Superfund Sites in Reuse in Virginia
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Abex Corp.
The Abex Corp. Superfund site is in Portsmouth, Virginia. The Abex Corporation/Railroad Products Group (Abex) ran a brass and bronze foundry on site from 1928 to 1978. It recycled used railroad journal bearings and recast the metal to make new bearings. The disposal of foundry waste sands and emissions from the smelting furnaces contaminated site soil, surrounding residential yards, a playground and a rehabilitation center. EPA added the site to the National Priorities List in 1990. With EPA oversight, the potentially responsible party cleaned up the site. Cleanup activities included demolishing foundry buildings, removing contaminated soil and restricting land use. Remedy construction finished in 2022. The cleanup enabled the reuse of the cleaned-up area for public service, commercial, industrial and recreational land uses. In 2001, the community opened a fire department headquarters and training facility at the site. Redevelopment also included the Hampton Roads Community Health Center, a shopping center, other stores, a beverage distribution center and green space.
Last updated December 2023
As of December 2023, EPA had data on 11 on-site businesses. These businesses employed 81 people and generated an estimated $5,747,686 in annual sales revenue. For additional information click here.
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Arrowhead Associates, Inc./Scovill Corp.
The 30-acre Arrowhead Associates, Inc./Scovill Corp. Superfund site is in Montross, Virginia. From 1966 to 1979, Scovill Corporation and later Arrowhead Associates made cosmetic cases at a facility on site. From the early 1980s to 2005, Mattatuck Manufacturing made automobile wire harnesses on part of the site. Until the mid-1990s, A.R. Winarick used another part of the site to fill cosmetic cases. Operators discharged treated electroplating wastes to a nearby stream, Scates Branch. In 1986, Scovill Corporation led a short-term cleanup at the site. Testing found a groundwater plume under the site. It extends off site and into Scates Branch and the South Fork of Scates Branch. Studies also found contamination in the former disposal ponds. EPA added the site to the National Priorities List in 1990. Long-term cleanup activities included groundwater treatment with a reactive barrier wall, capping and soil vapor extraction. In 2020, EPA selected more cleanup activities for the site, including excavation and off-site disposal of contaminated soils and land and groundwater use restrictions. In 2021, the site was among those selected by EPA to receive cleanup funding under the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. With this funding, EPA is already initiating work on backlogged remedial construction projects and accelerating cleanups at NPL sites. Today, the site is in use. A nearby tactical training facility expanded its operations onto part of the site. The former Mattatuck Manufacturing building now hosts battle simulations and vehicle maintenance services for tactical driving courses nearby.
Last updated December 2023
As of December 2023, EPA had data on one on-site business. This business employed one person and generated an estimated $58,738 in annual sales revenue. For additional information click here.
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Atlantic Wood Industries, Inc.
The Atlantic Wood Industries (AWI), Inc. Superfund site is in Portsmouth, Virginia. It includes 50 acres of industrialized waterfront and part of the Southern Branch of the Elizabeth River. Wood-treating operations by AWI and activities by the U.S. Navy contaminated soil, sediments and groundwater. Contaminants include creosote, pentachlorophenol and heavy metals. EPA added the site to the National Priorities List in 1990. Several cleanup projects took place in the 1990s and 2000s, including an award-winning wetland restoration. Much of the $127 million cleanup is complete, including river dredging, soil treatment and capping, and some groundwater controls. Operation and maintenance activities are ongoing, and additional groundwater controls will likely be necessary. After Atlantic Wood Industries (now Atlantic Metrocast) stopped treating wood on site in the early 1990s, it started a pre-cast concrete manufacturing business on site. The business operated throughout the cleanup and is operating today. About the time cleanup started, a company bought part of the site to construct a privately funded toll bridge across the site and the river. The company conducted part of the cleanup on its land. Construction of the South Norfolk Jordan Bridge, a mile-long, 169-foot-high concrete bridge, finished in 2012. It replaced a dilapidated bridge that was no longer functional. Atlantic Metrocast produced pre-cast parts at the site for use in construction of the bridge. Another developer bought a nearby waterfront property that includes part of the site. This area includes a concrete recycling facility and two concrete mix plants.
Last updated December 2023
As of December 2023, EPA had data on one on-site business. This business employed 107 people and generated an estimated $18,260,036 in annual sales revenue. For additional information click here.
For more information:
- Site Redevelopment Profile: Atlantic Wood Industries, Inc. Site (PDF)
- Superfund Site Profile Page
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Video: Superfund Success - Atlantic Wood Industries & Former Nansemond Ordnance Depot
Avtex Fibers, Inc.
