LITTLE ROCK — The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has proposed adding a long-abandoned 48-acre industrial site in Phillips County to the list of Superfund sites, the state Department of Environmental Quality said Tuesday.
The property, off Arkansas 242 in Helena-West Helena, has six former production units, support facilities and an office. It was last owned by Cedar Chemical Corp., which filed for bankruptcy 10 years ago.
The Superfund list includes sites that pose potential risks to people’s health and the environment, and adding the site to the National Priorities List will allow for an extensive cleanup, ADEQ said in a news release.
Since 1970, a number of other businesses have been located on the property and produced various agriculture and organic chemicals, including insecticides and herbicides, the state agency said.
ADEQ assumed control of the property last year in an effort to limit risk and has overseen the security and maintenance of the site.
Independent reporting for Pine Bluff & Jefferson County since 1879.
Cedar Chemical Corp., under provisions of a federal bankruptcy order, was allowed to abandon the site in 2003 and a year later, EPA removed abandoned tanks and containers from the site.
A 2004 study of the site done by ADEQ reported abandoned chemicals, buried drums, contaminated groundwater, surface and subsurface soil contamination and an abandoned stormwater treatment center among environmental concerns.
In 2007, ADEQ and several former operators of the site signed a consent administrative order to investigate environmental hazards. The agreement included reimbursements to the state agency for the cost of site maintenance and interim remedial measures while a comprehensive assessment of corrective actions needed at the site was developed.
The EPA says environmental issues persist at the site. The agency, which uses the Superfund designation for sites that will require long-term plans for cleanup because they’re so contaminated, says it is seeking the Superfund designation at the request of Gov. Mike Beebe.