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Cedartown Industries, Inc.
National Information
Photos/Multimedia
Monitoring wells at the Cedartown Industries 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: GAD095840674Location: Cedartown, Polk County, GA
Lat/Long: 34.008200, -085.263600
Congressional District: 07
NPL Status: Proposed: 06/24/88; Final: 02/21/90; Deleted: 09/19/2006
Affected Media: Debris, Ground water, Sediment, Soil
Cleanup Status: Deleted from the NPL
Site Reuse/Redevelopment: In continued use - commercial
Site Manager: Brian Farrier (farrier.brian@epa.gov)
Site Background
The Cedartown Industries site is a 7-acre site that was formerly a secondary lead smelting business and is located about 60 miles northwest of Atlanta in Cedartown, Georgia. Industrial activities have been conducted at the site since 1874. The Cherokee Furnace Company was founded in 1874 and operated as a foundry, smelting iron ore from regional iron mines near Cedartown. In the 1930s, the company changed its name to Cedartown Foundry and, in addition to the foundry operation, manufactured pumps and plow blades. Lead smelting activities took place at the site from 1978 to 1980. In August 1984, the facility was sold to the current owners, who currently lease the property to H&W Transfer Company for truck parking and maintenance.
Although operation of the site as an iron foundry and manufacturing plant contributed to the overall contamination at the site, the majority of environmental impact to the site was a result of the secondary lead smelter operation. In 1986, the Georgia Environmental Protection Division (EPD) discovered 5,000 cubic yards of slag material and 32,000 gallons of wastewater at the site. EPD also reported high levels of lead and cadmium in the waste piles and soil.Threats and Contaminants
Soil, sediment, and ground water are contaminated with lead and other metals.
Site Cleanup Plan
The Record of Decision (ROD) for the site was issued in 1993. Major cleanup elements for the site included:
- Excavation and ex-situ solidification and stabilization of soil with lead levels exceeding 500 parts per million (ppm).
- On-site disposal of treated soils.
- Monitored natural attenuation of cadmium in ground water.
- Institutional controls in the form of deed restrictions and record notices for land use and ground water use restrictions.
Cleanup Progress
In March 1990, an Interim Waste Removal action was implemented to remove the slag pile, contaminated debris and soil, wastewater, and impoundment sediment from the site. A total of 8,300 tons of solid hazardous materials, including slag, soil, sediment, and debris were removed and transported to an off-site landfill.
Cleanup activities under the ROD were conducted from May through August of 1996 by the Cedartown Industries Potential Responsible Parties (PRP) Group. Soils that exceeded the lead excavation standard of 500 ppm were excavated for treatment by on-site solidification and stabilization and backfilled into excavated areas. Site areas which received treated material were then covered with either pavement or a vegetated soil layer. Construction of the physical site remedy was completed in May 1997.
A ground water monitoring program began in the third quarter of 1996 at completion of the soil cleanup and continued quarterly until the second quarter of 1999. After that, semi-annual sampling was conducted until April 2001. Annual monitoring has continued since then to ensure that natural attenuation of contamination was occurring.
Two Five-Year Reviews (FYRs) have been developed for the Cedartown Industries site – 2001 and 2005. The second FYR for the site found the remedy to be protective of human health and the environment.
With cleanup goals having been met, the site was deleted from the NPL in 2006.
Site cleanup activities were led primarily by PRPs with oversight by EPA.Enforcement Activities
In June 1990, the Cedartown Industries PRP Group entered into an Administrative Order of Consent with EPA. This Order required the PRP Group to conduct a Remedial Investigation/ Feasibility Study to determine the nature and extent of contamination at the site and evaluate alternatives for addressing those threats.
In August 1993, the Cedartown Industries PRP Group entered into a Consent Decree with EPA to conduct the design and construction of the remedy and to require that institutional controls, including restrictive covenants, be implemented in order to prohibit the future use of ground water and to minimize land use on the site.Community Involvement
EPA has conducted a range of community involvement activities at the Cedartown site to solicit community input and to ensure that the public remains informed about site activities throughout the cleanup process. Outreach activities have included public notices, public meetings, and on-site status updates.
Future Work
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.
Cedartown Public Library
245 East Ave.
Cedartown, GA 30125
Administrative Record Index
- OU-1 (PDF) (14 pp, 550K, About PDF)
- Removal (PDF) (2 pp, 29K, About PDF)
For documents not available on the website, please contact the Region 4 Freedom of Information Office.