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Cabot/Koppers

Cabot/Koppers Video
Picture of operations at Cabot/Koppers Site

Watch a video highlighting cleanup and onsite activities at the Cabot/Koppers Site in Florida...

Cabot/Koppers
EPA ID: FLD980709356
Location: Gainesville, Alachua County, FL
Congressional District: 05
NPL Status: Proposed: 09/08/83; Final 09/21/84
Project Manager
Site Repository:
Alachua County Library
401 E. University Ave.
Gainesville, FL 32601
Documents:About Adobe Portable Document Format

Site Background:
The Cabot/Koppers Superfund Site located in Alachua County, Florida, covers 140 acres bridging two properties.  It is comprised of two sites, the Cabot Carbon Site and the Koppers Site.  The facility on the Koppers site, currently operated by Koppers Industries, has been an active plant since 1916, a wood-treating operation on 90 acres of the western portion of the site.  The Koppers facility historically has been used to preserve wood utility poles and timbers by using three different chemical solutions: creosote, pentachlorophenol and chromated copper arsenate.  Cabot Carbon formerly operated on the eastern portion of the site, on its own 50 acres, making charcoal from pine.

Because of poor waste handling practices in the past, groundwater in the vicinity of the site is contaminated with arsenic, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, and creosote compounds.  Approximately 2,000 people live within a ½-mile radius of the site, and there are 11 schools within a 1-mile radius of the site.  

Cleanup Progress: Actual Construction Underway
The Cabot/Koppers site was finalized on the NPL in 1983, and a ROD was signed for the Site in 1990.  In 1991, Cabot Carbon signed a Consent Decree to perform the cleanup on the former Cabot plant property and to repay its share of past costs.  Koppers Industries (Beazer East) refused to sign a Consent Decree, but agreed to perform the cleanup on their property under a Unilateral Administrative Order (UAO).  In 1991, the UAO was issued to Koppers and Beazer East, which was later amended in 1994.  Both parties have conducted investigations and have completed several cleanup actions.

In 1985, an initial surface water interceptor system was installed on the Cabot Carbon property to intercept phenol-contaminated surface water from entering the Main Street ditch, thereby preventing it from contaminating downgradient streams.  In 1994, contaminated sediment was excavated from the Northeast Lagoon.  In June 1995, Cabot Carbon completed construction of the final trench which intercepts contaminated groundwater from the shallow aquifer and discharges it to the Gainesville Regional Utility. The previous industrial operations on the Cabot Carbon property have been discontinued, and the Site has been redeveloped.  The area currently contains a commercial shopping mall, car dealership, and a series of smaller stores and businesses.

A surficial groundwater pump/treat system was constructed on the Koppers Industries property in February 1994, and operation of the system began in August 1995.  Removal of contaminated soils on the Koppers property, as required in the ROD, was delayed because additional investigation identified additional unknown sources of dense nonaqueous phase liquid (DNAPLs) and dioxin-contaminated soils within the Koppers Industry property.  Also, treatability studies showed that the selected remedy could not reach the soil cleanup criteria specified in the ROD.  As a result of the discovery, Beazer prepared a Supplemental Feasibility Study (SFS) in 1999, addressing the DNAPLs and dioxin contamination.  This feasibility study was revised by EPA in 2000.  In 2001, EPA drafted a proposed plan for a containment remedy at the Koppers site, which was rescinded in 2001 due to technical concerns related to the Site groundwater conceptual model.

In late 2001, further investigation of groundwater below the surficial aquifer was conducted, and in 2002, migration of contaminants into the Hawthorn Group was discovered.  Starting in 2003, Floridan aquifer monitoring wells were installed and sampled, and contamination was discovered in the Floridan aquifer in 2004.  In late 2005, Beazer began installing a network of deeper Floridan wells in the Upper Transmissive Zone.  The first sampling results became available in Spring 2006, which showed contamination within the Koppers property boundary.  In November 2006, Beazer began drilling Floridan wells in the Lower Transmissive Zone to serve as sentinel wells at the property boundary.  These wells primarily showed no contamination at the Site boundaries in the Floridan aquifer. 