The Avtex Fibers, Inc. Superfund site is in Front Royal, Virginia. A synthetic fiber manufacturing plant operated at the 440-acre area from 1940 to 1989. Improper waste disposal practices contaminated groundwater, water wells and the Shenandoah River. EPA added the site to the National Priorities List in 1986. The potentially responsible party cleaned up the site. Cleanup included building demolition, demolition debris removal, sewer excavation, landfill/waste basin capping and contaminated soil removal. A treatment plant cleans up groundwater contamination caused by leachate from viscose basins. During cleanup, EPA’s Superfund Redevelopment Program awarded a grant to the community to support public participation in developing site reuse plans. EPA facilitated discussions with site stakeholders, including the Front Royal-Warren County Economic Development Authority (EDA), the United States Soccer Foundation and FMC Corporation. In 2001, the EDA restored an on-site administration building for its offices and other tenants, including the Northern Shenandoah Valley Regional Planning Commission. In 2006, site stakeholders worked together on soccer fields (the Skyline Soccerplex), a skate park and a picnic pavilion with a playground. The site also has a 240-acre ecological conservancy park along the Shenandoah River. EPA and the EDA worked together in 2014 to update land use agreements. The agreements allow for mixed use of site property, which will support future redevelopment efforts. In September 2014, EPA Region 3 presented FMC Corporation, Warren County and the EDA with its Excellence in Site Reuse award for enabling the area’s beneficial reuse. In 2019, the town of Front Royal built a new police station on site. As of Summer 2023, Warren County is planning on purchasing a portion of the site and building a public walking and biking trail (the Avtex River Trail).
Last updated December 2023
As of December 2023, EPA had data on 6 on-site businesses. These businesses employed 38 people and generated an estimated $1,579,500 in annual sales revenue. For additional information click here.
For more information:
- Recreational and Ecological Use at Superfund Sites Story Map
- Region 3 Excellence in Site Reuse Award: Avtex Fibers, Inc.
- Superfund Site Profile Page
- Video: See Community Involvement Coordinator, Larry Johnson, highlight the recreational reuse of the Avtex Fibers Superfund Site after decades of environmental cleanup:
C & R Battery Co., Inc.
The 11-acre C & R Battery Co., Inc. Superfund site is in Chesterfield County, Virginia. The C & R Battery Company ran a battery breaker facility on site from 1973 to 1985. In the late 1970s, the Virginia State Water Control Board found high levels of lead in surface water, soil and groundwater. EPA added the site to the National Priorities List in 1987. A potentially responsible party put the site’s remedy in place in 1992 and 1993. It included removal of contaminated soil and sediments, treatment of acid ponds, and removal of other contaminated debris. Following a final inspection and detailed review of Site data, EPA determined that the response at the C&R Battery Site is complete, and the Site was deleted from the NPL on August 17, 2022. Institutional controls restrict future land uses at the site to commercial and industrial uses. Current uses at the site include a vehicle storage for a recreational vehicle company and a construction company.
Last updated December 2023
As of December 2023, EPA had data on 4 on-site businesses. These businesses employed 50 people and generated an estimated $10,163,040 in annual sales revenue. For additional information click here.
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Chisman Creek
The Chisman Creek Superfund site is in York County, Virginia. The 27-acre area consists of three former sand and gravel pits. From 1957 to 1974, Yorktown Power Generating Station used the abandoned pits to dispose of ash left over from burning fossil fuels. Testing found contamination from heavy metals in groundwater and nearby Chisman Creek. EPA added the site to the National Priorities List in 1983. Under EPA and Virginia Department of Environmental Quality (VDEQ) oversight, Dominion Energy, the potentially responsible party, led cleanup activities. Cleanup included connecting nearby homes to the public water supply and placing a cap and soil cover over two areas of the site. It also included groundwater collection, modification of surface water drainage pathways and surface water monitoring. The cleanup preserved nearby wetlands and became part of a larger water quality improvement effort that led to the reopening of the Chisman Creek estuary for fishing. After cleanup, the PRP worked with EPA, the state, local officials and the community on plans for two parks at the site. Chisman Creek Park opened in 1991. Wolf Trap Park opened in 1992. The parks provide much-needed soccer and softball fields for the community. Wolf Trap Park is also home to the County Memorial Tree Grove, where people can remember and celebrate lost loved ones. The site was one of the first Superfund sites in the country, and the first Superfund site to be redeveloped after cleanup. EPA presented its State Excellence in Supporting Reuse award to VDEQ in 2017 to recognize redevelopment successes across Virginia, including at the site.
Last updated December 2023
As of December 2023, EPA did not have economic data related to on-site businesses, or economic data were not applicable due to site use. For additional information click here.
For more information:
- Video: In the Moment with Andrea Bain:
- Pioneering Recreational Reuse: The Chisman Creek Superfund Site in York County, Virginia (PDF)
- Superfund Site Profile Page
Culpeper Wood Preservers, Inc.
