Louisville to clean up vacant Rhodia brownfield site. What chemicals stand in the way?
Environmental remediation of the old Rhodia chemical complex, a longtime blemish and burden to the nearby Park Hill and Algonquin neighborhoods, is moving forward, Louisville officials announced in late June.
The 17-acre site, sandwiched between Seventh, 11th and Hill streets, housed industrial operations for the production of chemical lacquers, enamels and coatings throughout much of the 20th century, including its namesake, the Rhodia chemical plant.
It has sat vacant — and contaminated — since 1994, and was purchased by the city in 2002 for $1 million, according to previous Courier Journal reporting.
It's also adjacent to the Parkway Place public housing community and McFerran Preparatory Academy, an elementary school.
City leaders want to turn the property into a new mixed-used, "live, work and play" development, an addition that Mayor Craig Greenberg said will "improve quality of life for area residents and build up neighborhoods that have long been neglected."
The majority-Black Algonquin-Park Hill area has a median household income of $27,560 — less than half that of Jefferson County overall — with 42% of residents living below the poverty line, according to a neighborhood study from Metro United Way last year.
Redevelopment has been a goal, in one form or another, for a long time. Former Louisville Mayor Jerry Abramson was quoted in The Courier Journal more than 15 years ago extolling the site's potential for a new life.
But beneath the property's overgrown surface, harmful contaminants linger.
The state of the old Rhodia site
The Rhodia site is considered a brownfield, meaning its lasting chemical hazard complicates reuse, especially for residential purposes.
Using $10 million in federal American Rescue Plan funding, contractors will soon begin the arduous process of remediating the contamination left behind by the chemical industry.
For years, under an "environmental covenant," the site has remained capped — a method that doesn't remove or remediate the existing contamination, but is intended to contain it and prevent it from coming into contact with the public.
The covenant also restricts the use of groundwater from the site. More than 280 spills and releases were documented at the site after 1974, according to a 2001 report.
What chemicals are left in the Rhodia site?
Recent environmental assessments found more than 30 different chemicals above U.S. Environmental Protection Agency screening levels in the soil beneath the site.
Metals linked to cancer risk, like arsenic and lead, are present across the area. Sampling also found volatile organic compounds and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, two classes of chemicals that can pose significant environmental health risks.
The highest detected concentration of arsenic, for example, was more than 90 times higher than the EPA's residential regional screening levels, according to sampling data released by the city. Several of the other substances similarly far surpassed EPA screening levels at the site.
'An environmental injustice'
With the city's June announcement, contractors will soon being work on restoring the site. O6 Environmental will handle soil remediation, and EnviroForensics will oversee removal of contaminated soil, according to a news release.
The next step is the master plan for the site's redevelopment, which officials expect to be complete by the end of this year.
The Louisville-based Re:land Group will be responsible for redevelopment once the land is remediated. Jim Beckett, managing partner for the firm, said this project is "finally going to eradicate an environmental injustice that has been allowed to sit for decades."
"Unfortunately, this addresses only a fraction of the social, economic and environmental injustices that affect these neighborhoods," he said in a release from the city, but the Rhodia redevelopment "is just the beginning."
Last year, the locally led Park Hill/Algonquin Community of Opportunity group determined some community priorities for the Rhodia site's future.
A few of the top priorities for the site, according to a report from the group, were, in order:
Employment and economic opportunity, including "workforce development and vocational training programs and facilities."
Environment and health, including "walkable spaces that encourage healthy and active lifestyles," like parks and community gardens.
Housing, including "more environmentally and physically safe, low-income and affordable housing with an option for ownership."
“The people have spoken, and the voices are loud and clear," said Bruce Sherrod, a resident of Parkway Place, in a quote provided by the Park Hill/Algonquin Community of Opportunity. "The time is now."
Connor Giffin is an environmental reporter for The Courier Journal and a corps member with Report for America, a national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on under-covered issues. The program funds up to half of corps members’ salaries, but requires a portion also be raised through local community fundraising. To support local environmental reporting in Kentucky, tax-deductible donations can be made at courier-journal.com/RFA.
Learn more about RFA at reportforamerica.org. Reach Connor directly at cgiffin@gannett.com or on Twitter @byconnorgiffin.
This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: Vacant Rhodia chemical brownfield to be cleaned in Louisville
