Former Solder Plant Undergoing Clean-up

City Manager - Nov.1, 2007
Contact: Greg Turner, 747-6866

The Environmental Protection Agency is supervising a cleanup that began this week of contaminated soil along the banks of an unnamed creek behind the former Industrial Metal Alloys Company solder plant at 20 E. Acadia Ave.

Sampling at the site in 2005 confirmed that soil around the plant and in 40 feet of the creek bed is contaminated with high levels of lead. The creek bed downstream of the plant has been tested and is not contaminated. Nonetheless, the city’s Stormwater Division will be monitoring the creek during the clean up and after for any signs of contamination downstream arising from the cleanup. The city is notifying residents in the area around the cleanup site.

The plant operated from 1956 to 1993. The EPA evaluated the site in 2005 at the request of the N.C. Department of Environment and Natural Resources. In 2006, NK Holdings LLC, the corporate successor to Industrial Metal Alloys, signed a consent agreement with the EPA to excavate and restore the contaminated soil around the plant and in any affected residential yards. EPA officials have contacted nearby residents about the cleanup. Excavation activity began Monday, Oct. 29 by contractors hired by NK Holdings. AN EPA representative is onsite during all removal activities.

The site has been fenced off and is locked at all times. Information about the progress of the cleanup is available online at www.epaosc.net/IMACO. For more information about the causes and effects of lead contamination, as well as ways to protect yourself from lead exposure, go to www.epa.gov/lead, or call (800) 424-LEAD.