WASHINGTON - U.S. Senator Roger Wicker, R-Miss., today recognized the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for its commitment to clean up the Rockwell International Wheel & Trim Site in Grenada by adding it to the Superfund Program’s National Priorities List (NPL).

“I commend Acting Administrator Andrew Wheeler and EPA for making this important designation,” Wicker said. “As part of the National Priorities List, the Grenada manufacturing site will be eligible for much-needed federal support to help stem the spread of contamination and protect the long-term health and welfare of the citizens of Grenada.”

Senator Wicker joined Representative Bennie Thompson to request the designation in November 2017 after visiting with residents of the Eastern Heights neighborhood association in August 2017.

Acting Administrator Andrew Wheeler announced the addition of the Grenada site today along with four other locations.

“In adding these sites to the NPL, EPA is carrying out one of our core responsibilities to the American people,” Wheeler said. “Cleaning up sites that pose risks to public health and the environment is a critical part of our mission and it provides significant health and economic benefits to communities across the country.”

The Rockwell Grenada site includes the 40-acre facility at 635 Highway 332 (commonly called Grenada Stamping and currently operated by Ice Industries, Inc.) and other areas where site-related contaminants have migrated or were disposed. Rockwell International, followed by Textron Automotive and later by Grenada Manufacturing, operated a wheel cover manufacturing and chrome plating facility on the property from 1966 to the early 2000s. In 2005, portions of the plant were leased to Ice Industries, which converted the facility to a metal stamping plant that continues to operate today.

“Adding the Rockwell Grenada Site to the NPL will advance a comprehensive cleanup to address all contamination—both at the facility and in the surrounding community—related to former operations,” said EPA Regional Administrator Trey Glenn. “EPA’s priority is to conduct the cleanup in a manner that allows the facility to continue to operate and protects the health of workers and nearby residents.”

Past operations, spills, and waste handling practices resulted in air, groundwater, surface water, and soil contamination. The solvent trichloroethene (TCE) has been found in the air inside the manufacturing building on-site, groundwater beneath the site and in the adjacent Eastern Heights neighborhood, a former disposal area associated with the facility, nearby wetlands, and Riverdale Creek.

The Grenada site’s designation is significant because, for the first time, EPA is listing sites on the NPL based on subsurface intrusion, or intrusion of contaminants into occupied spaces. With this change to EPA’s assessment process, the Grenada site is eligible for the long-term federal funding available to NPL designees. 

For more information on this announcement, read the EPA’s full press release here.