The Sharon Steel Corp Farrell Works Disposal Area covers about 330 acres in Hermitage and Farrell, Pennsylvania. Steel manufacturing waste was deposited there from 1900 to 1992, leaving soil, slag, sludge, sediment, and groundwater contaminated across a site that borders the Shenango River. EPA added it to the National Priorities List in 1998 after the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection linked site contamination to a depressed biological community along at least 11.5 miles of the river.
Contaminants include a wide range of metals such as arsenic, lead, cadmium, chromium, mercury, and manganese. Organic contaminants include polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), dioxins and furans, vinyl chloride, and DDT. Pesticide residues such as endrin and heptachlor epoxide are also present. These contaminants appear in soil, groundwater, sediment, sludge, and solid waste across both operable units. The primary human health risk comes from exposure to windborne dust. Groundwater flows toward the Shenango River rather than toward residential wells, so it does not affect residential water supplies. EPA has determined that human exposure is currently under control across the entire site.
Cleanup is organized into two operable units. Operable Unit 1 covers the main area. A cleanup plan was set by a 2006 Record of Decision and updated in 2022. It calls for consolidating slag and waste, applying an engineered soil cover enhanced with biosolids, restoring the streambank, constructing wetlands, and monitoring groundwater, surface water, and sediment. Construction in the northern portion began in 2018 and was physically completed in spring 2021, with revegetation and wetland plantings finished that same year. Remedial action for Operable Unit 1 was completed in August 2022, and operation and maintenance is estimated to begin between December 2025 and February 2026. Operable Unit 2 covers an asphalt plant area. Its cleanup remedy, finalized in 2013, included an engineered cap and drainage controls. The area was covered with clean material by April 2019, and remedial action finished in May 2020. Operation and maintenance there is already underway. Sitewide construction is estimated to finish between January and March 2028. EPA completed a Five-Year Review in November 2021, with the next one estimated for late 2026 or early 2027. Institutional controls at both units restrict residential land use and prohibit using groundwater as drinking water.
Three businesses currently operate on site, employing nine people and generating about 3.2 million dollars in annual sales. EPA has worked with local businesses since 2000 to recover and reuse slag for construction and road projects.
Community members can get involved through EPA's Community Involvement Program. Fact sheets from 2006, 2012, and 2018 are available, and public meetings were held in 2006 and 2012. Documents can be reviewed online or at the Stey-Nevant Library in Farrell, Pennsylvania, or at the EPA Region 3 office in Philadelphia. For questions, residents can contact the EPA staff assigned to the site.
