Superfund Sites in Reuse in Mississippi
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DAVIS TIMBER COMPANY
The 30-acre Davis Timber Company Superfund site is outside of Hattiesburg, Mississippi. From 1972 until the late 1980s, Davis Timber Company ran a wood-preserving facility at the site. Operators put contaminated wastewater in a storage pond, contaminating soil and sediment. EPA added the site to the National Priorities List (NPL) in 2000. EPA led cleanup activities in 2011 and 2012. Remedy construction included green remediation measures – reusing, repurposing and recycling materials – as well as design optimization measures, such as incorporating drought-tolerant indigenous species and soil amendments in the re-seeding design to reduce water requirements. Cleanup included digging up contaminated soil and sediment, placing waste under a 3-acre capped area, and controlling surface water flow and erosion. Institutional controls in place limit future land uses and protect the integrity of the remedy. After cleanup, EPA took the site off the NPL in 2018. The Hub City Humane Society operates an animal shelter and the Fields of Barktopia Dog Park on-site. Other site uses include creeks and wetlands, parking, connections to the 41-mile Longleaf Trace recreation trail, and restored habitat for pollinators. In 2015, EPA Region 4 recognized site property owners and the Hub City Humane Society’s leadership with its Excellence in Site Reuse award.
Last updated September 2024
As of December 2024, the EPA had data on one on-site business. This business employed 6 people and generated an estimated $760,000 in annual sales revenue. For additional information click here.
For more information:
- Reuse at Davis Timber Superfund Site: Creating a Space for People and Animals Story Map
- Site Redevelopment Profile: Davis Timber Company Superfund Site (PDF)
- Dog Parks and Animal Shelters at Superfund Sites: Playing for Keeps (PDF)
- Finding a Good Home: Community Benefits for People and Pets, The Davis Timber Company Superfund Site in Lamar County, Mississippi (PDF)
- Press Release: Excellence in Site Reuse Award
- Region 4 Excellence in Site Reuse Award: Davis Timber Company
- Superfund Site Profile Page
FLOWOOD SITE
The 225-acre Flowood Site Superfund site is in Flowood, Mississippi. The site is in the wetlands and lowlands area of the Pearl River floodplain. Starting in the 1940s, two manufacturing facilities were on-site. For over 20 years, operators sent polluted wastewater into a nearby canal without a state permit. The state asked EPA to study the area. EPA found high levels of lead in canal water, sludge and soils. EPA added the site to the National Priorities List (NPL) in 1984. EPA worked with the state and facility owners to stabilize and cap contaminated soil. Groundwater was monitored for a year after the end of cleanup in 1994. The cleanup and improved disposal practices protected area residents and nearby ecological resources. They also enabled industrial facilities to remain active on-site, retaining jobs and income in the community. EPA took the site off the NPL in 1996. Several businesses, including a flea market and a packaging and supply company, are in the former Rival Manufacturing Corporation building on-site.
Last updated September 2024
As of December 2024, the EPA had data on 7 on-site businesses. These businesses employed 34 people and generated an estimated $36,963,420 in annual sales revenue. For additional information click here.
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MISSISSIPPI PHOSPHATES CORPORATION
The 1,100-acre Mississippi Phosphates Corporation Superfund site is in Pascagoula, Mississippi. From the late 1950s to 2014, the Mississippi Phosphates Corporation (MPC) ran a fertilizer manufacturing facility at the site. Facility discharges and improperly disposed wastes from phosphate ore processing contaminated soil, surface and groundwater on-site and off-site. After its closure in 2014, MPC created a Liquidation Trust to market and sell facility assets and an Environmental Trust to manage groundwater treatment and site stability activities. In 2017, EPA assumed oversight when the Environmental Trust became insolvent. EPA added the site to the National Priorities List (NPL) in 2018. EPA approved a three-phase closure plan to accelerate cleanup. The plan includes wastewater treatment and discharge and engineering of a geosynthetic turf cover system. Wastewater is treated at a rate of about 2 million gallons per day. The site was added to those selected by EPA to receive cleanup funding under the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL) in 2023. With this funding, EPA is already initiating work on backlogged remedial construction projects and accelerating cleanups at NPL sites. With BIL funding, EPA continues closure work and work on cleanup plans for other actions needed at the site. In 2023, EPA entered a Bona Fide Prospective Purchaser Agreement with Seven Seas Terminals, LLC (Seven Seas) for the former plant part of the site. The company plans to purchase and reuse the former MPC manufacturing plant area as a dry bulk storage and tank terminal facility.
Last updated September 2024
As of December 2024, the EPA had data on 3 on-site businesses. These businesses employed 104 people and generated an estimated $5,215,000 in annual sales revenue. For additional information click here.
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NEWSOM BROTHERS/OLD REICHHOLD CHEMICALS, INC.
