While cleanup efforts at the former Kerr-McGee site are not yet complete, one area of the site is currently “suitable and safe” for redevelopment – including holding a recreation center and storm shelter in the future.
Director of Environmental Justice Programs for the Greenfield Environmental Multistate Trust Claire Woods told The Dispatch in a Feb. 14 email the group is currently working with the Environmental Protection Agency to conduct additional soil and groundwater samples in one area of the Kerr-McGee Pine Yard. Those tests will confirm if buildings constructed on the site will need additional “engineering controls” to mitigate air risks.
Still, Woods said, the area is safe for commercial development now, including the construction of a recreation center proposed by the Memphis Town Community Action Group.
“The Multistate Trust supports the Columbus Community Action Group’s proposal to construct a recreation center and storm shelter, and subject to the Multistate Trust’s beneficiaries’ approval, has committed to donate a portion of the Pine Yard property for that beneficial use,” Woods wrote. “The Multistate Trust is also open to interest from developers, public-private partnerships, or other parties that share the Memphistown community’s vision for the property.”
Kerr-McGee operated a wood-treatment plant at the site from 1928 to 2003, by which time the pollutant creosote, which is used to treat wood, had contaminated the plant site and surrounding area. The Multistate Trust has been responsible for the $67 million cleanup of the site.
Memphis Town Community Action Group encouraged the city to apply for a $20 million Community Change Grant from the EPA last year. The EPA grant would fund, among other things, a 32,000 square-foot recreation center on part of the old Kerr-McGee site.
The Kerr-McGee site has been divided into seven operable units, and cleanup plans have been developed for each unit individually, based on the level of contamination in that area.
What’s clean and what’s still being cleaned?
The currently available “unit,” which encompasses 22 acres of the Pine Yard, had its cleanup completed in 2022 with final grade restoration finished in 2023, Woods told The Dispatch, as the Multistate Trust dug out a total of 117,000 tons of contaminated soil from the area and replaced it with fresh soil.
But two adjacent areas in the Pine Yard still need additional cleanup, Woods said, including a “deeper zone of contamination” along the western boundary and an area in the wetlands to the north of the restored land. The Multistate Trust is working to complete studies to develop additional cleanup options for those areas, Woods said.
The main Kerr-McGee plant site is also divided into two operable units. The EPA issued a decision on the southern area in September, which includes building a large barrier wall to isolate contaminated areas and plant trees to break down other contaminants.
The barrier and cover are currently having their design and implementation developed, Woods said. Once that remedy is implemented, Wood said, the area could be safely used for redevelopment.
The northern area of the main plant has yet to be addressed, as the Multistate Trust is waiting for the EPA to issue a record of decision on the site later this year, Woods said. However, the Multistate Trust has already been contemplating future uses of the site, including working with the CAG on a proposed commercial center to complement the proposed recreation center, among other things.
The Multistate Trust has also been cleaning the area’s groundwater through an on-site groundwater recovery and treatment system. At the end of last year, Woods said, the group took 9,500 gallons of creosote-like fluids from the aquifer on the property and destroyed the fluids at an EPA-approved facility.
‘It’s not fully clean’
Greenfield Environmental Multistate Trust’s reassurances have been enough for some people to move forward with plans for the site, but they haven’t fully convinced others.
Community Action Group Executive Director Darren Leach, who is also running for mayor, told The Dispatch on Friday that he believes a recreation center can be safely constructed on the site, with the current remediation efforts and additional physical barriers.
“As we develop the land … the overarching goal is to continue to create barriers so people don’t come in contact with the creosote,” Leach said. “There’s only three ways people can come in contact with it. That’s ingestion, skin contact or inhalation. So when we put concrete on top of it, that provides a physical barrier that keeps you from smelling it, tasting it or touching it. So we will not build anything that will have anybody coming in contact with creosote.”
But Ward 4 Councilman Pierre Beard has repeatedly publicly said, including at a council meeting earlier this month, that he opposes a recreation center being built at the former Kerr-McGee site.
He told The Dispatch Friday that before anything is constructed in the area, he wants the entire Pine Yard to be clean, to ensure there no future issues with contamination arise.
“It’s not fully clean,” Ward 4 Councilman Pierre Beard told The Dispatch. “There was money given to clean the site. The site should be clean before any utilization is put over there. I mean, 22 acres that quote-on-quote has been (cleaned) but it’s still … next to contaminated dirt.”
Beard said he does not have any issue with the Community Action Group. However, he did express some distrust of the EPA and the Multistate Trust’s testing.
“I don’t have an issue with any redevelopment going on in that area. I mean, development is a sign that the community is growing and the city is growing, but at what cost?” Beard asked. “… Look at the amount of people in that area that has died from being in that area from cancer and heart problems and different things like that. To try to just hurry up and do something, I don’t think people are putting as much thought in it.”
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Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 31 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.
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Related Photos
A map of the former Kerr-McGee site, divided into “operable units” for cleanup purposes, is pictured. The Greenfield Environmental Multistate Trust has been responsible for the $67 million cleanup of the site since 2014, and the group has said one area of the former plant’s Pine Yard is “suitable and safe” for redevelopment, including a potential recreation center and storm shelter. Map courtesy of EPA Record of Decision for OU3
