The Lammers Barrel Factory operated as a chemical recycling facility in Beavercreek, Ohio from 1953 until a fire closed it in 1969. The site stored chlorinated volatile organic compounds and aromatic hydrocarbons in aboveground tanks and drums. Contamination reached nearby residential drinking water wells by 1985, and 13 homes were later connected to public water as a result. The EPA added the site to the National Priorities List, which identifies the country's most serious contaminated sites, in September 2003.
EPA has identified 20 contaminants of concern in soil and groundwater at the site. These include volatile organic compounds such as benzene, trichloroethene, tetrachloroethene, toluene, vinyl chloride, ethylbenzene, and xylene. The site also contains polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, arsenic, polychlorinated biphenyls, and cis-1,2-dichloroethene. Human exposure is currently considered under control, but contaminated groundwater is still spreading and has not been stabilized.
The site is divided into two cleanup areas. The onsite area (OU1) is in active cleanup. EPA originally selected in-situ biological treatment for soil in 2011, but changed that to thermal treatment using electric resistance or thermal conductive heating in October 2023, after finding four times more contaminated soil than expected. Groundwater cleanup uses enhanced reductive dichlorination, with injection work beginning in March 2024 and monitoring planned through December 2025. Construction on the onsite area is estimated to finish between December 2026 and February 2027. The offsite area (OU2), covering groundwater migrating east of the facility, remains in the investigation and feasibility study phase, with no cleanup decision issued yet. Institutional controls prohibit residential development and drinking water wells on the site.
Community members can review site records at the Beavercreek Community Library at 3618 Dayton-Xenia Road, Beavercreek, Ohio 45432, or by calling 937-352-4001. The Ohio EPA's Division of Environmental Response and Revitalization also provides resources about contaminated sites in Ohio.