The 81-acre Newsom Brothers/Old Reichhold Chemicals, Inc. Superfund site is in Columbia, Mississippi. Industrial and commercial facilities were on-site for almost 50 years. They included a sawmill, a wood-derivative production facility, a chemical company, a construction company and a trucking company. Practices resulted in the contamination of soil, sediments and groundwater. In 1984, an EPA investigation found 600 surface drums, two contaminated ponds and several areas of contaminated soil. EPA added the site to the Superfund program’s National Priorities List (NPL) in 1986. Cleanup included removing contaminated soil, materials and storage tanks. It also included draining the ponds, taking contaminated sediments off-site for disposal and monitoring groundwater. Sampling found no threat to the environment or human health from site groundwater. EPA took the site off the NPL in 2000. It is not in use. June 2024 Update: After conducting a Phase I and II ESA, the City of Columbia purchased this site recently then obtained a community-wide Brownfield grant of $500,000 for assessment work. This Site is considered one of the City’s priority sites. At this time, the R4 Brownfields program has asked the City to submit a workplan for any additional site sampling the City may wish to conduct. There is a deed restriction that remains in place that states “The use of this Site in any manner, which would disturb the integrity of the final cover, the integrity of the containment or treatment system, or the function of any monitoring system on the Site is prohibited, unless the EPA Regional Administrator determines that the disturbance is necessary to the proposed use of the property and will not increase the potential hazard to human health or the environment.” There is no treatment system onsite and groundwater monitoring was discontinued in the 1990s after performance standards were met (the 21-well monitoring remains onsite). The final cover cited in the deed restriction appears to be the back fill material placed in the South and Horseshoe ponds, both of which were drained and filled with clay. There are also concrete slabs remaining on-site but these are not cited as a “final cover” or engineering control in the Notice of Intent to Delete. Contact person in the R4 Brownfields Program is Derek Street.
Last updated September 2024
As of December 2024, the EPA did not have economic data related to on-site businesses, or economic data were not applicable due to site use. For additional information click here.
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ROCKWELL INTERNATIONAL WHEEL & TRIM
The 40-acre Rockwell International Wheel & Trim Superfund site is in Grenada, Mississippi. From 1966 to the early 2000s, companies ran wheel-cover manufacturing and chrome plating facilities on-site. Operations contaminated soil, groundwater and surface water with volatile organic compounds (VOCs) trichloroethylene (TCE), toluene and chromium. VOCs were migrating from under the concrete floor into the manufacturing building via a process known as vapor intrusion. In December 2017, the potentially responsible party restarted a sub-slab depressurization system to stop contaminated vapors entering the facility. This system decreased contaminant concentrations in facility air to below health-based risk levels. EPA added the site to the National Priorities List (NPL) in 2018. EPA approved a removal action in 2022 to address groundwater contamination. Investigations, monitoring and cleanup are ongoing. The metal-stamping operation, now owned by Ice Industries Grenada, remains active on-site.
Last updated September 2024
As of December 2024, economic data were not publicly available for this site. For additional information click here.
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SONFORD PRODUCTS
The 6-acre Sonford Products Superfund site is in Flowood, Mississippi. From 1972 to 1985, Sonford International and Sonford Products ran two chemical manufacturing plants at the site. Plant operations and a 2,000-gallon spill of pentachlorophenol (PCP) in 1985 contaminated soil, sediment, surface water and groundwater at the facility and a nearby neighborhood. EPA dug up contaminated soil and oil, treated solution and wastewater from the site, and disposed of it all at an off-site facility. EPA added the site to the National Priorities List (NPL) in 2007. Cleanup included excavation of contaminated soils and restoration of eight residential properties and installation of extraction wells. In 2021, EPA did a pilot study to assess the effectiveness of a soil treatment technology for removing PCP from subsurface soils. EPA and the Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality continue to work together on cleanup efforts. A concrete septic tank manufacturing facility is active on the Sonford Products parcel. It uses and stores septic tanks and heavy machinery. The Payne Drive neighborhood remains in use. It includes 22 permanent and mobile homes. In December 2021, the site was among those selected by EPA to receive cleanup funding under the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL). With this funding, EPA is already initiating work on backlogged remedial construction projects and accelerating cleanups at NPL sites. At the site, BIL resources are funding the full-scale treatment of subsurface soil contamination. This work started in September 2023.
Last updated September 2024
As of December 2024, the EPA had data on one on-site business. This business employed 4 people and generated an estimated $752,000 in annual sales revenue. For additional information click here.
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SOUTHEASTERN WOOD PRESERVING
The Southeastern Wood Preserving Superfund site is in Canton, Mississippi. Several companies treated wood on-site from 1928 to 1979. They used coal tar, creosote and pentachlorophenol as preservatives. Operators built three unlined wastewater holding ponds for disposal of wood-preserving treatment sludges and process wastewater. Before 1977, the facility reportedly discharged 50,000 gallons of wastewater directly into Batchelor Creek. In 1985, EPA started removing contaminated soils from the site and put in a slurry wall to prevent creosote flowing into Batchelor Creek. In 1989, EPA led efforts to widen and deepen the creek to better stabilize its banks. EPA added the site to the National Priorities List (NPL) in 2012. Long-term cleanup plans call for a longer and deeper barrier wall for the creek. They also call for excavating shallow contaminated soils and placing them inside the barrier wall, capping the barrier wall and adding stormwater controls. EPA approved the cleanup plans in 2018. In December 2021, the site was among those selected by EPA to receive cleanup funding under the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL). With this funding, EPA is already initiating work on backlogged remedial construction projects and accelerating cleanups at NPL sites. Cleanup is expected to be completed by 2025. A tenant currently operates a logging yard on the eastern portion of the site.
Last updated September 2024
As of December 2024, the EPA had data on one on-site business. The EPA did not have further economic details related to this business. For additional information click here.
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