Excerpt and photo from the Meridian Star, November 6, 2019. Read the full article here.
by Erin Kelly
Leaders from Lauderdale County, the city of Meridian and a few members of the public learned about recent environmental investigations conducted on the property of the former Kerr-McGee wood treating facility in Meridian on Wednesday.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and Multistate Trust representatives held an information session at city hall.
An additional public information meeting was shortened due to low turnout. Instead, officials answered questions one-on-one.
Don Rogers, who said he had an interest in a company that owns property nearby, came to the meeting to learn about the results of the environmental tests and any potential impacts.
“If they have a problem on this property...I don't want that problem moving over on us,” he said.
The 93-acre facility is located south of I-20 between Highway 11 South and Tommy Webb Drive.
Wood treating operations began at the site in 1924, according to a fact sheet. In 1964, Kerr-McGee Chemical Corporation bought the facility, operated it until 1986, and then dismantled it. In 2005, Kerr-McGee transferred the Meridian facility into a new company, Tronox, which filed for bankruptcy in 2009, the fact sheet said.
A court appointed the Multistate Trust to assume responsibility and cleanup for the facility, as part of the Tronox federal bankruptcy settlement, according to Lauri Gorton, the environmental programs director for the Multistate Trust.
The results of environmental investigations show contamination from chemicals used to preserve wood in the soil and groundwater, including creosote and pentachlorophenol, Gorton said.
“Most of that contamination is in the old process areas, towards the middle of the site. We are going to be moving now into the next phase of doing risk assessments and determining what cleanup activities are necessary,” she said.