A Toxic Legacy
| Author | Heidi Nolte Brown |
| Pages | 48-52 |
48 | THE ENVIRONMENTAL FORUM Reprinted by permission from The Environmental Forum®, September/October 2021.
Copyright © 2021, Environmental Law Institute®, Washington, D.C. www.eli.org.
IT HAS been decades since four workers
engulfed in ames ed the Greenwood
Chemical Plant after highly volatile va-
pors exploded and caused a ash re that
closed the plant, revealing a toxic waste
dump that landed the site on the federal
government’s Superfund list. But ocials
overseeing the cleanup of the worst chemical di-
saster in Albemarle County, Virginia, say most of
the 33-acre property is cleared of contaminants and
ready for use. Overcoming the stigma associated
with a Superfund site is quite another challenge.
e tiny Greenwood Chemical Company, sit-
ting on a steeply sloped, wooded parcel at the foot
of Afton Mountain, employed no more than a dozen
workers and made chemicals used in industrial, agri-
cultural, pharmaceutical, and photographic processes.
Less than a mile from Pollak Vineyard on Newtown
Road, it’s only a few hundred yards from a scenic
overlook on Interstate 64 with breath-taking views of
the Blue Ridge Mountains and Rocksh Gap Valley.
“I would love to see it put to use,” said Michelle
Payne of the Virginia Department of Environmental
Quality, which took charge of the Greenwood clean-
up from U.S. EPA in 2012. “e county isn’t receiv-
ing any tax money from anyone for the property. It’s
just kind of sitting there.”
Eric Newman, EPA’s remedial project manager for
Greenwood for the past 15 years, headed up a ve-
year review of the site. e 30-page report, with input
from the Virginia Department of Health and DEQ,
was issued in 2018. He agrees with Payne about the
potential use of the property.
“Over the last ve years, the most important nd-
ing is that the site remains protected,” Newman said.
“We have success that the property is safe for all of
the uses — as far as agricultural, recreational, and in-
dustrial — that was part of the risk assessment.” e
property is usable again, but with limitations. ose
would include not using the water on site for cooking
or drinking; no residential use of the property; not
interfering with a pump and groundwater treatment
system; and making sure any habitable buildings con-
structed within 100 feet of contaminated groundwa-
ter have a foundation vapor barrier.
e plant was founded in 1947 by DuPont chem-
ist F.O. “Neil” Cockerille, who once blew o part of
his leg while working on an explosive used to detonate
car air bags. He sold the plant in 1967 and it became
known as Greenwood Chemical.
e plant had a history of problems long before
the fatal 1985 explosion that shut it down. Volunteer
TESTIMONY
A Toxic Legacy
Most of a 33-acre property in a historically
Black neighborhood in rural Virginia
is cleared of contaminants caused by a
defunct chemical company and is ready for
use. Overcoming the stig ma associated with
a Superfund site is quite another challenge
By Heidi Nolte Brown
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