Superfund Sites in Reuse in Delaware
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Army Creek Landfill
The 50-acre Army Creek Landfill Superfund site is in New Castle, Delaware. From 1960 to 1968, potentially responsible parties (PRPs) ran a municipal and industrial waste landfill on site. It contaminated soil, groundwater, nearby Army Creek and local water supply wells. Contamination was first discovered in 1971 in a residential well at a nearby housing development. In 1973, the landfill owner put in groundwater recovery wells to protect nearby public water supply wells. EPA added the site to the National Priorities List (NPL) in 1983. With EPA oversight, PRPs excavated over 100 buried drums containing chemical wastes and took them off site for disposal. PRPs also capped the landfill and built a facility to treat extracted groundwater before its discharge to Army Creek. PRPs completed cleanup construction activities in 1994. The water treatment facility treated contaminated groundwater until 2004, when groundwater met cleanup goals. Collaboration among EPA, local natural resource trustees, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the Delaware Division of Fish and Wildlife, and the PRPs incorporated wildlife habitat as part of the multi-layer cap design. Stakeholders planted grasses and vegetation to encourage migratory bird visits and added bird boxes to encourage nesting. Sedimentation basin outlet structures manage runoff, prevent flooding and create standing wetlands. The wetlands prevent erosion and surface water runoff. They also provide valuable habitat for plants and animals. In 2020, EPA updated the remedy. Land and groundwater use restrictions now protect the landfill cap and prevent exposure to contaminated materials in the landfill and contaminated groundwater.
Last updated December 2023
As of December 2023, EPA did not have economic data related to on-site businesses, or economic data were not applicable due to site use. For additional information click here.
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Blades Groundwater
The Blades Groundwater Superfund site is within the Town of Blades in Sussex County, Delaware. It covers an area of about 0.5 square miles. The main groundwater contaminants are metals associated with electroplating compounds and per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS). Historical operations at two electroplating facilities, Procino Plating and Peninsula Plating, contributed to the contamination. Procino Plating is an active plating facility that began operations in 1985. Peninsula Plating operated from 1992 to 1995. EPA added the site to the National Priorities List (NPL) in 2020. The site is divided into two operable units (OUs). At OU1 (the entire site, including the groundwater) EPA continues to study the area to further define the contamination and develop a site wide cleanup plan. In 2023, EPA issued a Proposed Remedial Action Plan for OU2, presenting potential actions to protect homes from contaminated groundwater in residential wells. In the meantime, EPA has installed filtration systems in homes where water sampling data showed levels of contaminants above EPA’s removal management levels.
Last updated December 2023
As of December 2023, EPA had data on one on-site business. This business employed 10 people and generated an estimated $1,900,000 in annual sales revenue. For additional information click here.
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Chem-Solv, Inc.
The 1.5-acre Chem-Solv, Inc. Superfund site is near Dover, Delaware. From 1981 to 1984, Chem-Solv, Inc. recycled solvents at the site. An explosion and fire at the facility in 1984 resulted in a solvent spill that contaminated soil and groundwater. The Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control cleaned up the soil and ran a groundwater treatment system in the 1980s. EPA added the site to the National Priorities List (NPL) in 1990. The site’s potentially responsible parties began extracting and treating groundwater in 1997. In 2017, groundwater sampling found contaminant concentrations met cleanup goals. Groundwater extraction and treatment ended. After system shutdown, sampling found contaminants in one monitoring well. Quarterly groundwater monitoring continued until 2020, when all monitoring wells met the benchmark for groundwater restoration. Institutional controls restrict well installation on site. EPA took the site off the NPL in 2022. A small apartment building is now on site. Commercial and industrial businesses are east of the site property, above the former area of groundwater contamination.
Last updated December 2023
As of December 2023, EPA did not have economic data related to on-site businesses, or economic data were not applicable due to site use. For additional information click here.
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Delaware City PVC Plant
The 400-acre Delaware City PVC Plant Superfund site is in New Castle County, Delaware. Stauffer Chemical Company built a polyvinyl chloride (PVC) manufacturing plant on site in 1966. In 1981, the company sold the plant to Formosa Plastics Corp., which ran it until 2018. Waste disposal practices resulted in contamination of soil and groundwater. In 1982, sampling found contamination at a water supply well on an adjacent property. EPA added the site to the National Priorities List (NPL) in 1983. Cleanup activities included pumping and treating contaminated groundwater, taking materials and contaminated soil off site for disposal, and capping buried sludge pits. Cleanup also included connecting affected businesses and homes to the public water supply. Continued uses at the site also include agricultural areas. In 2019, a developer broke ground on Delaware Logistics Park at the site. It includes four industrial buildings with 2 million square feet of distribution and fulfillment space. Current tenants include a plastic container manufacturer and a car dealership. Planned future uses at the park include two distribution centers.
