Broderick Wood Products

Overview

The Broderick Wood Products site is a 64-acre former wood treatment facility in Adams County, Colorado. The facility operated from 1947 to 1982, treating power poles, fence posts, and railroad ties with creosote and pentachlorophenol. The EPA placed the site on the National Priorities List (NPL) in September 1984.

Contamination affects both soil and groundwater. Surface impoundments contain polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) such as anthracene, benzo(a)pyrene, and pyrene, along with metals including arsenic, cadmium, copper, and lead, chlorinated dioxins and furans, and volatile organic compounds like benzene, toluene, and xylene. Soils and groundwater contain naphthalene, pentachlorophenol, trichloroethene, tetrachloroethene, phenol, various PAHs and cresols, and additional metals. The site is divided into four operable units covering surface impoundments, soils and groundwater, Union Pacific property, and a sitewide category.

Major cleanup work ran from 1989 to 1996 and included removing contaminated sludges, demolishing buildings, excavating soils into land-treatment units, installing a groundwater treatment system, adding a bio-venting system, and covering the property with one foot of soil. A 2003 to 2004 railroad embankment project added cutoff walls on both sides of the property. By 2006, soils in the treatment units had reached acceptable cleanup levels. Two businesses currently operate on-site, employing 23 people and generating an estimated $9,614,000 in annual sales.

Despite that progress, the most recent five-year review, completed in September 2021, found the remedy is not fully protective of human health and the environment. Since 2009, the remedy has operated on a limited basis with no groundwater monitoring, and EPA cannot yet confirm whether contaminated groundwater migration is stabilized. The site has not been deleted from the NPL.

In April 2024, an Administrative Order of Consent was issued for soils and groundwater work. A feasibility study began in July 2024 and is expected to finish between September and November 2027, with final remedial action estimated to start between September and November 2028. The next five-year review is scheduled for July through September 2026. EPA and the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment (CDPHE) are working together to return the site to full operations, maintenance, and monitoring.

For questions, contact the EPA Community Involvement Coordinator. Site records are available at the EPA Superfund Records Center in Denver or through CDPHE's records center.