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Helena Chemical Company
National Information
Photos/Multimedia
Helena Chemical 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: FLD053502696Location: Tampa, Hillsborough County, FL
Lat/Long: 27.963930, -082.374810
Congressional District: 11
NPL Status: Proposed: 02/07/92; Final: 10/14/92
Affected Media: Ground water, Soil
Cleanup Status: Cleanup activities are underway
Site Reuse/Redevelopment: In continued use during cleanup - manufacturing, warehouses, office facilities, parking
Site Manager: Galo Jackson (jackson.galo@epa.gov)
Site Background
The Helena Chemical Company (HCC) site covers approximately eight acres and is located in the Orient Park Industrial area in Tampa, Florida. The facility was built in 1929 as a chemical plant for the production of sulfur. The initial owners manufactured wettable and dusting sulfur and formulated pesticides, herbicides, fungicides, and fertilizers.
Helena Chemical Company purchased the facility in 1967. From 1967 to 1981, HCC produced wettable dusting sulfur and formulated pesticides, herbicides, fungicides, and liquid and dry fertilizers. In 1976, HCC stopped processing sulfur products, and in 1980, the formulation of dry fertilizers was discontinued at the facility. In 1981, HCC moved the pesticide, herbicide, and fungicide formulation operations to Georgia. Since 1981, HCC has formulated insecticidal petroleum oil and liquid fertilizers at the site. Former manufacturing operations by HCC and its predecessors resulted in extensive soil contamination and to a lesser extent, ground water contamination.
The site is bounded on the north by 14th Avenue, on the east by Orient Park Road, on the south by an active railway line (CSX Railroad), and on the west by 71st Street. HCC also owns a 3-acre vacant lot immediately west of 71st Street and southwest of the 8-acre site.
Threats and Contaminants
Soil is contaminated with pesticides, semivolatile organic compounds (SVOCs), and volatile organic compounds (VOCs) including xylene related to former operations by Helena Chemical Company and its predecessors. Ground water is contaminated with chlorinated pesticides, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, phenols, and VOCs.
Site Cleanup Plan
The Record of Decision (ROD) for the site was issued in 1996. Major cleanup elements for the site included:
- Demolishing the tank farm pads east of the liquid processing building and disposing of the debris.
- Excavating material from the former sulfur pit and disposing of it off site.
- Neutralizing soils in-place if located in areas where sulfur is present but inaccessible.
- Biologically treating contaminated soils and sediments and placing treated soils back on site.
- Implementing institutional/engineering controls (i.e., fencing and deed restrictions).
- Containing and extracting contaminated ground water to prevent off-site migration.
- Treating extracted ground water to meet surface water discharge standards and discharging treated ground water to the Tampa Bypass Canal under a National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System permit.
In 2005, EPA issued an Explanation of Significant Difference to set the xylene cleanup goal for ground water at 10,000 μg/L.
Cleanup Progress
Cleanup of pesticide-contaminated soils began in July 2000 and was completed in September 2000. Approximately 7,700 tons of contaminated soil were excavated and shipped off site for biological treatment and disposal.
In 2004, approximately 1,800 tons of sulfur-contaminated soil were removed for treatment and disposal. After removal of the soil, lime was mixed into the remaining soil, in order to neutralize the sulfuric acid present at four feet below land surface. An additional 1,100 tons of sulfur-contaminated soil were removed during the spring of 2005. The addition of lime appears to have had minimal effects on areas with low pH.
Design of the contaminated ground water treatment system has been delayed due to developments from an adjacent facility also on the NPL - Alaric Area Ground Water Plume site. At the Alaric site, VOCs discharged onto the ground have migrated into the ground water and appear to be impacting the western portion of the ground water plume beneath the HCC site.
Sampling of the site’s ground water was initiated in late December 2006 and continued through 2007 to determine whether the data exists to support an amendment to the ROD to modify the cleanup approach from ground water containment to monitored natural attenuation (MNA). Results of the 2007 sampling indicated generally low-level pesticide concentrations. However, these levels were above the ROD’s cleanup goals, which led EPA and the Florida Department of Environmental Protection (FDEP) to reject changing the ground water remedy to MNA. As a result, in September 2008 the responsible party proposed a series of pilot-scale treatability studies designed to evaluate the degradation of both the remaining low-level pesticide plumes. The draft Work Plan for these studies was received in March 2009 and was reviewed and commented on by both EPA and FDEP.
Additionally, a source area of xylene remains on the HCC property, with a shallow xylene plume migrating in a southeasterly direction.
One Five-Year Review (FYR) have been completed for the site, in 2006. The FYR found that the remedy was currently protective of human health and the environment, but that ground water cleanup was still needed to ensure long term protectiveness at the site.
Site cleanup activities are being led primarily by potentially responsible parties with oversight by EPA.Enforcement Activities
In February 1993, a Unilateral Administrative Order was signed between EPA and HCC.
Community Involvement
EPA has conducted a range of community involvement activities at the HCC site to solicit community input and to ensure that the public remains informed about site activities throughout the site cleanup process. Outreach activities have included public notices, interviews, and public meetings on cleanup activities and updates.
Fact Sheets
- Reuse Fact Sheet (PDF) (1 pg, 770K, About PDF)
Future Work
Field work for the pilot-scale treatability studies are scheduled to start in August 2009.
The ROD, which will present a summary of the selected cleanup action for the site, is planned to be issued in September 2009.
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.
University of South Florida
4202 E. Fowler Ave.
Tampa, FL 33620
Administrative Record Index
- OU-1 (PDF) (11 pp, 420K, About PDF)
- ESD (PDF) (1 pg, 24K, About PDF)
For documents not available on the website, please contact the Region 4 Freedom of Information Office.