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Benfield Industries, Inc.
National Information
Photos/Multimedia
Aerial view of redeveloped Benfield 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: NCD981026479Location: Waynesville, Haywood County, NC
Lat/Long: 35.477780, -083.004160
Congressional District: 11
NPL Status: Proposed: 06/24/88; Final: 10/04/89
Affected Media: Ground water, Soil
Cleanup Status: Construction Complete - Physical cleanup activities have been completed.
Site Reuse/Redevelopment: Commercial use - A vocational training center and an assembly plant operate on the site.
Site Manager: Robert West (west.robert@epa.gov)
Site Background
The Benfield Industries, Inc. site is located in Waynesville, Haywood County, North Carolina, and occupies approximately 3.5 acres of a 6-acre parcel. Benfield Industries mixed and packaged bulk materials for resale. Products handled and stored at the Benfield facility consisted of paint thinners, solvents, sealants, cleaners, de-icing solutions, and wood preservatives, including creosote. A large fire in April 1982 destroyed the majority of the structures on the site and terminated site operations. Following the fire, the State ordered the owner of the facility to remove all debris from the site. In addition to removing all usable chemicals, fire debris, recyclable materials, and storage tanks, the site was to be covered with "clean" fill. The owner/operator complied with the State's order.
Approximately 2,056 people live in the area of the site, which is surrounded by light industrial, commercial, and residential areas.
Threats and Contaminants
The site was the focus of the several State investigations that confirmed contamination of the soils and ground water with pesticides, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), heavy metals, and volatile organic compounds (VOCs). The total volume of soil that required remediation was 18,000 cubic yards. The volume of ground water impacted by the site was approximately 22 million gallons with a plume extending approximately 100 to 200 feet off site.
Site Cleanup Plan
The Record of Decision (ROD) for the site was issued in 1992. Major cleanup elements for the site included:
- Excavate and wash approximately 4,600 cubic yards of contaminated soils.
- Following confirmation sampling, replace the cleaned coarse soil material in the excavated areas and biotreat the slurry.
- Following biotreatment and confirmation sampling, the cleaned soil fines will be backfilled into the excavated areas.
- Contaminated ground water will be extracted from within and at the periphery of the plume via extraction wells and piped to an on-site, aboveground treatment process.
- Treatment process includes pretreatment with aeration, heavy metals removal through ion exchange, biotreatment using submerged fixed film bioreactors, and polishing through granular activated carbon filters.
- In a holding tank, hydrogen peroxide and nutrients will be added to treated ground water, which will then be reintroduced into the aquifer through infiltration galleries to promote in-situ biodegradation of contaminants.
- It is anticipated that all extracted ground water will be reintroduced to the aquifer; however, it may be necessary to discharge up to 25% of the water to either the City of Waynesville publicly owned treatment works, meeting pretreatment requirements, or Browning Creek, meeting National Pollution Discharge Elimination System requirements.
Cleanup Progress
During the summer of 1998, 13,500 tons of soils were land farmed in an on-site Land Treatment Unit. Amendments added to the soils were manure and hay. As not all the soils achieved the specified performance standards, approximately 12,000 tons of this soil was treated during the summer of 1999.
Approximately 6,000 tons still did not achieve performance standards and required further treatment during the summer of 2000. In order to prevent direct contact, these soils were placed in the bottom of the excavations. All treated soils were returned to the excavation. Final grading and seeding of the site occurred between September and October 2000.
Construction of the ground water extraction system began in February 2001 and was completed in April 2001. The system involves two extraction wells with the extracted ground water being discharged directly into the City of Waynesville Wastewater Treatment Plant (sewer system) for treatment. As of December 2006, over 22 million gallons of ground water have been extracted and discharged to the local sewer system.
Site cleanup activities are being led primarily by EPA.
Enforcement Activities
Community Involvement
EPA has conducted a range of community involvement activities at the Benfield Industries 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.
Future Work
The 2008 FYR recommended a ROD amendment to address a ground water remedy change from pump-and-treat to monitored natural attenuation. Efforts to address this recommendation are currently underway.
The next FYR is to be completed by August 2013.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.
Hazelwood Town Hall
121 West Georgia Avenue
Hazelwood, NC 28738
Administrative Record Index
- Administrative Record 1992 (PDF) (1 pg, 649K, About PDF)
- Amendment to ROD 1995 (PDF) (3 pp, 104K, About PDF)
- ESD 2002 (PDF) (1 pg, 9K, About PDF)
- Amendment to ROD 2004 (PDF) (3 pp, 136K, About PDF)
For documents not available on the website, please contact the Region 4 Freedom of Information Office.