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EPA Public Availability Session to be held for the Columbia Nitrogen Site

Release Date: 09/03/2014
Contact Information: James Pinkney, (404) 562-9183 (Direct), (404) 562-8400 (Main) pinkney.james@epa.gov

(ATLANTA – September 3, 2014) The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) will hold a Public Availability Session from 6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. on Thursday, September 4, 2014 at the Freddie Whaley Community Center, 1810 Doscher Ave. in Charleston, SC. Representatives from EPA will be available to provide information and answer questions about the Site.

The Site is approximately 33 acres in size, located at the end of Milford Street in Charleston, SC. From 1905 until 1966, the Site was used for phosphate fertilizer manufacturing. The production of phosphate fertilizer at the Site involved reacting phosphate ore with sulfuric acid to produce phosphoric acid, the building block of nitrogen-phosphorus-potassium (N-P-K) agricultural fertilizers. The environmental impacts at the Site resulting from the fertilizer manufacturing include elevated lead and arsenic, and low pH, in soil, sediment, and groundwater. As past owners/operators of the Site, or current owners/operators of the Site, PCS Nitrogen, Inc., Ashley II of Charleston LLC., J. Holcombe Enterprise, L.P., James H. Holcombe, J. Henry Fair, Jr., (collectively referred to as Holcombe and Fair), have been identified as Potentially Responsible Parties (PRPs) for the Site.

The PRPs are on schedule to begin the removal action beginning in September 2014. The cleanup activities will include excavating the impacted soil and sediment, transporting the soil and sediment off-site to an EPA-approved landfill for disposal, and long-term monitoring of groundwater. For more detail, refer to the documents in the Administrative Record file. The removal action will be completed in 2015. EPA will oversee cleanup operations.

Community members interested in obtaining additional information are encouraged to contact Sherryl A. Lane, EPA Community Involvement Coordinator, at (877) 718-3752 or 404-562-8611.

For more information about the Site, please visit:

http://www.epaosc.org/sevenout

Connect with EPA Region 4 on Facebook: www.facebook.com/eparegion4
And on Twitter: @EPASoutheast

ATTENTION: A media availability session will be held at the Freddie Whaley Community Center, 1810 Doscher Ave. in Charleston, South Carolina, from 5:30 to 6:00 p.m. on Thursday, September 4, 2014. EPA will be available to answer media questions concerning the Site. This arrangement will allow for the public to use the entire public availability session to get information and have their questions answered.