Remedial work at the former Nease Chemical/Rutgers Organics plant north of Salem at 1224 Benton Road (state Route14) in Mahoning County has halted due to the partial government shutdown. The 44-acre site, where Nease Chemical produced various chemical compounds between 1961 and 1973, including household cleaning compounds, fire retardants and pesticides (most notably mirex, a probable human carcinogen), is a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Superfund site. The facility contaminated soil and groundwater with hazardous substances. Ohio EPA Director Craig W. Butler said, “About 280-acres of habitat were contaminated by hazardous substances injuring surface and ground waters at the former Nease Chemical site.” Equipment was moved onto the site in September of 2017 to begin the cleanup. (Salem News photo by Larry Shields)

SALEM — In September 2016, Rutgers Organics Corporation agreed to pay $18.75 million for cleanup and $500,000 for restoration of injured natural resources at Nease Superfund Site north of Salem.

Remedial site work for damage done in the ’60s and ’70s, started in 2017 at 1224 Benton Road, came to a halt last month due to the partial government shutdown.

The work began 37 years after the preliminary assessment and site investigation was completed back in 1980.

The U.S. EPA can’t be reached for comment and its website says: Due to a lapse in appropriations, EPA websites will not be regularly updated.

Between 1961 and 1973, Nease Chemical produced various chemical compounds, including household cleaning compounds, fire retardants and pesticides (most notably mirex, a probable human carcinogen).

Rutgers acquired the assets of Nease Chemical in 1977 and since 1988 has cooperated with the EPA during the investigation and cleanup.

After Nease Chemical closed the facility in 1975, it drained ponds, removed 115 buried drums and 5,700 cubic yards of soil from two highly contaminated areas on site, and preliminarily assessed the nature and extent of contamination, the EPA said.

But surface water runoff carried contamination into the Middle Fork of Little Beaver Creek and Ohio EPA Director Craig W. Butler said, “About 280-acres of habitat were contaminated by hazardous substances injuring surface and ground waters at the former Nease Chemical site.”

Interim contaminant removal actions included installation of a leachate collection and treatment system, sediment barriers and surface water diversion structures, the EPA stated.

It noted that, “Sediment studies confirmed the effectiveness of these removal actions until they are part of the site’s final, long-term remedy. The removal system remains in operation.”

Historically, the site was proposed for the national priorities list in December of 1982 and placed there nine months later, according to the “site-wide milestones,” an EPA website legacy section for the Nease Chemical Superfund Site.

A remedy was selected in September of 2005, finalized three years later in September of 2008 with remedial action beginning in 2017.

Over the years, the U.S. Department of Justice, U.S. EPA, U.S. Department of Interior and the state of Ohio worked with Rutgers, reaching an agreement to complete the cleanup.

Rutgers has also agreed to restore injured natural resources at the site and nearby areas, at a cost of approximately $500,000 and will reimburse federal and state agencies their past response and assessment costs of about $1 million.

It will also fund a $366,000 trust to conserve a variety of lands in the Little Beaver Creek watershed, especially lands that are subject to pressures from new development in the area, to help provide valuable habitat.

Future milestones include completion of construction, deletion of the site from the national priorities list, a five-year review, and, finally, certification the site is ready for reuse and redevelopment.

For more information, visit epa.gov/neasechemical and to view the consent decree or to submit a comment, visit the justice department’s website: www.justice.gov/enrd/Consent–Decrees.html.

lshields@salemnews.net