The State Journal, Monday, January 28, 2002
SOUTH CHARLESTON – A “brownfield” is a polluted, former industrial property site. There are over 450,000 such sites across the country – many of them on what could be prime commercial property. One such site in West Virginia is the former FMC chemical plan in South Charleston.
The 27-acre riverfront site commands a large portion of the city and has sat largely empty since the company shut down the plan in 1985.
That will change soon, as FMC completes a $2.25 million environmental cleanup effort on a six-acre portion of the site later this spring.
Once the cleanup is completed, Joe Holland, Chevrolet-Volkswagen dealership will begin building a new $2.5 million, 45-bay service center on a portion of the site.
The Holzer Clinic next door will also begin work on an expansion.
The plans were announced at a press conference held on-site Jan. 7.
Jim Bodamer, remediation project manager for FMC, said the company is now preparing the surface and subsurface of the six-acre site.
“We expect to be completed by the end of May.” Bodamer said. “At that point, Joe Holland and Holzer will begin construction.”
Joey Holland, owner of the Joe Holland automobile dealership, said getting the additional space will allow him to keep his dealership in South Charleston.
“We were thinking of moving.” Holland said. “We were just out of space.”
U.S. Rep. Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va, who sponsored brownfield legislation while serving in the West Virginia Legislature, and has been active in getting a federal brownfield measure adopted, was on-hand for the announcement.
“It really is a win-win for everyone.” Capito said.
Congress passed the federal brownfield bill Dec. 20, 2001.
The bill has four components: relief for small businesses at Superfund sites; a near tripling of funding for brownfield redevelopment to $250 million per year; protection from liability for prospective purchasers of contaminated property and of adjacent property; and a barring of the federal government from bringing enforcement actions against property that is being reclaimed under state brownfield programs.
Bodamer said cleanup of the South Charleston FMC site has been done by the company without assistance from federal or state agencies.
The portion of the site currently being reclaimed was contaminated mostly by carbon tetrachloride, a common industrial solvent and cleaning agent.
Once cleanup of the site is completed, Bodamer said, it will be used for industrial development, however it would not be suitable for residential use.
“There will probably be restrictions on groundwater usage,” Bodamer
said.
”But it will meet the industrial cleanup standards.”
Testing is under way on the remainder of the site to determine what contaminants are present.
“We still have some pilot testing to do,” Bodamer said. “Once we get that done we will know how much it will cost to completely reclaim the site.”
South Charleston Mayor Ritchie Robb welcomed the efforts by FMC to reclaim and renovate the property.
“I think it will be a real eye-opener,” Robb said. “It will certainly not only upgrade the economic posture of the community, but also its appearance.”
Robb said FMC has always worked with the community and has been up front in its efforts to reclaim the facility.
“The company has been more than diligent in this project,” Robb said. “They have been an exemplary corporate citizen. They have kept us informed and have worked with us all along the way.”
Robb said the reclamation of the facility is another step in getting the economically hard-hit community back on its feet.
“There were 500 people employed at that facility when it shut down,” Robb said.
“In fact, that September, we had three hard licks – the Volkswagen plant closed that employed about 1,000 people, and we had a layoff at Union Carbide of about 500. Altogether we lost about 2,000 jobs in one month.”
Robb said the town still has a way to go in rebuilding its economy, but every step like this helps.