Tennessee Products (Chattanooga Creek)

• Site Profile
• Administrative Record Index (All PDF): Removal (2 pp., 62K), NTC Removal (4 pp., 133K),
  OU1 (2 pp., 114K), ESD (1 pp., 28K)
• Photographs
• Additional Site Documents
• Proposed Plan Fact Sheet, August 2002 (PDF, 14 pp., 270K)
• For documents not available on the website, please contact the Region 4 Freedom of Information Office (http://www.epa.gov/region4/foiapgs/submit.htm).

Site Background:
The Tennessee Products Superfund site consists of the former Tennessee Products coal carbonization (e.g. coke plant) facility and its associated coal-tar dumping areas in Chattanooga Creek and its floodplain.  The former coke plant is located at 4800 Central Avenue, south of Hamill/Hooker Road in Chattanooga, TN.  The coke plant operated from 1918 until 1987.  Uncontrolled dumping of coal-tar wastes has contaminated the facility, groundwater underlying the facility, and surface water/sediment of Chattanooga Creek downstream of the facility.  Coal-tar wastes are present along an approximate 2.5 mile reach of the Creek extending from just upstream of the Hamill Road Bridge to the downstream confluence with one of its tributaries, Dobbs Branch.  These coal tar wastes are known to contain high levels of various Polynuclear Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAHs).

Environmental investigations have been conducted on Chattanooga Creek by EPA, the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation (TDEC), and others since 1973.  Due to elevated levels of contamination in the sediments and surface waters, TDEC issued a health advisory for the Creek in 1983, and a fish consumption advisory in 1992.  In August 1993, the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR) issued a Public Health Advisory for the Tennessee Products site based on the chemical and physical hazards presented by the coal-tar deposits.   ATSDR recommended that nearby residents avoid contact with the coal-tar deposits and that the site be considered for inclusion on the National Priorities List (NPL).  The site was listed on the NPL in September 1995.

Cleanup Progress: Threat Mitigated by Physical Cleanup Work
In 1993, EPA fenced a section of the Creek to prevent public access. In 1994, EPA initiated a fund-lead Remedial Investigation//Feasibility Study (RI/FS) of the Chattanooga Creek study area. By November 1998, EPA completed a non-time critical removal action that focused on the upper reach of Chattanooga Creek. This action removed coal-tar deposits and contaminated sediments along a one-mile section of Chattanooga Creek between Hamill Road and 1,200 feet north of the 38th Street bridge. Approximately 25,300 cubic yards of coal-tar and contaminated sediment were removed from the creek. In addition, 1,150 cubic yards of pesticide contaminated sediment was removed from the creek and disposed at a local municipal landfill.