EPA Extends Comment Period and Invites Public to Thursday Meeting about the Proposal of the Hercules Inc. Site in Hattiesburg to the Superfund National Priorities List
ATLANTA (May 18, 2022) — The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency proposed the Hercules, Inc. site in Hattiesburg, Mississippi, to the Superfund Program’s National Priorities List (NPL) on March 18, 2022. The NPL is a priority list of hazardous waste sites eligible for cleanup funds. EPA has extended the public comment period on the proposed listing from 60 to 90 days, now ending on June 16, 2022. This end date has been revised to allow for further community engagement. EPA is also hosting a simultaneous virtual and in-person public meeting about the proposal on May 19, 2022, from 6:00 - 8:00 pm CST.
The in-person public meeting will be held at the C.E. Roy Community Center located at 300 East 5th Street in Hattiesburg. The public will also be able to participate via Zoom. Please register through the Hercules website for whichever meeting format you plan to attend: www.epa.gov/superfund/hercules-inc. The meeting’s purpose is to explain the proposed listing of the Hercules Site to the NPL. The meeting will be recorded and placed on the website for those unable to attend.
EPA has posted a pre-recorded video presentation to help inform community stakeholders about the Hercules site’s inclusion on the NPL. Citizens are invited to view the presentation and are encouraged to reach out to agency officials with any questions they may have. The pre-recorded video presentation explaining the proposed NPL listing is available online at: www.epa.gov/superfund/hercules-inc.
Site investigations found contamination in soil, groundwater, surface water, sediment, and soil gas. Contamination resulted from former site operations. Data collected during the investigations suggest that the contamination detected may pose unacceptable risks to public health and the environment. Samples contained volatile organic compounds (VOC), semi-volatile organic compounds (SVOC), pesticides, polychlorinated biphenyls (PCB), and metals.
The EPA has determined that the Hercules site qualifies for inclusion on the NPL. The NPL is a list of uncontrolled or abandoned hazardous waste sites identified for investigation and comprehensive cleanup. The NPL guides the EPA in prioritizing those sites for further assessment of public health and environmental risks. Adding the Hercules site to the NPL will allow the EPA to use Superfund authorities and additional resources to determine the extent of contamination, to address the risks to human health and the environment, and to conduct any cleanup found to be necessary. Once all response actions are completed and all cleanup goals have been achieved, the Superfund process is deemed completed and sites are deleted from the NPL.
Background
Hercules, Inc. was a chemical manufacturer that operated at 613 W. 7th Street in Hattiesburg, Forrest County, Mississippi. The Hercules site occupies about 200 acres and is located in a mixed commercial, industrial, and residential area. From 1923 to 2009, Hercules produced over 250 products at the site, including paper and textile chemicals, paints, varnishes, pesticides, and insecticides (including Delnav®, Torak®, and toxaphene). After its closure in 2009, most of the structures were demolished. Structures that remain include a building used as an office, a former cafeteria, concrete basins and a backfilled surface impoundment from the former wastewater treatment plant (WWTP), sludge disposal pits, a closed landfill, and railroad tracks – some of which are active. Pesticide manufacturing mainly occurred in the central portion of the site. Sludge generated from the WWTP was disposed in the sludge disposal pits. A network of monitoring wells is present for semi-annual groundwater monitoring. On-site soil and underlying groundwater are contaminated with hazardous substances that Hercules used or produced.
The Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality (MDEQ) referred the Hercules site to EPA to investigate potential violations of requirements outlined in the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA). RCRA is the law that creates the framework for proper management of hazardous and non-hazardous solid waste.
Press/Media: Please email [email protected] to confirm your participation.