Toxic plant site in Grenada added to EPA Superfund list

EPA RELEASE

ATLANTA (September 11, 2018) — Today, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced its commitment to clean up the Rockwell International Wheel & Trim (Rockwell Grenada) Site in Grenada, Mississippi, by adding it to the Superfund Program’s National Priorities List (NPL). Nationally, another four sites were added and six sites were proposed to the NPL. These additions represent commitments from the Agency to advance cleanup to protect communities across the country.

“In adding these sites to the NPL, EPA is carrying out one of our core responsibilities to the American people,” said EPA Acting Administrator Andrew Wheeler. “Cleaning up sites that pose risks to public health and the environment is a critical part of our mission and it provides significant health and economic benefits to communities across the country.”

“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,” said EPA Regional Administrator Trey Glenn. “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.”

The Rockwell Grenada Site includes the 40-acre facility at 635 Highway 332 (commonly called Grenada Stamping and currently operated by Ice Industries), and other areas where site-related contaminants have migrated or were disposed. Rockwell International, followed by Textron Automotive and later by Grenada Manufacturing, operated a wheel cover manufacturing and chrome plating facility on the property from 1966 to the early 2000s. In 2005, portions of the plant were leased to Ice Industries, which continues to operate a metal stamping plant there today.

Past operations, spills and waste handling practices resulted in air, groundwater, surface water and soil contamination. The solvent trichloroethene (TCE) has been found in the air inside the manufacturing building, groundwater beneath the site and in the adjacent Eastern Heights neighborhood, a former disposal area associated with the facility, wetlands and Riverdale Creek. Adding the Rockwell Grenada Site to the NPL will allow EPA to move forward with a comprehensive cleanup that addresses all contamination related to the former operations—both at the facility and in the surrounding community.

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