Jasper Creosoting Company Inc.

Overview

The Jasper Creosoting Company Inc. site is an 11-acre former wood treatment facility in Jasper, Texas. It operated from 1946 to 1986 using creosote and pentachlorophenol (PCP). Those operations left soil, sediment, and groundwater contaminated with hazardous chemicals. A 1981 investigation tied the facility's discharges to a fish kill in Sandy Creek. The site was added to the EPA's National Priorities List (NPL) in July 1998, which flags it as a priority for cleanup.

EPA has identified 43 contaminants of concern spread across soil, groundwater, and surface water. These include creosote-related compounds such as naphthalene, benzene, and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), along with pentachlorophenol, heavy metals like arsenic and thallium, and dioxins including 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin in soil. All contamination is addressed as a single site-wide operable unit.

Between 1996 and 2006, three removal actions excavated contaminated soil, sediment, and surface water from the drainage ditch, a wetland inlet, and a waste cell. The long-term cleanup plan, finalized in a 2006 Record of Decision (ROD), includes institutional controls limiting land use, long-term groundwater monitoring, a hydraulic containment system, and a dense non-aqueous phase liquid (DNAPL) recovery system. A technical impracticability zone was established where restoring groundwater to drinking water standards was judged impractical. Construction of those remedies finished in September 2008. The site reached "sitewide ready for anticipated reuse" status in May 2014. The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) now handles operation and maintenance.

The most recent EPA five-year review, completed in August 2023, found the site protective of human health and the environment in the short term. Human exposure is under control, and contaminated groundwater is stabilized with no unacceptable discharge to surface water. However, the review identified four items needing follow-up: groundwater and surface water cleanup standards need reassessment because regulations have become more stringent since 2006, routine surface water monitoring in the forested wetland needs to be established, and the waste treatment plant exceeded required treatment levels on two occasions. A next five-year review is estimated between August and October 2028.

Community members can review the full 2023 Five-Year Review Report online at https://semspub.epa.gov/work/06/100029403.pdf or in person at the Jasper Public Library, 175 East Water Street, Jasper, Texas 75951. The library can be reached at (409) 384-3791. For general questions, contact the EPA Community Involvement Coordinator or TCEQ at (512) 239-2463 or (800) 633-9363.