ICG Iselin Railroad Yard

Overview

The ICG Iselin Railroad Yard covers 80 acres in Jackson, Tennessee. Railroad maintenance work dating to the early 1900s left lead contamination in both soil and groundwater. The EPA added the site to the National Priorities List in 1994 after the Tennessee Division of Remediation found contamination in 1990 and 1991. The site has since been deleted from the list, meaning cleanup goals have been met.

Cleanup happened in stages. Between 1998 and 1999, workers removed 716 tons of contaminated soil and placed a clay cap over a buried rail tie area. The EPA issued its long-term cleanup plan in November 1999. That plan relied on institutional controls, which are legal restrictions that limit how land and groundwater can be used. Those controls prohibit residential uses and ban the drilling of residential groundwater wells. Construction was finished by March 2000, and the site was deleted from the National Priorities List in January 2002.

Human exposure is under control, groundwater migration is under control, and physical construction is complete. A public water line serves residences and businesses at the site, so no one needs to rely on the contaminated groundwater below. The EPA and the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation determined that vapor intrusion from groundwater does not pose a threat to people in buildings on or near the site. Five-year reviews continue to check that the remedy keeps working, with the most recent review completed in September 2025.

The site is active and generating economic activity. The William Steel Company runs a steel fabrication facility on the property, and Norfolk-Southern continues to use it as a railroad yard. As of December 2024, two on-site businesses employed 22 people and brought in roughly $5.2 million in annual sales. The land is zoned for industrial and commercial use, and restrictions remain in place to prevent residential uses that would conflict with current cleanup levels.

Community members with questions can contact the EPA's Community Involvement Coordinator or Remedial Project Manager. Five-year reviews are the main ongoing mechanism for verifying that protections remain effective, and those reports are available through EPA's public information repository for the site.