Beloit Corp.

Overview

The Beloit Corp. site covers roughly 200 acres in Rockton, Illinois. The property was used for paper-making equipment manufacturing and research from 1957 to 1999. Industrial operations left soil and groundwater contaminated, and the EPA added the site to the Superfund National Priorities List in 1990. The site is split into two operable units for cleanup management. A partial deletion from the list was approved in December 2018, but the site has not been fully removed.

More than 140 chemical substances have been identified across groundwater, surface water, soil, and sediment. These include volatile organic compounds such as trichloroethene and tetrachloroethene, heavy metals including arsenic, lead, mercury, and chromium, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, PCBs, and pesticides such as DDT and heptachlor. The primary health concern is consumption of contaminated groundwater. Human exposure and groundwater migration currently have insufficient data to draw firm conclusions about whether they are fully controlled.

Cleanup actions have included a groundwater pump-and-treat system installed in 1996. The Illinois EPA has operated that system since 2002 and expanded it in 2008. Land-use controls were put in place on part of the site, prohibiting residential use and new water well installation. A lubricant manufacturer moved operations to the manufacturing area in 2008 and upgraded the facility. The most recent five-year review was completed in September 2023, and the next is estimated for fall 2028.

In June 2021, a large fire broke out at a specialty lubricants facility operating on the site. The fire created heavy black smoke visible for miles and prompted evacuation of businesses and residents within a one-mile radius. The EPA deployed air monitors, and the Illinois EPA collected groundwater, surface water, and soil samples. Testing found elevated metals in some groundwater monitoring wells. Sampling showed private wells are not affected by those metals. EPA and Illinois EPA are still assessing how the fire affected contamination at the site and what additional cleanup may be needed.

Redevelopment has brought new activity to the property. Eight businesses currently operate on site. Community members with questions can contact the EPA staff assigned to the site.