Superfund Sites

Both superfund and brownfield sites are efforts that seek productive uses for environmentally impaired properties. Although they both intend to find alternative uses for destroyed or harmed land, each program addresses a different kind of site and use different methods to accomplish their goals. Superfund is the federal government’s program to clean up the nation’s uncontrolled hazardous waste sites, while Brownfields are properties that are abandoned or underutilized because of actual or perceived contamination to the environment. There are over fifteen superfund sites in Georgia. Examples of Georgian Superfund sites include:

Robins Air Force Base:

Robins Air Force Base is located less than twenty miles south of Macon. In the 1960s and 1970s one of the landfills became the disposal site for several solid and hazardous wastes, including industrial sludge, solvents, and oils. This site posed threats to the environment and to residents on the base because the groundwater and soil became contaminated with harmful chemicals. The toxic portion of the landfill was decommissioned in 1978. Cleanup of the waste pit began in 1991 and was completed by 1998.

Brunswick Wood Preserving:

The Brunswick Wood Preserving is located in Glynn County. Poor waste management, accidental spills, and open dumping resulted in extensive groundwater and soil contamination at the site in 1996. The EPA attempted to clean the site by a method known as “capping” in which they covered the affected soil with layers of gravel, clay and even more soil to keep rainwater from leaching harmful chemicals into the surrounding groundwater. Despite their efforts, surrounding shallow groundwater and soil, as well as a nearby creek, remain contaminated.

Diamond Shamrock Corporation:

The Diamond Shamrock Corporation’s landfill is located in Polk County. The site contained about 900 drums of hazardous products. In 1980 the company reported its hazardous waste to the EPD. Potential contaminants from the site included manganese and several volatile organic compounds. Cleanup of the site concluded in 1990; however, the EPA conducts reviews at the site every five years to make sure that it is no longer a threat.

Firestone Tire and Rubber Company:

The Firestone Tire and Rubber Company is located in Dougherty County, GA. Until 1980, drums of waste cement were stored on the ground in an area of less than 1 acre. In another area, waste was buried in a pit during fire-training exercises. An estimated 400 people obtain drinking water from private wells within 3 miles of the site, and 1,000 acres of cropland are irrigated with well water. A consultant to the company detected Benzene, 1, 1-Dichloroethylene, Toluene, 1,1-Dichloroethenane, 1,1,1-Trichlorothenane, and zinc in on-site wells. Fortunately drinking water wells are not potentially threatened.