Sangamo Electric Dump/Crab Orchard National Wildlife Refuge (USDOI)

Overview

This site sits within Crab Orchard National Wildlife Refuge in Williamson County, Illinois. It operated as an explosives and ammunition manufacturing facility during World War II and later hosted metal fabrication, chemical plating, and printing ink production. The EPA added it to the National Priorities List in 1987. Cleanup is organized into nine operable units, each targeting a specific area or type of contamination. Construction is not yet complete across the full site.

Contaminants affect soil, groundwater, surface water, and sediment. They include PCBs, metals such as lead, cadmium, chromium, and zinc, chlorinated solvents including trichloroethene and tetrachloroethene, pesticides such as aldrin and DDE, explosive residues like RDX and HMX, and volatile organic compounds including benzene and toluene. Fish advisories have been in place for a portion of Crab Orchard Lake since 1984. Use of contaminated groundwater for drinking is prohibited until it meets drinking water standards. The EPA has determined that human exposure is currently under control, but it cannot yet confirm whether contaminated groundwater migration is stabilized due to insufficient data.

Major cleanup actions completed to date include excavation and on-site landfill disposal of metals-contaminated soils, on-site incineration of about 117,145 tons of PCB-contaminated soils between 1990 and 2010, groundwater extraction and phytoremediation for chlorinated solvents, and removal of unexploded ordnance. From March 2024 to January 2025, contractors for a private potentially responsible party removed roughly 365 tons of pesticide-contaminated material and construction debris from four warehouses in Industrial Area 7, along with asbestos, mercury-containing light bulbs, and PCB-containing light ballasts. The PCB areas unit is still in long-term response action, with a feasibility study estimated to finish between September and November 2028.

The EPA's 2021 five-year review found that current remedies protect human health and the environment. A seventh five-year review began in January 2025 and is expected to conclude by June 2026. The site has not been deleted from the National Priorities List. Public records are available at the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service office in Marion, the Carnegie Public Library in Marion, and the Carbondale Public Library. Community members can submit comments or questions to the EPA Records Center at the Metcalfe Federal Building, Seventh Floor, EPA Region 5, 77 W. Jackson Blvd., Chicago, IL. Direct inquiries can go to the Community Involvement Coordinator or Remedial Project Manager.