Group cleaning up contaminated northwest Springfield site plans public meeting next week
The Multistate Environmental Response Trust, the group responsible for cleaning up the contaminated northwest Springfield land surrounding the old Kerr-McGee railroad tie plant, is holding a public meeting next week to update neighbors on the efforts.
The meeting, which is being hosted by the Multistate Trust and the Missouri Department of Natural Resources, is scheduled for Wednesday, Feb. 22 from 6 to 7:30 p.m. at the American Legion Post 676 located at 2350 N. Clifton Ave.
A news release from the Multistate Trust says the meeting will focus on "plans to sample residential surface soil and groundwater and to develop a revised management plan for the Golden Hills Detention Basin."
For about 100 years, starting in 1907, Kerr-McGee and its predecessors treated railroad ties with creosote — which the EPA classifies as a possible human carcinogen — and other preservatives at the facility at 2800 W. High St. The operations led to creosote-related contamination at and around the facility, including in the soil and groundwater.
The Multistate Trust has been working for years to clean up the site, using funds acquired through a $5.14 billion national bankruptcy settlement.
More: $3 million more to clean up Springfield railroad tie plant
In a news release announcing the meeting, the Multistate Trust said it is prioritizing the evaluation of possible contamination in the neighborhoods surrounding the old facility.
At previous public meetings, the Multistate Trust has discussed topics like possibly testing the air in people's homes for pollution. Several nearby residents have expressed concerns the creosote-related contamination may have led to them getting cancer. At previous meetings, those individuals were referred to the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services' Cancer Inquiry section at 573-522-2806 or 866-726-9926.
The Springfield plant began operating in 1907 as American Creosote Co. and was purchased by Kerr-McGee Chemical Corp. In 1965, an estimated 900,000 railroad ties a year were treated with creosote at the plant, which closed and was decommissioned in 2004.
Stories in the News-Leader's archives mention the "creosote-laden soil and sludge" left behind on the property, as well as reports of creosote leaks that contaminated a nearby spring and disrupted operations at the city's Northwest Sewage Treatment Plant.
Not long after the closure of the Springfield facility, Kerr-McGee spun off some of its operations — as well as the responsibility of paying for most of its accumulated environmental damages — into a separate company, called Tronox. Tronox filed for bankruptcy in 2009, while Kerr-McGee's more profitable assets were sold to a third company, Anadarko.
Investors and federal authorities cried foul, however, and took legal action to force Andarko to help pay for the cleanup of thousands of sites that had been contaminated by Kerr-McGee's operations. In addition to creosote contamination at wood-treating plants in the East, Midwest and South, the company polluted Lake Mead in Nevada with rocket fuel and left behind radioactive waste in Navajo Nation territory, according to the Associated Press.
This article originally appeared on Springfield News-Leader: Multistate Trust hosts public meeting on old Kerr-McGee site pollution
