Jacksonville, Fla.-The old Kerr-McGee fertilizer plant, which began operating nearly 80 years ago, is headed for a multi-million dollar cleanup in about a year, according to officials with EPA Region 4 in Atlanta, Ga. The site, in a Jacksonville industrial center on the edge of the St. Johns River, was operated from 1919 until 1970 by various entities conducting pesticide and herbicide formulations and fertilizer and sulfuric acid manufacturing. Kerr-McGee Chemical LLC purchased the site in 1970 and operated two plants for the formulation, blending, and packaging of pesticides, herbicides, and fertilizers. All the buildings have since been razed, and the site is fenced and vacant. Concerns have been raised for residents who live only blocks away because of benzene, DDT, toxaphene, arsenic, lead, and other pollutants found in the soil that can cause illnesses ranging from cancer to nerve damage. EPA Project Manager Jordan Gerrard told Green Markets that under an ambitious cleanup plan the present owner, Tronox Inc., would purchase a section of the river bottom from the state to allow removal of contaminated sediments to be buried with other contaminants at the site. Gerrard also said a bentonite slurry wall would be built in an excavation 40 to 45 feet deep along the property boundaries to prevent groundwater migration. A bulkhead made up of interlocking sheets of piling driven into the bedrock would connect into the slurry wall, and a thick plastic barrier would be spread over the 31 acres, covered with fill dirt, and topped with concrete, asphalt, or landscaping. Sediment from the river would be disposed of behind the bulkhead. Gerrard estimated the cleanup cost at $19.6 million, not including riverbed deeding by the state to Tronox, which is estimated in the six-figure range.
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