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MEDIA ADVISORY: EPA to Meet with Residents of the Edisto Court Neighborhood

Release Date: 08/30/2012
Contact Information: James Pinkney, (404) 562-9183, pinkney.james@epa.gov

(ATLANTA – August 30, 2012) The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) will be participating in a meeting to provide an update regarding its removal assessment to residents of the Edisto Court neighborhood. Representatives from the S.C. Department of Health & Environmental Control will also be present at the meeting hosted by Councilman Moe Baddourah and Edisto Court Neighborhood Association President Bessie Watson.

WHO:	On-Scene Coordinator Rick Jardine of the EPA Region 4 Superfund Division’s Emergency Response and Removal Branch, will provide an update and presentation with regard to EPA’s Removal Assessment and the sampling and air monitoring conducted.
WHAT:	EPA Edisto Court Community Update
WHEN:	August 31, 2012, 6:00 p.m.
WHERE:	The Edisto Park Neighborhood Center (Discovery Park) 1914 Wiley Street, Columbia, SC 29205

On July 24, 2012, the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control (DHEC) requested EPA to evaluate the area for a possible Comprehensive Environmental Response Compensation and Liability Act (CERCLA) removal action. Lead and arsenic contamination was discovered during a due diligence search under the Brownfields Program at an active industrial facility in the Rosewood area of Columbia SC during the summer of 2012. DHEC began research and field investigations to determine the source and extent of the contamination in July. The likely cause of the lead and arsenic contamination is from a former super phosphate plant that had operated from approximately 1910 until the mid 1930s. The lead and arsenic contamination has been identified on the grounds of the original facility as well as in portions of the neighboring residential community, the Edisto Court Community. The Edisto Court Community was developed in the mid 1940s, after the super phosphate facility had ceased operations.
Under the authorities of CERCLA, and following the National Oil and Hazardous Substances Pollution Contingency Plan (NCP), EPA mobilized to the Edisto Court Community on July 26, 2012. EPA and DHEC combined resources to conduct an investigation at the site beginning August 3, 2012 and ending on August 10, 2012. EPA and DHEC activities included:

1) Visiting with available residents to discuss the problem and gain access to sample;
2) Conducting air screening for dust particulates;
3) Conducting air sampling for lead and arsenic;
4) Screening surface and subsurface soil for lead and arsenic;
5) Collecting surface and subsurface samples for lead and arsenic analyses.