Starting in late 2004, Beazer conducted a number of studies evaluating the feasibility of implementing removal and treatment technologies to remediate surficial groundwater and soils at the site.  Additional Operable Units (OUs) for the Cabot/Koppers site were designated (Cabot: OU1; Koppers surficial:  OU2; Koppers Hawthorn Group:  OU3; Koppers Floridan aquifer:  OU4).  Using all available information, EPA began conducting a Feasibility Study (FS) at OU2, scheduled to be completed in late 2006.   Beazer proposed a collaborative approach to formulating an FS for all OUs, and EPA put previous separate FS efforts on hold pending successful conclusion of the collaborative FS approach.  There has been two meetings in a series of meetings between EPA and Beazer to screen applicable technologies for all OUs.  The results are made available to the other stakeholders for their review.

On October 4-5, 2007, EPA and Beazer representatives met to begin technology screening efforts for the feasibility study (FS) development for all OUs at the Koppers portion of the Cabot-Koppers Site.  Meeting participants screened all applicable technologies (85 technologies for all OUs) for addressing contamination at the Site and prepared summary tables of these determinations along with reasoning for inclusion of/exclusion of applicable technologies. 

The second meeting in the iterative/collaborative FS process was in mid-December 2007.  At this meeting, EPA, Beazer, and FDEP representatives coupled the applicable technologies into possible comprehensive site-wide remedies and supplied these results to stakeholders for their review and comment.  In addition, meeting participants provided written responses to all written comments supplied by stakeholders from the first meeting.  The third meeting in the iterative/collaborative FS process took place on April 23-24, 2008.  Further refinement of possible site remedies was discussed and updates were made to technology considerations based on stakeholder comments received. An amended  ROD is scheduled to be completed for the Site by 2nd quarter of 2009 for the Koppers portion of the Site.  The Region detailed future plans for the Cabot/Koppers Superfund Site in a May 1, 2008, joint City of Gainesville Commission/ Alachua County Commission public meeting in Gainesville.  The fourth meeting of the joint FS group held on August 13-14, 2008 began firming up compliance details and refining technology alternatives in preparation for choosing one sitewide Koppers comprehensive remedy.

On June 23, 2008, Beazer submitted a proposed probabilistic risk assessment approach for soil and sediment.  FDEP and EPA provided preliminary comments on the proposed approach in July and August 2008.  Beazer East is currently installing two sentinel wells between the Koppers Site and the GRU Murphee wellfield.  Beazer East will submit a workplan for implementing two groundwater interim remedial measures in the surficial and Floridan aquifers.  Beazer East is also scheduled to submit a workplan to conduct off-site soil sampling and additional wells east of the Site to characterize additional Hawthorn group groundwater contamination.  All of these workplans should be submitted by October 2008.  Implementation of interim remedial measures for groundwater are scheduled to be implemented by late December 2008.     

It is assumed that there will not be another ROD amendment for the Cabot portion of this Site at this time.  However, as part of the 2006 Five-Year review recommendations for the Cabot portion of the Site, Cabot had to undertake additional remedial investigation and interceptor trench effectiveness evaluation to assure that the interceptor trench continues to be effective in remediating contaminants attributable to the Cabot Site.  If the additional Cabot study indicates that the interceptor trench does not continue to be protective, a ROD amendment will be necessary for the Cabot portion of the Site as well.  The Region received Cabot’s workplan to perform the required work on December 4, 2007.  The Cabot workplan was amended and re-submitted for the Region’s approval in May 2008.  The Region approved the Cabot workplan in June 2008.  Cabot performed the approved workplan in June 2008 except for one item related to groundwater interceptor trench effectiveness for which Cabot could not obtain site access. 

 

For information about the contents of this page please contact Brenda Lane

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