EPA RCRA ID: WVD005005483

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Cleanup Status
Facility Description
Contaminants at this Facility
Institutional/Engineer Controls
Enforcement and Compliance
Related Information
Contacts for this Facility

Cleanup Status

Note: The lead agency for cleanups at this facility is the EPA.

Union Carbide Corporation (UCC) entered into a Facility Lead agreement with the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on December 15, 1999 for conducting corrective action at its South Charleston Facility. UCC has evaluated, addressed via interim measures, and provided documentation to EPA for areas of known potential for off-site impacts. The initial Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) Facility Investigation (RFI) was conducted in 2002 and 2003. The RFI Report was submitted to EPA and the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection (WVDEP) in December 2003. The RFI focused on collection of data pertinent to evaluation of the Current Human Exposures Under Control Environmental Indicator (EI) and Migration of Contaminated Groundwater Under Control EI. A Follow-up RFI was conducted in 2004 to supplement data collected under the RFI, especially those pertinent to the Current Human Exposures Under Control and Migration of Contaminated Groundwater Under Control EIs. To meet the Current Human Exposures Under Control EI, an interim measure was completed in June 2005 at Solid Waste Management Unit (SWMU) 1 to isolate surface contamination from potential human exposure. Based on the RFI and the implementation of the interim measure at SWMU 1, the EIs were approved by EPA in September 2005.

From 2006 through 2019, RFI work focused on a sitewide approach to fill remaining data gaps for soil, groundwater, and the Kanawha River. The facility Current Conditions Report was submitted to EPA in 2010, documenting the completion of facility investigation work for the purpose of defining the nature and extent of contamination. An updated Current Conditions Report that included investigation work completed after 2009 was submitted in 2020.

Active remediation is being conducted at the facility. Ten “remediation areas” have been established across the facility and prioritized to facilitate management of remediation. The interim measures implemented at the facility since the EIs are listed below.

In 2011, construction of an air sparge/soil vapor extraction (AS/SVE) system in the Chlorohydrin Area was completed and operation of the system began.
In 2014, construction of an AS/SVE system in the Middle Island Area “Second Source” was completed and operation of the system began.
In 2015, construction of an AS/SVE system in the Chlorobenzene Area 1 was completed and operation of the system began.
In 2017, two additional remedies were constructed. In situ solidification/stabilization (ISS) was completed in the Lower Island Area to address a buried tar-like material and an aerobic co-metabolic biodegradation via co-metabolite enhanced biosparging remedy was constructed in the Chlorohydrin Area to address a portion of the groundwater plume immediately downgradient of the AS/SVE system. In addition, a vapor mitigation system was installed in a building within the Chlorohydrin Area and air purifying units were installed in a building within the Lower Middle Island Area.
In 2018, construction of the Middle Island groundwater containment system was completed and operation of the system began. A treatment wetland is used to pre-treat the groundwater before discharging to the South Charleston wastewater treatment plant.
In 2021, ISS was completed in the Northern Middle Island Area to address soil contamination.
In 2022, construction of a thermal conductive heating (TCH) remediation system for soil in the Chlorobenzene Area 2 was completed and operation of the system began.
In 2023, construction of a thermally enhanced biosparge (TEB) system in the Chlorobenzene Area 2 was completed and operation of the system began.

In July 2017, a small intermittent sheen was observed on the back channel of the Kanawha River near the Middle Island Area; the area is referred to as the Middle Island Sediment Area (MISA). Sediment investigations were completed between 2017 and 2021 to evaluate the extent of sediment contamination causing the sheen in the MISA. Based on the results of those investigations, dredging and capping were selected as the remedy for the MISA. Sediment contamination was also identified during a 2019 investigation in an area referred to as the Chlorohydrin Sediment Area. In April 2023, another intermittent sheen was observed at the facility adjacent to the Chlorobenzene Area. A sediment investigation is planned for 2024 to evaluate the source of the sheen adjacent to the Chlorobenzene Area and to investigate sediments in the Middle Mainland Area where an isolated pore water exceedance has been observed. Absorbent booms are being utilized at both the MISA and the Chlorobenzene Area to control the intermittent sheens observed on the river.

