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Ciba-Geigy Corporation (McIntosh Plant)
National Information
Photos/Multimedia
Buildings on Ciba-Geigy site.
- Additional Site Photos
- Site Video
Additional Resources
- Site Cleanup Terms - can be found in EPA's glossary
- EPA Guides to Cleanup Technologies
- Superfund Community Involvement (PDF) (17 pp, 130K, About PDF)
Site Summary Profile
EPA ID: ALD001221902Location: McIntosh, Washington County, AL
Lat/Long: 31.279000, -087.995500
Congressional District: 01
NPL Status: Proposed: 09/08/83; Final: 09/21/84
Affected Media: Ground water, sediment, sludge, soil, surface water
Cleanup Status: Construction Complete - physical cleanup activities at site are complete
Site Reuse/Redevelopment: Industrial. Site continues to operate as chemical production facility.
Site Manager: Charles King (king.charlesl@epa.gov )
Site Background
The Ciba-Geigy Corporation site is located two miles northeast of McIntosh, Alabama and 50 miles north of Mobile. The Site encompasses 1,500 acres. Approximately 1,100 acres comprise plant facility operations. The remaining 400 acres are undeveloped and lie in the floodplain of the Tombigbee River. The plant was built in the early 1950s and began operations in October 1952 with the manufacture of one product, DDT, which was discontinued in the 1960s. Through 1970, the facility produced herbicides, insecticides, agricultural chelating agents and sequestering agents for industry. In 1971, production was expanded to include resins and additives used by the plastics industry and small volume specialty chemical products. In 1999 agricultural chelating and sequestering agent production was phased out and closed. In 2003, herbicide and insecticide production was phased out.
The facility disposed of production waste in several unlined pits and open landfills on the property. Prior to 1965, effluent from the plant flowed into the Tombigbee River after chemicals were neutralized in the facility's wastewater impoundment. The Tombigbee River and freshwater wetlands are near several former disposal areas, and the wetlands area is subject to periodic flooding by the river.Threats and Contaminants
The disposal areas are primarily contaminated with dichlorodiphenyl-trichloroethane (DDT) and DDT-related products DDD and DDE (DDTR); hexachlorocyclohexane (BHC) and its isomers alpha, beta, delta and gamma BHC; and chlorobenzenes.
Site Cleanup Plan
Due to the size and complexity of the site, EPA identified four operable units (OUs): OU-1 (shallow alluvial ground water aquifer); OU-2 (soils at ten of eleven former waste management units); OU-3 (local floodplain, including the effluent ditch and areas in the Tombigbee floodplain close to the site); OU-4 (former waste management area designated as Site 8 (or bluff line site) and the upland portion of the dilute ditch). The Records of Decision for OU-1 was issued in 1989. The cleanup approach was:- No Further Action under CERCLA. Remediation of alluvial aquifer ground water on the Site is to be addressed by a RCRA Corrective Action.
- Excavation of contaminated soil and sludge. Excavated soil above specified contaminant levels are treated on-site by a thermal decomposition process designed to reduce organic contaminants adhering to the soil particles.
- Disposal of treated soil called for placement in an on-site RCRA Subtitle C landfill (amended during the OU-2 Consent Decree process, allowing treated soil that met treatment performance standards to be backfilled in the excavation areas).
- Public notification.
- Implementation of institutional controls (ICs) concerning land and ground water use.
- Excavation of DDTR contaminated soil and sediment.
- Excavated soil exceeding 500 parts per million (ppm) DDTR are to be thermally treated along with OU-2 and OU-4 soils.
- Excavated soil less than 500 ppm DDTR is to be used as subsurface (twelve inches below the land surface) backfill material in OU-2 excavation areas.
- Potential use of in-situ bioremediation as an alternative remedy to excavation/treatment if shown to be effective.
- Excavation of contaminated soil and sludge. Excavated soil above specified contaminant levels is to be treated on-site by a thermal decomposition process designed to reduce organic contaminants adhering to the soil particles.
- Disposal of treated soil called for its placement in an on-site RCRA Subtitle C landfill (amended during the Consent Decree process allowing treated soil meeting treatment performance standards to be backfilled in the excavation areas).
