Mid-South Wood Products sits on 57 acres in Mena, Polk County, Arkansas. It ran as a sawmill and wood-treating plant from the late 1930s until wood-treating operations stopped in 1990. A fish kill downstream in 1976 triggered investigations that uncovered serious contamination. EPA added the site to the National Priorities List (NPL) in 1983. The site remains on the NPL today and has not reached sitewide ready-for-reuse status.
The site used three wood preservatives: creosote, pentachlorophenol (PCP), and copper chromium arsenate (CCA). EPA has identified 23 contaminants of concern across multiple media. Soil holds nearly all of them. Groundwater contains more than half, including naphthalene, pyrene, anthracene, and arsenic. Surface water shows PCP, arsenic, and several polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs). Sludge and liquid waste also carry multiple contaminants. Arsenic and chromium are among the metals present at the site.
Cleanup construction ran from 1988 to 1989. Workers excavated heavily contaminated material, consolidated contaminated soils on-site under a protective cap, and installed a groundwater pumping and treatment system. A Consent Decree finalized in March 1988 guided these activities. The groundwater treatment system ran until 2006, and EPA is currently evaluating whether to restart it. The cap and groundwater monitoring are still active. The site is organized into two operable units. A supplemental remedial investigation for one of those units began in August 2019 and remains ongoing.
Human exposure is currently under control across the entire site. There are no unacceptable exposure pathways, and groundwater migration is stabilized with no unacceptable discharge to surface water. The physical construction of the cleanup is complete. However, long-term protectiveness requires reevaluation of the groundwater remedy and an amended Record of Decision. EPA conducted its most recent five-year review in September 2023 and estimates the next review between September and November 2028. A new owner purchased the property and currently uses it to store roofing materials. Fencing and land use controls are in place.
Community members with questions can reach EPA's Community Involvement Coordinator or the Remedial Project Manager. For state-level questions, contact the Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality. Key documents and publicly available records can be found through EPA's Superfund database.
