Eric Collins has lived his entire life within walking distance of the Kerr-McGee wood treatment plant that operated on 14th Avenue North from 1928-2003.
He said he remembers walking with his daughter to other parts of town when she would visit him over the summers as a little girl.
“I remember walking her through those passes, going to Morningside,” Collins said. “And the pass went right through Kerr-McGee.”
His daughter died three years ago at age 35 of breast cancer — a disease Collins blames on the creosote used to treat wood at the plant site. Collins himself now suffers from cancer, diabetes and several other health problems, for which he also believes the creosote is responsible.
That’s the reason he planned a march along 14th Avenue at the Kerr-McGee site on Thursday night. He wants to draw attention to the fact that years after the plant closed down, people in the community are still hurting.
“I feel like I’m fighting for my life right now,” Collins said. “…I’m fighting for my daughter.”
By the time the Columbus Kerr-McGee plant closed, creosote had contaminated the plant site and surrounding area. Multiple area residents with health problems from cancer to birth defects received monetary settlements from Kerr-McGee in the early 2000s after an environmental study commissioned by a team of attorneys found the creosote may have been the cause of health problems.
Collins didn’t receive a settlement in that case and about a year ago applied for a settlement from Ohio-based law firm Garretson Resolution Group, appointed to oversee the company’s bankruptcy settlement trust. Collins is one of thousands of claimants from around the country who still have not received payouts after saying they were harmed by creosote at Kerr-McGee sites.
“There’s a lot of people sitting at home thinking they’re fixing to get a check and it’s not happening,” he said.
A spokesperson from Garretson Resolution did not respond to a message from The Dispatch by press time.
The march will begin at 6 p.m. and go from Wells Cleaners, near the intersection with 21st Street, to 27th Street — an intentionally short march so elderly people and those in poor health don’t have to walk far. However, Collins said, the route will take the crowd by the site.
History of clean-up
Three years after the Columbus plant shuttered, Anadarko Petroleum Corp bought Kerr-McGee for $18 billion in 2006 shortly after Kerr-McGee sold off its chemical division as Tronox.
The Environmental Protection Agency declared the Columbus site a Superfund site, designating it a priority area for clean-up along with about 30 other polluted sites around the country, and allocated $68 million for clean-up. Greenfield Environmental Multi-State Trust is overseeing the clean-up and redevelopment process.
Though clean-up at the Columbus site is about a year behind schedule, the Trust already replaced two ditches along the site, as well as completed smaller projects. This summer, clean-up began in the Pine Yard, a 44-acre area on the north side of 14th Avenue where wood was stored during the Kerr-McGee era.
Representatives from The Greenfield Trust have met regularly with area residents at meetings of the Memphis Town Community Advisory Group (CAG) to update them on clean-up.
Marty Turner, a former city councilman and lifelong resident of Memphis Town where the site is located, said many people do not understand the Greenfield Trust is not in charge of distributing settlements to residents harmed by the site.
“My personal feeling about it (is) people would be OK about the clean-up and the redevelopment if everybody (felt) like they got their fair share, or if they had an opportunity to move,” Turner said.
Instead, he said, area residents who didn’t receive settlements after the lawsuit in the early 2000s now feel betrayed that the site is being cleaned up while they haven’t received any money — something he blames on a “disconnect” between city leaders, Greenfield Trust representatives and the CAG and area residents.
“They thought they at least should be able to get some money first and move if they feel like they should move out of the area before the redevelopment,” Turner said. “I think there’s a disconnect in the community between the Superfund site, the city government, the CAG and the people. Now don’t get me wrong. The CAG has meetings so people can be informed about what’s going on, but I think the disconnect is (people) haven’t received any money and there is money available (for) the clean-up of the site or the redevelopment of the site.”
He hopes Thursday’s march, which he plans to attend, both raises awareness of those still hurting in the community and helps people better understand the clean-up and redevelopment process as separate from settlements for individual residents.
Collins said he’s aware the Greenfield Trust is handling clean-up only, but that isn’t his concern.
“It’s too late for the clean-up for me,” he said.
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