- Implementation of ICs concerning land and ground water use.
- Installation of a slurry wall to divert ground water to the OU-1 RCRA Corrective Action pumping wells.
Cleanup Progress
The potentially responsible party (PRP) conducted the Remedial Investigation and Feasibility Study (RI/FS) under an Administrative Order on Consent. Cleanup activities have been conducted by the PRP under Consent Decrees signed in 1992, 1994, and 1996.
In September 1996, a slurry wall was constructed in the floodplain to divert ground water toward the ground water extraction system for OU-1.
The initial remediation of the contaminated soil and sediment (approximately 14,000 tons) in the floodplain is complete. Thermal treatment of the majority of the contaminated soil (approximately 125,000 tons from OUs 2 and 4) began in December 1997 and is now complete. A Preliminary Close-Out Report, documenting that EPA has completed construction activities for the final operable unit at the site, was finalized in July 2000.
A five-year review (FYR) report found that the cleanup activities undertaken at the site continue to be protective of human health and the environment. The FYR was signed by EPA in September 2001.
A second FYR report was finalized in September 2006. The report concluded that the implemented remedies for OUs 1, 2 and 4 are working as intended and protective of human health and the environment. However, the 2006 FYR found that OU-3 was not achieving the intended performance goals and would require additional cleanup.
The PRP worked on addressing the deficiencies identified in the 2006 report; and in October 2008, an Explanation of Significant Differences (ESD) was developed for the Ciba-Geigy site. The ESD compliments the original remedy for OU-3 from no action in the ecologically sensitive areas to application of a clean sand cover to prevent exposure to DDT left in place during the initial celanup. EPA and the Alabama Dept. of Environmental Management working closely with Ciba-Geigy expect the clean cover to be applied in the ecologically sensitive areas without destroying the habitat and will serve as a barrier to further reduce risk to fish eating birds.
Site cleanup activities are being led primarily by potentially responsible parties with oversight by EPA.
Enforcement Activities
Ciba-Geigy signed an Administrative Order by Consent (AOC) with EPA, effective March 31, 1992, to determine the potential ecological impact of contaminants in the floodplain and characterize any threat to public health or the environment.
In a Consent Decree signed with EPA in November 1992 and amended in April 1994, the PRP agreed to design and undertake a cleanup approach for OU-2 and pay past costs for cleaning up the site.
In a Consent Decree signed with EPA in May 1994, the PRP agreed to undertake cleanup activities for OU-4 and pay past costs for cleaning up the site.
In a Consent Decree signed with EPA in October 1996, the PRP agreed to cleanup OU-3 and pay past costs for cleaning up the site.Community Involvement
Highlights of community involvement activities include the release of administrative record documents and public notices for FYR report activities.
The RI for the Ciba-Geigy Site was released to the public in August 1988. The FS and the Proposed Plan for the Ciba-Geigy Site addressing OU-2 were released to the public on July 30, 1990. An addendum to the FS addressing the contamination in OU-4 and the Proposed Plan addressing OU-4 was released to the public in April 1992. The Remedial Investigation Report Addendum / Ecological Assessment Report was released to the public in April 1994.
A public notice announcing initiation of the second Five Year Review for the Ciba-Geigy
Superfund site was published in the Washington County News on September 20, 2006.
Future Work
Annual monitoring of all 4 OUs for the site will continue. The next FYR for the site is scheduled for 2011.
Site Administrative Documents
Site Repository
For more information or to view any site-related documents, please visit the site information repository at the following location. As new documents are generated, they will be placed in the information repository for public information.
McIntosh City Hall
P. O. Box 385
McIntosh, AL 36553
Administrative Record Index
- Final/OU-1 (PDF) (7 pp, 270K, About PDF)
- OU-2 (PDF) (6 pp, 285K, About PDF)
- OU-2 (PDF) (1 pg, 30K, About PDF)
- OU-3 (PDF) (9 pp, 385K, About PDF)
- OU-4 (PDF) (8 pp, 305K, About PDF)
- OU-5 (PDF) (4 pp, 140K, About PDF)
For documents not available on the website, please contact the Region 4 Freedom of Information Office.