Private, state authorities will update public on Kerr-McGee contamination cleanup
Groups working to clean up contamination from a former industrial site in northwest Springfield have scheduled a public meeting Aug. 23 to update the community on their findings and continued work.
The update concerns the former Kerr-McGee Wood Treatment Facility at 2800 W. High Street, which treated railroad ties from 1907 until 2004. The ties were treated with creosote — a mixture of chemicals that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has classified as a probable human carcinogen — and contaminated the soil and groundwater on the plot and the surrounding area. The Multistate Environmental Response Trust, a private entity created as part of an earlier settlement, has been working on monitoring, studying and cleaning up pollution from the site since 2011.
The community meeting hosted by the Multistate Trust and the Missouri Department of Natural Resources will welcome neighbors to hear updates on the cleanup Wednesday, Aug. 23 at the Library Station. According to a news release, representatives will discuss current work that includes sampling of surface soil in residential yards, replacement of certain pipes carrying wastewater from the home to the public sewer main and sampling of domestic or private water wells.
The first portion of the event, beginning at 4:30 p.m., will be an availability session where representatives from the Multistate Trust, DNR and Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services will be available for one-on-one conversations. Following that at 6:00-7:30 p.m. the community meeting will begin with a presentation and include time for questions at the end. Food will be provided 5:00-6:00 p.m.
The most recent meeting was held in February. There, neighbors raised concerns about the health effects of the contaminated water and soil and the representatives shared worries about funding cleanup in the long term.
More: Funding becomes a concern as expensive cleanup continues at contaminated Springfield site
How pollution spread form the Kerr-McGee site in Springfield
The hazardous waste from the facility's operations entered the environment in a variety of ways.
During the operation of the Kerr-McGee facility, pressure-treated wood was transferred to a drip-track, where it often dripped into soil until a concrete pad was installed. Additionally, wastewater from the treatment process was discharged into unlined lagoons until 1976. According to the Multistate Trust website for the facility, creosote was previously discovered in Vich Spring and Woodlawn Spring near the site.
In 2005, after shutting down the facility, Kerr-McGee created a separate company, Tronox, to spin off some of its operations, and alongside it, the accountability for most of its accumulated environmental damages. Tronox filed for bankruptcy in 2009, and the Multistate Trust was established to take control and clean up the property as part of the settlement.
The bankruptcy settlement is also what is funding the cleanup efforts, along with funds from a settlement of fraud claims against Kerr-McGee. These funds can only be used for environmental actions, not personal property or personal injury claims.
This article originally appeared on Springfield News-Leader: Creosote contamination cleanup meeting to gather neighbors for updates
