Green River Disposal, Inc. is a 14-acre closed landfill in Daviess County, Kentucky, near the town of Maceo along the Ohio River. From 1975 to 1988, operators buried industrial wastes in ravines and covered them with soil. The facility had leachate outbreaks and underground fires before closing in 1984. EPA added it to the National Priorities List in 1990 after finding contamination in groundwater, leachate, and sediment, including a contaminated private well discovered next to the site in 1985.
EPA identified 27 contaminants of concern across three types of affected media. Leachate contains substances including benzene, arsenic, lead, cadmium, chromium, cyanide, and several other metals and chemicals. Sediment contains aroclor 1248, a polychlorinated biphenyl mixture, along with arsenic, lead, manganese, and other metals. Groundwater contains barium, beryllium, cadmium, and manganese. These contaminants pose unacceptable risk to human health or the environment and were targeted by cleanup actions.
Cleanup was split into two operable units. For the landfill and sediment, the 1994 cleanup plan called for capping the landfill, collecting and treating leachate, removing contaminated sediment, and containing buried wastes. The potentially responsible parties completed that work between 1996 and 1997. For groundwater, a 2000 cleanup plan established monitoring and institutional controls, including an environmental covenant prohibiting groundwater wells and structures on or near the cap. Those controls were put in place by 2010. Daviess County acquired a large portion of the site in 2007 to 2008 for potential use as a park, though no reuse activity has occurred.
Human exposure is currently under control across the entire site. Groundwater is not used for drinking water at or near the site. The landfill cap is maintained and monitored, and fencing surrounds the property. The site achieved sitewide ready for anticipated reuse status in January 2011. Five-year reviews have been conducted regularly since 2001, with the most recent completed in September 2021. The next review is scheduled between August and October 2026. EPA and the Kentucky Department for Environment Protection continue to oversee monitoring and maintenance.
Community members can stay involved through public notices, interviews, and public meetings that EPA uses to share updates and gather input. Documents related to the site are available through EPA's Superfund records system, and electronic copies are also held at the Owensboro County Public Library at 450 Griffith Avenue in Owensboro, Kentucky. Anyone with questions can contact EPA's Community Involvement Coordinator or Remedial Project Manager directly.
