Sites in Reuse in Virginia
Abex Corporation
The Abex Corp. Superfund site, located in Portsmouth, Virginia, operated as a brass and bronze foundry for 50 years. The operation recycled used railroad journal bearings and recast the metal to produce new bearings. The disposal of foundry waste sands and emissions from the smelting furnaces contaminated on-site soil and surrounding residential yards, a small playground, and a rehabilitation center with lead, other heavy metals, and volatile organic compounds. In 1990, EPA added the site to the National Priorities List (NPL). Cleanup is now complete on a 3-acre portion of the site where the foundry buildings were demolished, contaminated soil has been excavated, and institutional controls are now in place to prevent any future exposure. This area was redeveloped as a new fire department headquarters and training facility, which was dedicated in 2001. Cleanup and investigation continue for Operable Unit (OU) 2, which will address site-related contamination that extends beyond the approximately 700-foot radius that comprises OU1. The City of Portsmouth has been redeveloping the site to bring additional services to the Southside Portsmouth area. In addition to the fire department headquarters and training facility, the site currently hosts a park, a beverage distribution center, a shopping center and the not-for-profit Portsmouth Community Health Center.
Updated 3/2011
For more information:
- 2011 Return to Use Demonstration Project (PDF) (2 pp, 376K, About PDF)
- Case Study - Reuse and Benefits to the Community at the Abex Corporation Site (PDF) (5 pp, 267K, About PDF)
Atlantic Wood Industries, Inc.
The Atlantic Wood Industries, Inc. Superfund site occupies 48 acres in an industrialized waterfront area of Portsmouth, Virginia. From 1926 to 1992, the property was used to treat wood with creosote and pentachlorophenol. Soil, ground water, and river sediments become contaminated with creosote, dioxins, and heavy metals as a result of the wood treating operations, storage of treated wood, and waste disposal activities. In 1990, EPA placed this site on its National Priorities List (NPL). In 2003, the cleanup and restoration of a wetland adjacent to the property was completed. Studies are underway to determine the best method for cleanup of the soil, groundwater, and sediments at the rest of the site. The continued use and new potential uses of the site were considered in the selection of the cleanup remedy outlined in the 2007 Record of Decision. Currently, Atlantic Wood Industries, Inc. operates a pre-stressed concrete production facility on a portion of the site, while the remainder of the site is unused.
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Avtex Fibers
The Avtex Fibers Superfund site in Front Royal, Virginia, includes a 440-acre plant that manufactured rayon and other synthetics from 1940 to 1989. Plant waste disposed of in impoundments and fill areas at the site caused contamination of the ground water at the site and in nearby residential wells, and impacted the Shenandoah River. The site was added to the Superfund National Priorities List in 1986. The plant was abandoned in 1989 and removal and remedial actions were initiated. Cleanup activities included removal of contaminated soil, building demolition, debris treatment and removal, sewer excavation, landfill capping. A proposed cleanup option for the site's ground water and surface water contamination and on-site disposal basins is scheduled for completion in the near future. Reuse plans for the site developed by the community include a 240-acre conservancy park along the Shenandoah River and a 165-acre business park called the Royal Phoenix. In addition, EPA served in an advisory capacity to the local Economic Development Authority (EDA), the U.S. Soccer Foundation, and FMC Corporation as site stakeholders worked together to build four soccer fields on a 30-acre parcel of land at the site. September 2006 marked the opening of the Skyline Soccerplex, the first completed redevelopment at the site. The EDA is moving forward with redevelopment efforts for a 160-acre commercial/industrial park east of the railroad tracks and a nature conservation area west of the tracks. The renovation of the entire 440-acre, mixed-use complex is scheduled for completion in by 2013.
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Chisman Creek
The new softball and soccer fields of Chisman Creek and Wolf Trap Parks in York County, Virginia, demonstrate how a partnership between private and public sectors can lead to the successful cleanup and reuse of a Superfund site. EPA, York County, Virginia Power, and the local community teamed up to create a 31-acre recreational complex on the site. The abandoned sand and gravel pits were used from 1957 to 1974 for the disposal of fly ash—a byproduct created by burning fossil fuels—from the Yorktown Power Generating Station. EPA found the ground water and nearby Chisman Creek to be contaminated with heavy metals and added the site to the Agency’s list of hazardous waste sites needing cleanup in 1983. After the site was listed, EPA developed a cleanup plan to eliminate contact with the fly ash and contaminated water, restore the ground water, and protect nearby wetlands. The county, along with local residents and businesses, actively supported the reuse of the site as a recreational complex. Virginia Power carried out the cleanup, working with EPA, the state, local officials, and the community, to design and build two recreational parks on the site. Construction of the recreational complex was completed in December 1988. Today, the parks support several soccer and softball teams, ponds, and a County Memorial Tree Grove. The cleanup of the site also protects nearby ponds, a creek, and an estuary. This site’s cleanup was also part of a larger water quality improvement effort that led to the reopening of the Chisman Creek estuary for private and commercial fishing.
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Culpepper Wood Preservers, Inc.