A final remedy has been approved for one area of the facility, the Building 82 Area. It consists of institutional controls implemented through environmental covenants and long-term groundwater monitoring. In 2013 WVDEP issued a Statement of Basis for the Building 82 Area, then a Final Decision after a public comment period.

Cleanup Actions or environmental indicators characterizing the entire facility are shown below. It is not intended as an extensive list of milestones/activities. This listing, and all the data on this page, come from EPA’s RCRAInfo and are refreshed nightly to this page. For this table and the Cleanup Activities Pertaining to a Portion of the Facility table that follows, a blank in the Status column could mean the action either has not occurred or has not been reported in RCRAInfo.

Cleanup Activities Pertaining to the Entire Facility

Action	Status	Date of Action
(CA725)
(CA750)
(CA400)
(CA550)
(CA800)
(CA900)
(CA999)

^{For definitions of the terms used, hover over or click on the term.}

Cleanup Activities Pertaining to a Portion of the Facility

	Action	Area Name	Date of Action

^{For definitions of the terms used, hover over or click on the term.}

Facility Description

Link to a larger, interactive view of the map.

UCC’s South Charleston Facility is located adjacent to the Kanawha River in South Charleston, West Virginia. The site is approximately 200 acres, and consists of the Mainland and Blaine Island. The facility has been in continuous operation since the early 1920s. Currently, most of the plants produce specialty chemicals, such as surfactants, deicers, and lubricating fluids. Portions of the Mainland have transferred to new ownership and UCC has leased the majority of Blaine Island for industrial operations.

Contaminants at this Facility

Based on current information, there are no known imminent threats to human health or the environment from the UCC South Charleston Facility. The Facility is used exclusively for industrial purposes, and neither the Kanawha River nor the local groundwater is used for drinking water. The primary constituents of concern are 1,1-biphenyl, 1,4-dioxane, benzene, ethylbenzene, toluene, chlorobenzene, dichlorobenzene, dichloroethane, dichloropropane, naphthalene, trichloroethene, and vinyl chloride.

Institutional and Engineering Controls at this Facility

Institutional Controls on Former Building #82 (Tracks #1,2,3,6,7 ) are enforced via an Environmental Covenant and consist of :

Groundwater shall not be used for any purpose except monitoring/remediationr (Tracks #1,2,3,6,7)
No residential use including condos, hotels, dormitories (Tracks #3,6) also enforced with WV Reg Code 22.12B-I
No excavation unless there is a threat to human life (Tracks #3,6)
All occupried structures shall have a vapor controlled system whose design approved by a WV PE (Tracks #1,2,3)

Institutional and Engineering Controls help ensure human exposure and groundwater migration are under control at a cleanup facility. Where control types have been reported by states and EPA in EPA’s RCRAInfo, they are shown below. Not all control types are needed at all facilities, and some facilities do not require any controls. Where there are blanks, the control types may not be needed, may not be in place, or may not be reported in RCRAInfo.

Are Controls in Place at this Facility?

Control(s) Type		Control(s) in Place?	Areas Subject to Control(s)	Documents available on-line:
(CA 772)	(ID)
	(GC)
	(EP)
	(PR)
(CA 770)	(GW)
(CA 770)

Enforcement and Compliance at this Facility

EPA’s Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance (OECA) provides detailed historical information about enforcement and compliance activities at each RCRA Corrective Action Site in their Enforcement and Compliance Historical Online (ECHO) system.

RCRA Enforcement and Compliance Reports from ECHO

Related Information

For more information about this facility, see these other EPA links:

RCRA information in EPA’s Envirofacts database
Information about this facility submitted to EPA under different environmental programs as reported in EPA’s Facility Registry Services
Alternative Names for this facility as reported by EPA programs in EPA’s Facility Registry Services
Cleanups in My Community provides an interactive map to see EPA cleanups in context with additional data, and lists for downloading data
Search RCRA Corrective Action Sites provides a search feature for Corrective Action Sites

Documents, Photos and Graphics

Contacts for this Facility

EPA Region implements and enforces the RCRA Corrective Action program for and federally recognized tribes.

For further information on this corrective action site, use the Contact Information for Corrective Action Hazardous Waste Clean Ups listings that are accessible through Corrective Action Programs around the Nation.

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