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General Electric/Shepherd Farm
National Information
Photos/Multimedia
General Electric facility on the General Electric/Shepherd Farm 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: NCD079044426Location: East Flat Rock, Henderson County, NC
Lat/Long: 35.272220, -082.411110
Congressional District:11
NPL Status: Proposed: 02/07/92; Final: 12/16/94
Affected Media: Ground water, Soil
Cleanup Status: Construction Complete – Physical cleanup activities have been completed.
Site Reuse/Redevelopment: Continued Industrial Use – The General Electric manufacturing facility remains active at the site.
Site Manager: Michael Townsend (townsend.michael@epa.gov)
Site Background
The General Electric (GE)/Shepherd Farm site, located in East Flat Rock, Henderson County, North Carolina consists of two noncontiguous disposal areas: 1) the 50-acre GE Lighting Systems facility; and 2) the 3-acre portion of the Shepherd Farm property located 1500 feet southwest of the GE property. Since 1955, GE has manufactured several types of luminaire systems. From 1955 until 1975, GE generated a substantial quantity of polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB) wastes as a result of transformer production. From approximately 1957 to 1970, wastes from the GE plant were disposed of on the plant property as well as in an old dry pond on the Shepherd Farm property.
Today, the GE property contains a manufacturing plant, a warehouse, eight plots formerly used for waste disposal, two unlined waste treatment ponds, a sludge impoundment, two former landfills, and a recreation center. The Shepherd Farm property now contains a trailer park and residential housing.
Threats and Contaminants
Former waste disposal practices have contaminated soil and ground water at the site. Volatile organic compounds (VOCs), including vinyl chloride, trichloroethene, and tetrachloroethene have been found in the ground water. Metals and PCBs have been found in the soil.
Site Cleanup Plan
The Record of Decision (ROD) for the site was issued in 1995. Major cleanup elements for the site included:
- Extraction of ground water that is contaminated above maximum contaminant levels or the North Carolina Ground Water Standards, whichever are more protective for each particular contaminant.
- On-site treatment of the extracted ground water via air stripping and carbon adsorption.
- In-situ bioremediation of ground water.
- Discharge of treated ground water to Bat Fork Creek.
- Continued analytical monitoring for contaminants in ground water and surface water.
- Excavation of the top foot of soils contaminated above the performance standards at Shepherd Farm, with transportation of excavated soils to the dry sludge impoundment area on the GE property.
- Backfilling, grading, and revegatation of excavated areas.
- Placement of a multi-layer cap on the areas of the GE property where the soil is contaminated above the performance standards.
- Continuous maintenance of the cap.
- Usage restrictions on the capped areas.
Cleanup Progress
GE has removed all underground storage tanks (USTs), contaminated soil from the USTs and a ruptured drain line, and has extended city water mains to some households. Other affected households are provided bottled water by GE.
The removal of contaminated soil from the Shepherd Farm portion of the site was completed in November 1997. Soil remediation activities at the GE facility, which included removal of contaminated soil from two landfills and capping on site, were completed in December 1999.
Construction of the ground water pump-and-treat system was completed in September 2000. The system is currently operational.
Site cleanup activities are being led primarily by potentially responsible parties with oversight by EPA.
Enforcement Activities
In 1996, EPA entered into a consent decree with GE to conduct the design and construction of the remedy.
Community Involvement
EPA has conducted a range of community involvement activities at the General Electric/Shepherd Farm 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
This site is subject to Five-Year Reviews (FYRs). The second FYR for this site is underway and should be approved by Fall 2009.
Institutional controls remain to be implemented at the site.
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.
Henderson County Public Library
201 N. Washington Street
Hendersonville, NC 28792
Administrative Record Index
- OU-1 (PDF) (13 pp, 585K, About PDF)
- ESD-2 (PDF) (1 pg, 22K, About PDF)
For documents not available on the website, please contact the Region 4 Freedom of Information Office.