The 20-acre Culpeper Wood Preservers, Inc. Superfund site is in Culpeper County, Virginia. A wood treatment facility is active on site. Site activities and disposal practices resulted in the contamination of soil, sediment, groundwater and surface water. In 1981, Jefferson Homebuilders, the site’s potentially responsible party, removed contaminated soil and controlled contaminated runoff. EPA added the site to the National Priorities List in 1989. In 2019, EPA found that groundwater contamination still posed a threat to public health and the environment. The PRP completed a removal action at the site in 2022. The PRP connected 16 homes and businesses to a municipal waterline. The PRP also installed “stub outs” at 8 properties, abandoned private wells and converted select wells to monitoring wells. Culpeper Wood Preservers continues to operate its facility at the site.
Last updated December 2023
As of December 2023, EPA had data on one on-site business. This business employed 130 people and generated an estimated $8,666,667 in annual sales revenue. For additional information click here.
For more information:
Dixie Caverns County Landfill
The 39-acre Dixie Caverns County Landfill Superfund site is in Salem, Virginia. Roanoke County ran an unlicensed municipal landfill on site from 1965 to 1976. It accepted municipal and industrial waste. Facility operations contaminated soil and sediment. EPA added the site to the National Priorities List in 1989. Cleanup activities included the removal and disposal of debris, fly ash and contaminated soil and sludge. From 1993 to 1997, EPA led a second response action to address contaminated stream sediments and more soils. Sediment and soil were removed, stabilized and put in a landfill on site. The landfill, which includes a leachate collection system, was then capped, revegetated and closed. After cleanup, EPA took the site off the NPL in 2001. In 2012, the county put land use controls in place to limit potential exposure to contaminants and make sure the remedy is not disturbed. Operation and maintenance activities for the engineering controls and monitoring for leachate at the landfill are ongoing. The Roanoke County Police Department developed a police training facility on site. It includes a driving training course, a classroom building and an outdoor shooting range.
Last updated December 2023
As of December 2023, EPA had data on one on-site business. EPA did not have further economic details related to this business. For additional information click here.
For more information:
Former Nansemond Ordnance Depot
The 975-acre Former Nansemond Ordnance Depot Superfund site is in Suffolk, Virginia. Starting in 1917, the U.S. Department of Defense used the area for munitions storage, shipment, classification, reconditioning, loading and destruction. The depot closed in the early 1960s. Its operations contaminated soil, sediment and groundwater. EPA added the site to the National Priorities List (NPL) in 1999. Cleanup activities included the removal of munitions, explosives, contaminated debris, ordnance items and contaminated soil. They also included extending municipal water lines, putting interim land use restrictions in place, removing landfill contents and stabilizing shoreline areas. Cleanup is ongoing. Remedies are in place for 12 of the site’s 21 areas. To date, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE), as lead agency in partnership with EPA and the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality (VDEQ), has investigated hundreds of acres and removed 6,200 munitions items and 200,000 pounds of munitions debris, enabling the site’s return to beneficial reuse.
Today, site uses include residential, commercial, industrial and public service areas. There are more than 100 landowners. About 85% of the site is available for reuse. The Hampton Roads Sanitation District (HRSD) runs a wastewater treatment plant on-site. HRSD is home to the Sustainable Water Initiative for Tomorrow (SWIFT) Research Center, which opened its doors in May 2018. It initiated SWIFT to protect the region’s environment and to enhance the local groundwater supply through sustainable methods. SWIFT reserves highly treated water that would otherwise be discharged to local waterways and filters it through advanced carbon-based treatment processes to meet drinking water quality standards. The water is then added to the Potomac Aquifer, the primary source of groundwater for eastern Virginia. Once SWIFT is fully implemented in 2032, HRSD intends to recharge the Potomac Aquifer with up to 100 million gallons per day. In September 2022, USACE led a time-critical removal action to remove contaminated soil from the area where a new HRSD pipeline will be installed.
Brookwood Capital Partners’ recent cleanup of the site’s Main Burning Ground and GE Pond areas enabled the construction of a warehouse that supports the local port. EPA recognized this project with its Excellence in Site Reuse award in September 2023. The Virginia Department of Transportation is active on-site. Tidewater Community College’s Real Estate Foundation (TCCREF) and its Workforce and Development Center are also on-site. TCCREF has plans for a mixed-use commercial and residential development. The Suffolk Economic Development Authority recently redeveloped 55 acres of the site for high-density residential and commercial use. The Virginia Department of Social Services has offices on-site. The 338,000-square-foot RoadOne IntermodaLogistics facility opened on site in 2023. Other site uses include commercial offices, retail areas, industrial facilities, private schools and churches.
Last updated December 2023
As of December 2023, EPA had data on 34 on-site businesses. These businesses employed 999 people and generated an estimated $129,794,190 in annual sales revenue. For additional information click here.
