Brunswick Wood Preserving

Brunswick Wood Preserving Video

This video highlights cleanup activities at the Brunswick Wood Preserving Site in Georgia...

Brunswick Wood Preserving

EPA ID: GAD981024466
Location: Brunswick, Glynn County, GA
Congressional District: 01
NPL Status: Proposed: 12/23/96; Final 4/01/97
Project Manager
Site Repository:
Brunswick/Glynn Co. Regional Library
208 Glouchester St.
Brunswick GA 31523
Documents:

Site Profile
Administrative Record Index (All PDF): Removal (2 pp., 73K), OU1 (4 pp., 182K), OU2 (1 pp., 7K)
Additional Site Documents including Five Year Reviews, Records of Decisions (ROD) and Explanation of Significant Differences (ESD).
For documents not available on the website, please contact the Region 4 Freedom of Information Office (http://www.epa.gov/region4/foiapgs/submit.htm).

Site Description

Brunswick Wood Preserving, located in Brunswick, Glynn County, Georgia, is an 84 acre site which treated wood from 1958 until 1991. Wood was treated using pentachlorophenol, creosote, and CCA (chromium, copper, arsenic). In March, 1991, Georgia's Environmental Protection Division (GEPD) finalized the RCRA Facility Assessment of the site. However, the company declared bankruptcy in February of that year, and the following month EPA's Emergency Response and Removal Branch (ERRB) responded to a fire at the facility. Municipal wells and most, if not all, the private wells in the vicinity draw water from the deeper aquifer. In addition, the site is adjacent to the tidally influenced Burnett Creek.

Cleanup Progress:
Subsequent to the March, 1991 fire, ERRB began a removal action that lasted until April, 1995. During this removal action, all but a few of the site structures were demolished and removed; sludges were dewatered; wastewater was treated; drums and lab wastes were disposed offsite; poles, lumber, equipment, and scrap were recycled and/or salvaged; and large areas of contaminated soil and sludge were excavated. Excavated soils and sludge were stored in four waste cells created on site. The State of Georgia also conducted their own removal action in 1996-97, which consisted of having three of these waste cells transported and disposed offsite. A new railroad spur was installed on the site to facilitate the State's removal action.

Private wells have been sampled extensively in the area since 1991, but have not been impacted by the site. The Remedial Investigation and Feasibility Study (RI/FS) for this fund-lead site was completed in June, 2001 and the OU1 proposed plan presented to the public July 26, 2001. The OU1 Record of Decision was signed June 19, 2002. The proposed remedy for OU1 is Capping with Construction of Subsurface Barriers, and will primarily address site-wide soils and groundwater, while OU2 will primarily address Burnett Creek. The Remedial Design for OU1 was completed in November, 2004.

Funding for the OU1 Remedial Action was obtained in 2006, with a total of $5.7 million obligated to date and an additional $8.1 million scheduled for FY 2008. Construction for the OU1 remedy was begun in the summer of 2007, and at this time, the old creosote ponds at the site have been dewatered, excavated, and backfilled. The excavated pond sediments and site soils have been stockpiled onsite pending startup of the solidification treatment component of the remedy, anticipated in February 2008. The construction of the subsurface barrier walls will also begin in 2008.

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