By Kassie Simmons | June 22, 2021 | Excerpt from WECT 6
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NAVASSA, N.C. (WECT) - Part of a superfund site that could not be used for decades may soon be useful once again.
Community members learned today one area of the Navassa superfund property will be taken off the list for cleanup. Work to remediate another area should begin by the first of the new year.
Kerr-McGee wood treatment operations on the property decades ago contaminated the property with creosote. Since joining the EPA’s National Priority List in 2010, the plan was always to get the Navassa superfund site back in usable condition and open for community use. Today, that end is finally in sight.
“There’s been an agreement by the multistate trust to transfer some of the property to the town for use on the Moze Center — the Moze Heritage & Nature Park,” said Richard Elliott, a project manager for Greenfield Multistate Trust.
The Environmental Protection Agency tested the first zone for both commercial and residential use. Experts determined no cleanup was needed on that zone, referred to as Operable Unit 1 (OU1), so it is going to be available sooner than the second area, OU2.
While some areas go back to the town, other areas will be sold to developers. The process is already beginning with OU1 slated to be removed from the priority list by the fall. It won’t be long before OU2 follows suit.