U.S. Sen. Roger Wicker (R-MS) this week heralded recent action by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to prioritize cleanup at the Rockwell International Wheel and Trim Site in Grenada, Miss.
The EPA on Sept. 11 added the location to its Superfund Program’s National Priorities List (NPL), a move Sen. Wicker called “an important designation.”
“As part of the National Priorities List, the Grenada manufacturing site will be eligible for much-needed federal support to help stem the spread of contamination and protect the long-term health and welfare of the citizens of Grenada,” said the senator.
The EPA also announced that four sites in Texas, Indiana, Ohio and Tennessee were added to the NPL and another six sites are proposed to be added to the list.
EPA Acting Administrator Andrew Wheeler said that “cleaning up sites that pose risks to public health and the environment is a critical part” of the agency’s work.
“Adding the Rockwell Grenada Site to the NPL will advance a comprehensive cleanup to address all contamination — both at the facility and in the surrounding community — related to former operations,” EPA Regional Administrator Trey Glenn said in a statement. “EPA’s priority is to conduct the cleanup in a manner that allows the facility to continue to operate and protects the health of workers and nearby residents.”
Sen. Wicker and U.S. Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-MS) last year requested that the Grenada site be added to the NPL after visiting residents in the Eastern Heights neighborhood, which is adjacent to the Grenada site, where a 40-acre facility operated by Ice Industries Inc. is located, according to a statement released by Sen. Wicker’s office.
Formerly a wheel cover manufacturing and chrome plating facility, Ice Industries in 2005 converted it into what remains a metal stamping plant. Dangerous chemicals were found in the Eastern Heights neighborhood, as well as in the air inside the building, in the groundwater below the site, at a former disposal area the company used, in nearby wetlands, and in Riverdale Creek, the EPA said.
The Grenada site’s designation is important because the EPA for the first time has listed sites for cleanup based on subsurface intrusion, meaning contaminants have intruded into occupied spaces, according to the senator’s statement.