

For more information on the Woolfolk Chemical Works Superfund Site, please visit: http://www.epa.gov

For more information on the Superfund program, please visit: https://www.epa.gov/superfund/