Eastman plant site

OU-3 (the Eastman site) includes the facility and two adjoining, closed landfills located to the west of Anniston. An Interim Record of Decision (IROD) for OU-3 was issued Sept. 29, 2011.

An aerial view of Eastman’s Anniston facility.

A worker stands on a tarp covering dirt.

Remedial action

The remedial design (RD) and remedial action (RA) activities for OU-3 are complete, and long-term operation and maintenance are ongoing. This includes Solutia capping landfill areas, installing surface water controls and operating groundwater treatment systems.

Actions taken by Solutia to protect human health and the environment and work towards restoring groundwater include:

Install a new RCRA Subtitle C-compliant cap over cells 1E, 2E and 3E (the south landfill).

Install a cap over impacted soils in areas A, C, D and E in the site’s northern portion to eliminate the risk of skin contact, minimize the risk of soil leaching into groundwater, prevent erosion and direct stormwater away from the impacted areas.

Enhance institutional controls with a permit policy for excavations within the Eastman facility (particularly in area F in the northern part of the site).

Install perimeter fencing in the northeast part of the facility and along the southern portion of the employee parking lot.

Verify with samples that the PCB remedial goal is protective for dioxin toxic equivalency (TEQ) where dioxin TEQ includes dioxin-like PCBs, PCDDs and PCDFs.

Execute a contract with the Alabama Department of Environmental Management (ADEM) to restrict land and groundwater use in the OU-3 area as well as the north- and east-side properties (in the vicinity of monitoring wells OW-21 A and OW-10).

Monitor select wells for attenuation parameters to show continued natural attenuation of PNP and parathion.

Optimize and expand the existing groundwater corrective action system to prevent further contamination near OW-21 A and Area A (OW-10/OW-11).

Verify with confirmation samples that the principal threat waste (PTW) under cover in area B to the north has been removed.

Pretreat extracted groundwater using a carbon filtration system.

Allow filtered water to flow to the on-site equalization basin for discharge to the Anniston publicly owned treatment works.

Operate, monitor and maintain soil ICMs, caps, groundwater corrective action system, carbon filtration system and institutional controls to ensure long-term effectiveness.

A construction site at the Anniston facility.

Adjustments and verification

During the RD, an investigation was performed for the soil and groundwater remedies to address data gaps prior to the OU-3 remedy. Following are additional steps to be taken to fill the data gaps that were found.

Data verifications

Collect data to verify that PTW under area B has been removed.

Collect data to verify that there are no groundwater impacts in areas B, F and G.

Collect data to verify that the PCB remedial goal established by the EPA for OU-3 is protective for TEQ.

Remedy modifications

The cap required on impacted soils in areas C and D was described in the IROD as protective soil and vegetation, but this cover was modified to a densely graded aggregate cover during the RD.

The cap on area E was modified to allow the Anniston facility to construct a new building over part of the area.

PCBs exceeding acceptable limits were found adjacent to the recently constructed autoclave unit, and the RD/RA included a proposed cover system for the area.

A seep developed under the cap over the PCB cells, requiring a special collection and treatment system RD/RA to prevent PCBs possibly getting into the water.

Five-year review status update

The Second Five-Year Review determined that the OU-3 remedies were currently protective of human health and the environment. Soil remedies are in place, groundwater capture and treatment facilities are operating as intended, and institutional controls have been implemented to restrict exposure to soil and groundwater. To enhance protectiveness, the environmental covenant will be reviewed to ensure that the applicable areas are included.

Operations and maintenance

Regular maintenance performed by Solutia includes:

Collecting and sampling groundwater
Treating seep liquids from the south landfill
Performing routine inspections and engineering support
Maintaining caps and landfill covers
Performing fence repair and other property maintenance
Continuing operation of the groundwater extraction and treatment systems

Learn more

A person wearing gloves has their hands in grass.

Upcoming activities

Solutia is currently designing a new carbon treatment system to expand current capacity for seep flow located at the south landfill. This project has an estimated completion date of 2027.