Public Meeting to Address Contaminated Soil in South Carolina

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced it will hold a public meeting at Long Middle School June 1, 2017, at 6 p.m. to discuss activities at the Burlington Industries Cheraw Superfund site located in Cheraw, Chesterfield County, S.C.

EPA signed an action memorandum for a removal action at the Burlington Industries Cheraw Site and will begin the initial phase of this removal by addressing contaminated surface soils at six residential yards. Soils with levels of contaminants that exceed EPA’s cleanup criteria will be removed and transported off-site to an approved disposal facility. Additionally, EPA will address play structures and sand from Huckleberry Park, which has been closed since August 2016.

The Burlington Industries Cheraw Site consists of the former Burlington Industries, Inc. facility property, as well as 3.2 miles of surface water drainage from the facility to the Pee Dee River and the adjacent parcels along the pathway. Part of the former Burlington Industries Inc. facility is currently owned by Highland Industries Inc. (a division of Takata Corp.). Adjacent properties to the surface water drainage corridor include private residences and public lands. These include 37 occupied private residences and Huckleberry Park, a 2.7-acre public park with playground equipment for children.

The South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control (DHEC) investigated a property in a residential neighborhood, which was once owned by Burlington Industries and held wastewater solids drying beds. During this investigation, polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) were found in surface soils. Subsequent sampling events found PCBs in the surface and subsurface soil of adjacent residential lots, the former Burlington Industries property, sediments along the surface water corridor, and public and private properties downstream. The EPA Region 4 Superfund Site Evaluation Section reviewed and approved the Site Inspection submitted by DHEC in September 2016. Based on the high concentrations of PCBs at the Site, DHEC requested that the EPA Region 4 Emergency Response, Removal and Prevention Branch conduct the Removal Site Evaluation.

For more information, contact EPA Community Involvement Coordinator Stephanie Y. Brown at 877.718.3752 or [email protected]. Long Middle School is located at 1010 West Greene Street, Cheraw, SC, 29520.

Source: U.S. Environmental Protection Agency