Last updated December 2023
As of December 2023, EPA had data on 3 on-site businesses. These businesses employed 428 people and generated an estimated $46,179,870 in annual sales revenue. For additional information click here.
For more information:
- Redevelopment Opportunity Sites Fact Sheet: Delaware City PVC Plant (PDF)
- Reuse and the Benefit to Community: A Beneficial Effects Economic Case Study for the Delaware City PVC Plant Superfund Site (PDF)
- Superfund Site Profile Page
Delaware Sand & Gravel Landfill
The 27-acre Delaware Sand & Gravel Landfill Superfund site is in New Castle, Delaware. From 1968 to 1976, municipal and industrial wastes were put in unlined gravel pits at the site. Leachate from the disposal areas contaminated groundwater, affecting a nearby residential area and a public wellfield. In 1983, EPA added the site to the National Priorities List (NPL). Cleanup included the removal of waste drums, capping of waste disposal areas, bioventing of contaminated soil, and pumping and treatment of contaminated groundwater. Caps cover a 16-acre part of the site. Groundwater monitoring is ongoing. In 2022, EPA, Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control, and the site’s potentially responsible parties (PRPs) negotiated a Consent Decree for more groundwater cleanup activities. EPA and the PRPs worked with the site owner on a special-wear surface for a 5-acre part of the landfill cap to enable its reuse. A storage area for impounded vehicles, propane tanks and salvage materials is now on top of the cap.
Last updated December 2023
As of December 2023, EPA had data on one on-site business. EPA did not have further economic details related to this business. For additional information click here.
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Dover Gas Light Co.
The 23-acre Dover Gas Light Co. Superfund site is in Dover, Delaware. From 1859 to 1948, the Dover Gas Light Company processed coal on site, producing gas for use in city streetlamps. Operators buried process materials containing coal tar residues, contaminating soil and groundwater. In 1989, EPA added the site to the National Priorities List (NPL). The site’s potentially responsible parties (PRPs) have led cleanup activities since 1989. EPA and the Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control provide oversight. These activities include removing and treating contaminated soil and groundwater and capping part of the site. Studies to address remaining groundwater contamination are ongoing. Government buildings, businesses and homes are located above the area of groundwater contamination. Today, the asphalt cap over a 1-acre part of the site serves as a paved parking lot for the Johnson Victrola Museum.
Last updated December 2023
As of December 2023, EPA had data on 68 on-site businesses. These businesses employed 1,293 people and generated an estimated $32,990,657 in annual sales revenue. For additional information click here.
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E.I. Du Pont De Nemours & Co., Inc. (Newport Pigment Plant Landfill)
The E.I. Du Pont De Nemours & Co., Inc. (Newport Pigment Plant Landfill) Superfund site is in Newport, Delaware. It consists of a pigment manufacturing plant and two industrial landfills. Plant operations and waste disposal practices contaminated groundwater and soil, nearby wetlands and the Christina River. In 1990, EPA added the site to the National Priorities List (NPL). DuPont led cleanup activities with oversight from EPA and Delaware’s Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control. Cleanup included removing contaminated soil and sediment and putting in a municipal water line for nearby residents. DuPont completed the cleanup in 2002. Operation and maintenance activities are ongoing. Much of the site is in reuse or continued use. The pigment manufacturing plant remains active on site. Restored wetlands provide valuable ecological habitat. DuPont established a pollinator meadow on site. In 2003, DuPont donated part of the site to the town of Newport for Ella Johnson Park. The park has a walking trail, fitness equipment, picnic tables and benches. An energy company built a 5-acre solar farm on part of the site in 2013. The 548-kilowatt facility generates enough electricity to power about 60 homes.
Last updated December 2023
As of December 2023, EPA had data on one on-site business. This business employed 200 people and generated an estimated $220,127,000 in annual sales revenue. For additional information click here.
For more information:
- Reuse and the Benefit to Community: E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Co., Inc. (Newport Pigment Plant Landfill) Case Study (2014) (PDF)
- Superfund Site Profile Page
Halby Chemical Co.
The Halby Chemical Co. Superfund site is near the Port of Wilmington in New Castle, Delaware. From 1940 to 1995, a company made and stored chemicals on site. Operators sent wastewater from the plant into an unlined lagoon. Wastewater then flowed through a tidal marsh and the Lobdell Canal into the Christina River. Waste disposal practices contaminated sediments and groundwater. EPA added the site to the National Priorities List (NPL) in 1986. With EPA oversight, the potentially responsible party (PRP) cleaned up the site. Cleanup activities included disposing of chemicals, treating contaminated soil on site, and capping remaining contaminated soil and sediment on site. Cleanup also included filling in degraded wetlands and creating new wetlands at an off-site location. Land use controls limit redevelopment to commercial and industrial uses. They also prohibit the use of groundwater. The PRP completed cleanup in 2002. Monitoring is ongoing. A trucking company and other commercial businesses are active on site.
Last updated December 2023
As of December 2023, EPA had data on 9 on-site businesses. These businesses employed 50 people and generated an estimated $6,836,020 in annual sales revenue.. For additional information click here.
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Harvey & Knott Drum, Inc.
The 20-acre Harvey & Knott Drum, Inc. Superfund site is in Kirkwood, Delaware. From 1963 to 1969, Harvey & Knott Trucking ran an open dump and burning area on site. The facility accepted sanitary, municipal and industrial wastes. Wastes included sludge, paint pigments and solvents. Operators dumped wastes onto the ground or into trenches, left waste in drums and buried waste. These activities resulted in contaminated groundwater, surface water, soil and sediment. A lot of people live nearby and area residents depend on private shallow wells for water. EPA added the site to the National Priorities List (NPL) in 1983. Cleanup included draining water from a pond, removing drums and taking them off site for disposal, removing contaminated soil and sediment, capping contaminated soils, and monitoring groundwater and surface water. Groundwater monitoring and maintenance of the monitoring system and cap are ongoing. A recreational paintball facility is now on site.
Last updated December 2023
As of December 2023, EPA had data on one on-site business. This business employed 16 people and generated an estimated $1,389,000 in annual sales revenue. For additional information click here.
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Hockessin Groundwater
The 32-acre Hockessin Groundwater Superfund site is in Hockessin, Delaware. It is in a commercial and residential area. The site consists of a groundwater plume and two dry cleaners. Past and current dry-cleaning operations contributed to the groundwater contamination. Both facilities have surface and subsurface soil containing volatile organic chemicals (VOCs) and other contaminants. There may be other sources of contamination in the area as well. The Artesian Water Company uses groundwater wells as the primary source of drinking water in the area. The Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control investigated potential contamination sources in 2002, after the local water authority reported contaminants in the untreated water. EPA added the site to the National Priorities List (NPL) in 2018. EPA started treating groundwater and soil contaminated with perchloroethylene (PCE) below the surface near Sunrise Cleaners in 2020. The cleanup method heats contaminated groundwater and soil to remove PCE. As part of the Remedial Investigation and Feasibility Study, water sampling and well monitoring are ongoing along with continued Site characterization work. Drinking water provided by Artesian Water Company provides treated drinking water that meets all federal and state regulatory standards. The state installed and maintains filtration systems on the four residential wells. EPA is evaluating the potential for contaminated vapors to enter homes above the plume. So far, the evaluation has found a low impact on indoor air quality. The dry-cleaning facilities are still active and there are several restaurants on site.
Last updated December 2023
As of December 2023, EPA had data on 2 on-site businesses. These businesses employed 10 people and generated an estimated $639,080 in annual sales revenue. For additional information click here.
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Koppers Co., Inc. (Newport Plant)
The 300-acre Koppers Co., Inc. (Newport Plant) Superfund site is in Newport, Delaware. From 1929 to 1971, site owners ran a wood-treating facility on site. Its operations, spills, leaks and waste management practices contaminated soil, sediment, surface water and groundwater with hazardous chemicals. Koppers Co., Inc. continued wood-treating operations until 1971, when the property was sold to Dupont. EPA added the site to the National Priorities List (NPL) in 1990. In 1991, Dupont and Beazer East, a successor corporation to Koppers Co., Inc., signed an agreement with EPA to conduct the site’s remedial investigation and feasibility study. Data collected from surface oil, sediment, groundwater, surface water, air, tissue and other media from the site indicated that operations at the site resulted in residual contamination in soil, groundwater and wetlands. Cleanup is ongoing. It includes removing, consolidating, and capping contaminated soils and sediments, building a groundwater barrier, removing contaminated aquifer material, rechanneling Hershey Run, conducting wetlands mitigation, and monitoring groundwater. The site is not in use. Its ecological resources include ponds, wetlands and White Clay Creek.
Last updated December 2023
As of December 2023, EPA did not have economic data related to on-site businesses, or economic data were not applicable due to site use. For additional information click here.
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NCR Corp. (Millsboro Plant)
The 80-acre NCR Corp. (Millsboro Plant) Superfund site is in Millsboro, Delaware. From 1967 to 1980, National Cash Register (NCR) made cash registers and other electronic devices on site. Wastes from plating operations discharged into on-site concrete lagoons. On-site disposal of sludge from the lagoons and spilled industrial solvents resulted in the contamination of groundwater. In the early 1980s, First Omni Bank purchased part of the site property and converted the manufacturing building into a records storage and call center. EPA added the site to the National Priorities List (NPL) in 1987. Cleanup began with pumping and treating groundwater at the site in 1988. In 1996, a system was added to remove below-ground chemical vapors and treat them. Groundwater restoration methods were added to the cleanup in 2016. These methods include using chemicals and living organisms to help change harmful contaminants into less harmful ones. A banking data center business on site stayed open during cleanup and remains on site today.