For more information:
- Beneficial Effects Economic Case Study: Former Nansemond Ordnance Depot
- Region 3 Excellence in Site Reuse Award: Former Nansemond Ordnance Depot Site
- Superfund Site Profile Page
- Video: Former Nansemond Ordnance Depot Reuse Event
- Video: EPA recognizes excellence in VA Superfund cleanup
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Video: Superfund Success - Atlantic Wood Industries & Former Nansemond Ordnance Depot
Greenwood Chemical Co.
The 33-acre Greenwood Chemical Co. Superfund site is in the village of Newtown in Albemarle County, Virginia. From 1947 to 1985, Greenwood Chemical Company (GCC) made pharmaceutical chemicals, dye and paint intermediates, plant growth regulators, and photographic chemicals on site. These activities, including the storage and disposal of leaking drums and the operation of seven uncontrolled wastewater treatment/disposal lagoons, contaminated soil, groundwater, surface water and sludge with hazardous chemicals. Manufacturing activities ceased in 1985, after a toluene vapor explosion and fire that destroyed the process building and killed four workers. The Virginia Department of Health investigated the site in the early 1980s in response to reports of unauthorized and poorly managed waste disposal practices. By summer 1986, conditions merited an emergency response by EPA. EPA's emergency response actions included the excavation and disposal of about 500 buried drums, disposal of about 100 surface drums and 32 pressurized gas cylinders, drainage and treatment of liquids from three highly contaminated lagoons, and temporary capping of the drained lagoons. EPA added the site to the Superfund program's National Priorities List in 1987. The long-term cleanup plan included pumping and treating contaminated groundwater and surface water, demolishing former chemical manufacturing buildings, disposing of contaminated building materials, removing and disposing of contaminated soil, sludge and sediment, and removing and properly disposing of remaining chemicals. In March 2012, the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality took over operation and maintenance responsibilities at the site. Groundwater treatment, operation and maintenance activities, and periodic residential well sampling activities are ongoing. The site is fenced and provides forested wildlife habitat.
Last updated December 2023
As of December 2023, EPA did not have economic data related to on-site businesses, or economic data were not applicable due to site use. For additional information click here.
For more information:
Saunders Supply Co.
The 7-acre Saunders Supply Co. Superfund site is in Suffolk County, Virginia. A wood-treating plant was on site until 1991. Improper use, treatment and disposal of wood-treating chemicals resulted in contamination of soil and groundwater on site and off site. EPA added the site to the National Priorities List in 1989. Cleanup included disposal of contaminated material, soil incineration, groundwater monitoring and placement of use restrictions on the site property. Later, EPA included groundwater treatment to protect Godwin’s Millpond, a source of drinking water for the city of Suffolk. The Saunders Supply Company’s lumberyard remained open during the cleanup, which finished in 1999. Groundwater treatment and monitoring are ongoing. Saunders Supply Company continues to operate a lumberyard and store recreational vehicles on site. Contamination also affected an adjacent nursery. EPA built a small water treatment plant to treat groundwater and protect Godwin’s Mill Pond.
Last updated December 2023
As of December 2023, EPA had data on 3 on-site businesses. These businesses employed 20 people and generated an estimated $3,743,000 in annual sales revenue. For additional information click here.
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U.S. Titanium
The U.S Titanium Superfund site is on the north side of Piney River in Nelson County, Virginia. It includes 50 acres of a 175-acre titanium dioxide manufacturing plant that operated from 1931 to 1971. Byproducts of titanium dioxide manufacturing and heavy metals contaminated soil, surface water and groundwater. There were six major fish kills in the Piney and Tye Rivers from 1977 to 1981. Acidic groundwater seeps and acidic stormwater runoff from on-site waste piles and ponds contributed to these fish kills. EPA added the site to the National Priorities List in 1983. With EPA oversight, the site’s potentially responsible party removed and treated contaminated soil and placed it in a containment cell. The PRP also treated acidic stream beds and adjacent soil and built a groundwater treatment plant on site. The PRP is in the process of evaluating how to optimize the groundwater collection and monitoring program. Cleanup also included earthwork to reduce contamination resulting from rainwater flowing across the site. Institutional controls restrict well installation, disturbance of the remedy and public use of the site. In 2016, a debris mound was identified on site. Characterization of the mound found it contained contaminants in soil above health-based screening levels which required cleanup. This work was completed in 2022. A group of citizens in Amherst and Nelson Counties worked with local governments to obtain Rails-to-Trails grant funding. They converted the former Blue Ridge Railroad right of way on site into a hiking path and public recreation resource. Ecological resources on site include wetlands, ponds, streams and a river. This public access trail bisects the site and allows for public enjoyment of the area which connects the Piney River and Virginia Blue Ridge Railway.
Last updated December 2023
As of December 2023, EPA did not have economic data related to on-site businesses, or economic data were not applicable due to site use. For additional information click here.
For more information: