35th Avenue Superfund Site

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The is a federally-designated area encompassing parts of the Collegeville, Harriman Park and Fairmont neighborhoods in the vicinity of 35th Avenue North. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency determined in 2014 that high levels of soil pollution made the area eligible for access to a large fund (the "Superfund") of federal money earmarked by the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act of 1980 for clean-up of highly-contaminated areas.

Neighborhood leaders, such as Maxine Parker, led early efforts to draw attention to the possibility that residents' health was being negatively affected by industrial pollution.

Soil sampling conducted by Walter Coke in 2011 identified unhealthy levels of toxic pollutants including arsenic, lead, and Benzo[a]pyrene, a hydrocarbon produced during combustion. The EPA responded to the reports and initially referred to the investigation as the Walter Coke Site. It was later renamed because of the other plants that likely contributed to the pollution. The agency identified two coke oven plants, asphalt batch plants, pipe manufacturing facilities, steel producing facilities, quarries, a coal gas holder and purification system facility, and the Birmingham-Shuttlesworth International Airport as potential contributors to soil pollution resulting from airborne contaminants as well as contamination of Five Mile Creek. Investigators later learned that residential developers used slag from industrial suppliers to raise low-lying flood-prone lots. There were 3,585 residents living in the affected area at the time of the 2010 census, almost all of them African-American. 589 were children under the age of seven.

Along with soil testing and investigation, the EPA has worked with the Jefferson County Department of Heath and the U.S. Health Department's Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry to test residents' blood for lead poisoning and other adverse health conditions attributable to environmental pollutants. The County Health Department's analysis failed to find a statistically significant pattern when comparing samples from the Superfund area to data from demographically similar populations outside the area.

On September 20, 2013 the EPA notified Walter Coke and four other businesses that they were being considered as "potentially responsible parties". That designation and the legal liabilities that it entails have been challenged by those businesses, and none have voluntarily participated in remediation efforts or negotiated to reimburse the EPA. In 2014 the EPA proposed to accelerate clean-up efforts by placing the site on its "National Priorities List". Under that provision, the State of Alabama could be made responsible for shortfalls in assessments made to the businesses deemed responsible. The listing was opposed by the Alabama Department of Environmental Management on the stated grounds that such a designation could harm property values and economic development opportunities in the affected neighborhoods. Then Alabama Attorney General Luther Strange wrote the EPA that. "The State of Alabama has been unmistakably clear that no State money will be expended to assist in any clean-up effort at the 35th Avenue Superfund site." Then State Representative Oliver Robinson also argued against the listing before the Alabama Environmental Management Commission. It was also opposed by the Jefferson County Commission. The site has not been not added to the National Priorities List.

Clean-up efforts conducted under the EPA's supervision have focused on removal and replacement of contaminated topsoils. Rick Jardine has served as the agency's On-Scene Coordinator.As of April 2017 approximately 30,000 tons of soil had been removed from 280 properties, while another 235 parcels have been identified as eligible for clean-up. That effort is expected to continue through 2020 at an estimated total accrued cost of around $20 million.

Potentially Responsible Parties

See also

References

External links

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