Last updated December 2023
As of December 2023, EPA had data on one on-site business. EPA did not have further economic details related to this business. For additional information click here.
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New Castle Spill
The 6-acre New Castle Spill Superfund site is in New Castle, Delaware. From 1969 to 1984, Witco Chemical Company processed materials used to make plastic foam at the site. The company stored large quantities of chemical waste in drums. After a chemical spill led to soil and groundwater contamination, EPA added the site to the National Priorities List (NPL) in 1983. EPA worked with the Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control (DNREC) on a cleanup plan that would allow for site reuse. The city of New Castle (the City) provided an alternate water supply to residents affected by groundwater contamination. Witco, the site’s potentially responsible party, placed controls on groundwater use at the site and monitored groundwater. In 1996, after groundwater achieved cleanup goals, EPA took the site off the NPL. Witco donated the site property to the City. The City renovated a historic trolley barn on site and converted it into office space for the New Castle Public Works Department.
Last updated December 2023
As of December 2023, EPA had data on 2 on-site businesses. These businesses employed 59 people. For additional information click here.
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Tybouts Corner Landfill
The 47-acre Tybouts Corner Landfill Superfund site is in New Castle, Delaware. A sand-and-gravel quarry was on site until 1968. The New Castle Department of Public Works then turned the area into a landfill. It accepted municipal and household wastes until 1971. Landfill waste contaminated groundwater. Investigations also found contamination in two drinking water wells. EPA added the site to the National Priorities List (NPL) in 1983. Under EPA oversight, the site’s potentially responsible parties (PRPs) led cleanup activities. The PRPs put in water lines to connect homes with affected wells to the public water supply. They also capped the landfill and put groundwater extraction and gas collection systems in place. Groundwater extraction ended in 2007. Inspection of engineering controls and groundwater monitoring are ongoing. The PRPs used wildflowers and native grasses to stabilize the ground and prevent erosion on the landfill cap. Institutional controls in place restrict well installation, groundwater use and disturbance of the remedy. After the completion of the cleanup of two site parcels, EPA took these parts of the site off the NPL in August 2022. A residential development is planned for the parcels. The other portions of the site will remain on the NPL and are not being considered for deletion. The site’s ecological resources include a wildlife habitat area and wetlands.
Last updated December 2023
As of December 2023, EPA did not have economic data related to on-site businesses, or economic data were not applicable due to site use. For additional information click here.
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Tyler Refrigeration Pit
The 3-acre Tyler Refrigeration Pit Superfund site is near Smyrna, Delaware. Beginning in the 1940s, companies ran a refrigerator manufacturing plant on site. They used solvents to degrease and clean refrigeration equipment. Operators put solvents, paint wastes and sludge in two unlined pits. From 1973 to 1975, site owners removed the contents of the lagoons. In 1977, routine testing found solvents in Smyrna’s municipal drinking water wells. This contamination could have come from the site or from other sources nearby. EPA added the site to the National Priorities List (NPL) in 1990. Cleanup activities included groundwater monitoring to make sure contaminants did not move off site. Institutional controls restrict well installation or residential use of the site. EPA took the site off the NPL in 2004. In 2017, groundwater sampling results indicated that all contamination at the site was below cleanup levels and that cleanup goals had been achieved. A developer purchased the site property and is working with the state brownfields program to repurpose a warehouse building for storage and related uses. A seasonal farmer's market is also on site for part of the year.
Last updated December 2023
As of December 2023, EPA did not have economic data related to on-site businesses, or economic data were not applicable due to site use. For additional information click here.
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Wildcat Landfill
The Wildcat Landfill Superfund site is south of Dover, Delaware, near the St. Jones River. A 44-acre landfill was on site from 1962 to 1973. Its operations contaminated soil and groundwater. EPA added the site to the National Priorities List (NPL) in 1982. The potentially responsible parties put a protective cover over the landfill and planted wildflowers and native plants on top of it. The cleanup also restored natural habitat along the banks of the St. Jones River. After cleanup, EPA took the site off the NPL in 2003. In 2005, Kent County purchased several parcels of land, including the site, for reuse as a county conservation area, greenway, museum and archaeological area. In April 2015, Hunn Nature Park opened on site. The 173-acre area includes nature trails for walking, jogging, biking and wildlife viewing. Part of the St. Jones Greenway also crosses the site. It connects area communities to Delaware Bay.
Last updated December 2023
As of December 2023, EPA did not have economic data related to on-site businesses, or economic data were not applicable due to site use. For additional information click here.
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