Agreement leads to interim cleanup plan for North Carolina superfund site

Through a newly announced settlement agreement with the Environmental Protection Agency and the Department of Justice, CTS Corp., Mills Gap Road Associates and Northrop Grumman Systems Corp. will fund an interim cleanup plan for an Asheville, North Carolina, superfund site.

The CTS of Asheville Inc. Superfund Site housed an electronics manufacturing and electroplating facility from 1952 to 1983, and as a result of solvents used at the facility the area’s soil and groundwater are contaminated with trichloroethene (TCE) and other volatile organic compounds.

Through the recently announced settlement agreement, the three companies will spend an estimated $9 million on an interim cleanup plan that is expected to reduce TCE concentrations on the site by 95 percent. The plan includes addressing approximately 208,250 cubic yards of contaminated material, located between the observed water table and the top of competent bedrock. The cleanup team will use Electrical Resistance Heating (ERH) to treat Non-Aqueous Phase Liquid (NAPL), a mixture of fuel oil and TCE, as well as In-Situ Chemical Oxidation (ISCO), which will also work to address the TCE contamination.

Air and groundwater will be monitored throughout the cleanup project to ensure the safety of cleanup workers and nearby communities.