Excerpt from Commercial Dispatch. Read the full story here.
By Slim Smith, December 1, 2021
Greenfield Environmental Trust Group Director of Environmental Programs Lauri Gorton, along with other officials in charge of the clean-up at the Kerr-McGee property in the Memphistown area of Columbus reported Tuesday a major milestone has been reached.
Since 2018, contaminated soil from the creosote plant that had operated on the 91-acre site for 75 years has been trucked off the property.
On Tuesday, officials from the Environmental Protection Agency, Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality and the Greenfield Multistate Trust said soil removal on the site, as well as soil from 11 residences adjacent to the property has ended.
The site was declared an EPA Superfund site in 2011, with $60 million provided for cleanup and redevelopment.
“The excavation part of the cleanup has been completed,” Gorton said during the first of two virtual town meetings held Tuesday. “At the Pineyard area, we expected to have the grading completed and will begin seeding the area. In the other two areas where the contamination was more extensive, a feasibility study that includes options for cleaning up the contamination too deep for removal has been submitted to the EPA for approval.