The L.A. Clarke & Son site in Spotsylvania County, Virginia operated as a wood preservation facility from 1937 to 1988. Workers treated railroad ties, telephone poles, and fence posts with creosote and coal tar. Those operations left polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), benzene, creosote, and benzo[a]pyrene equivalents in soil, sediment, and groundwater. EPA added the site to its Superfund National Priorities List in June 1986. The site is divided into five operable units covering site security, remediation and disposal, water controls, soils, and groundwater.
A lot of cleanup work has already been done. Process buildings came down in 1993, and a wastewater impoundment was decommissioned in 1997. Contaminated sediments were excavated from drainage ditches and floodplain areas in 2001. Soil remediation wrapped up in August 2024 and moved into an operation and maintenance phase. Recovery wells were installed starting in June 2022 to pull subsurface creosote out of the ground. The potentially responsible party is Commonwealth Atlantic-Spotsylvania Inc.
Groundwater cleanup is the remaining major task. Contaminated groundwater has been detected south of Massaponax Creek, and dense non-aqueous phase liquids (DNAPLs), a heavy form of creosote-related contamination, still sit in soil below the former process area. Groundwater removal activities are estimated to finish between December 2026 and February 2027. A final remedy decision for groundwater is estimated between May and July 2027, with remedial design work to follow. Human exposure is currently under control, but groundwater migration has not yet been stabilized. Institutional controls such as zoning restrictions have not yet been put in place.
The most recent five-year review was completed on July 26, 2025. It found that remedies for Operable Units 1 and 2 protect human health and the environment over the long term. The remedy for Operable Unit 4 is protective in the short term and will be protective long term once institutional controls are in place. The next five-year review is expected in summer 2030. Physical construction of all cleanup systems is not yet complete, and the site has not been deleted from the National Priorities List.
Community members can get involved through EPA's Community Involvement Program. Site records are available at the C. Melvin Snow Memorial Branch Library at 8740 Courthouse Road in Spotsylvania, the County Administrator's Office at 9104 Courthouse Road in Spotsylvania, or at the EPA Region 3 office in Philadelphia. To schedule an appointment at the EPA office, call (215) 814-2396.
