The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency continues to work with the citizens of Brunswick to clean up the LCP Chemicals Superfund site. The site is north of Brunswick, where various industrial facilities operated on 813 acres from the early 1920s until 1994. EPA held a public meeting in Brunswick on Dec. 4 to present the proposed plan to accomplish this goal.
Concerns expressed by the community tell us many are unaware the worst of the contamination has been removed; the Georgia fish consumption advisories for the Turtle River area need to be reinforced; and the EPA needs to better explain why the proposed remedy is the best option for the long-term protection of human health and the environment.
In 1994, the EPA added the LCP site to the Agency’s National Priority List. The list guides the agency in determining which sites containing hazardous substance, pollutants or contaminants warrant further investigation. EPA took this action because the soil, sediment and groundwater contamination required immediate attention. EPA also issued a Unilateral Administrative Order to the current and previous owners of the site, ordering them to conduct a time-critical removal action under EPA oversight.
Since 1994, EPA has overseen numerous steps to remove the worst of the contamination. In non-marsh areas, 167,000 cubic yards of wastes and contaminated soil were removed. In the adjacent marsh, approximately 13 acres of highly contaminated sediments were excavated, backfilled with clean soil, and re-vegetated. Between 1998 and 1999, 39,000 tons of waste were removed from the marsh. What remains to be addressed by the proposed Superfund remedial action is considered residual contamination.
EPA proposed this remedy to address the remaining contamination in the marsh area to balance remediation and preservation of the marsh. The collection of more than 2,100 post-removal sediment samples from the 670-acre marsh found the highest concentrations of mercury and polychlorinated biphenyls in two channels closest to the former disposal areas: the Eastern Creek and LCP Ditch.
The remedy includes the dredging and disposal of 22,000 cubic yards from seven acres of tidal channel sediment in the Eastern Creek and LCP Ditch to a target depth of 18 inches, and backfilling with clean material, which will be protected by gravel to prevent erosion.
In addition, six acres of a nearby creek will be capped. The main contaminants in the areas to be capped are lead and petroleum-related contaminants from former refinery operations there. Capping will reduce the intake of contaminants by plant and animal life.
Finally, parts of the marsh adjacent to the creeks, where concentrations of mercury and PCBs are significantly lower, are proposed to be remediated with a thin-layer cover. Thin-layer cover is a method of marsh remediation used at other sediment sites once the higher concentrations have been addressed. Mixing of the lesser contaminated sediment with clean sand by burrowing organisms is expected to reduce contaminant concentrations further.
It is essential the cleanup of sediment sites such as this strike a balance between reducing contaminant concentrations and habitat impacts during dredging.
The proposed remediation is designed to reduce concentrations of marsh contaminants in all potential receptors, including humans, fish, shellfish, wildlife and invertebrates. Recent fish tissue data suggest mercury concentrations have declined significantly since the removal action of the late 1990s. After the work is complete, it will take several years to see the effects in fish, due to their lifespans. Therefore, it is important for the community to continue to comply with Georgia's fish consumption advisory for the Turtle River area. (To view the advisory, go to: http://1.usa.gov/149yDdG)
EPA will continue to monitor the marsh to ensure the remedy is working. EPA will also monitor the integrity of the backfilled areas and concentrations of contaminants in the sediment and in fish and shellfish tissue. If monitoring shows cleanup goals are not being achieved, EPA can require additional cleanup.
EPA believes it is important to keep the public informed about this important environmental issue. As always, we will continue to use sound science as the basis of our decisions to protect human health and the environment.
We encourage interested parties to submit their comments on the proposed plan and to view site documents at: http://1.usa.gov/1CQyk5H.
Franklin Hill is Southeastern Superfund Division director for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