The Culpepper Wood Preservers site, located in Culpepper County, Virginia, is an active 20-acre wood treatment facility that formerly used the chromated copper arsenate (CCA) waterborne treating process. Early on in the plant’s operation, pressure treated lumber was placed on an uncovered drip pad. As the lumber dried, CCA-contaminated drippings dropped directly to the ground. In 1981, approximately 100,000 gallons of CCA-contaminated waste water were released from an unlined, on-site waste impoundment, contaminating neighboring surface waters. In January 1982, the Virginia State Water Control Board determined that the ground water had become contaminated with arsenic and chromium from the wood treatment processes. Contaminated soil containing chromium, copper, and arsenic was removed from the site in 1983, but remaining soil contamination resulted in the addition of the site to the Superfund National Priorities List in 1986. Culpepper Wood Preservers entered into a Consent Order with EPA to conduct a site-wide study to determine the extent of contamination and to identify alternative technologies for the cleanup at the site. Ground water, soil, surface water, residential well, and sediment sampling was completed in 2008. Upon completion of the study, EPA will select a final cleanup remedy for the site.
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Saltville Waste Disposal Ponds
The Saltville Waste Disposal Ponds site, located on the border of Smyth and Washington Counties, Virginia, is a 125-acre site which was part of Olin Corporation’s Saltville Factory, in operation from 1895 to 1972. The site included two large waste impoundments, referred to as Ponds 5 and 6, and a chlorine gas plant, which operated from the 1950s to 1972. The primary contaminant of concern, mercury, was a waste product generated by the chlorine gas plant. The 75-acre Pond 5 and 45-acre Pond 6 disposal areas contained high pH waste material that would cause chemical burns. Elevated mercury levels were found in Pond 5, and in soil and ground water in the area beneath the former plant. Mercury contamination also spread to sediments of the adjacent North Fork of the Holston River, with elevated mercury levels found as far as 75 miles downstream of the site. The site was added to the Superfund National Priorities List (NPL) in 1983. Mercury-contaminated sediments were dredged from the river, clean surface water was diverted around the disposal ponds to the river, and a water treatment plant was installed to remove mercury from leachate and neutralize pH. In 2003, trees and shrubs were planted over the soil and caps covering Ponds 5 and 6, making the area a valuable wildlife habitat site.
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Saunders Supply Company
The seven-acre Saunders Supply Company Superfund site in Suffolk County, Virginia, was a wood treating plant until mid-1991. Between 1964 and 1984, the company used a mixture of pentachlorophenol (PCP) and fuel oil to preserve the wood. In 1974, the chromated copper arsenate process was added. Improper use, treatment, and disposal of these chemicals resulted in contamination of on- and off-site soil and ground water. In 1981, the Virginia State Health Department investigated a complaint from the adjoining property owner that he found a chemical liquid resembling wastewater sludge in the postholes dug on his property. In 1984, Saunders Supply Company excavated the contaminated material and disposed of it in a landfill. The company also installed a recovery well, and used the recovered water as process water for wood treating operations. EPA discovered further contamination at the site, and in 1989, added the site to its list of hazardous waste sites needing cleanup. EPA then selected a cleanup plan, which included on- and off-site disposal of contaminated material, soil incineration, ground water monitoring, and institutional controls. The remedial action at the site was completed in 1999 and allowed the Saunders Supply Company’s lumberyard to continue operations during the cleanup. Ground water monitoring is ongoing at the site. Saunders Supply not only operates a wholesale lumberyard on site, but also owns and operates a hardware store just south of the site. The adjacent Kelly Nursery, which was affected by the contamination, also continued to operate during the remediation and has since expanded its operations, building additional greenhouses adjacent to the site.
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U.S. Titanium
The U.S Titanium site occupies a 50-acre tract of land on the north side of the Piney River in Nelson County, Virginia. From 1931 to 1971, the site operated as a titanium dioxide manufacturing plant and, following plant closure, the processing facility, wastewater lagoons, and a waste disposal area remained on-site. Ferrous sulfate, a highly acidic by-product of titanium dioxide manufacturing, and heavy metals, including aluminum, iron, copper, cadmium, nickel, and zinc, are the primary contaminants at the site. Contaminated soil, surface water, and ground water are acidic, which increase the solubility of metals at the site. Acidic storm water runoff from the waste piles and ponds, and acidic ground water seeps contributed to six major fish kills in the Piney and Tye Rivers from 1977 to 1981. The site was added to the Superfund National Priorities List in 1983. Approximately 67,000 cubic yards of soil contaminated with ferrous sulfate has been excavated, neutralized, and buried in a waste containment cell. Acidic stream beds and adjacent soils have been neutralized with lime, and ground water is pumped to an on-site treatment plant. Regrading, slope stabilization, soil cover and establishing vegetation have been used to reduce overland contamination. Subsequent to remediation, a group of citizens in Amherst and Nelson Counties, in cooperation with the local governments, was successful in obtaining Rails to Trails grant funding. The former Blue Ridge Railroad right-of-way on the site has been converted to public recreational use as a hiking path that bisects the site.
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