A closed battery recycling plant is close to being delisted from the EPA’s Superfund list. The facility, located in Plant City, Fla., was formerly owned by Schuylkill Metals Corp.
``We have been monitoring the ground water to verify that the there are no more contaminates. The soil has been stabilized,'' said Galo Jackson, project manager for the EPA. The EPA has been overseeing the project.
The Schuylkill Metals plant closed in 1986 after serious levels of lead, sulfuric acid and other contaminants were found in the ground.
The company cracked open batteries at the plant and allowed contaminates to seep into the soil for years, Jackson said.
The site was used as a battery cracking site for all of Florida from 1972 through 1986 before antipollution legislation was put in place. During the late '80s the site was put on the Superfund national priorities list, but cleanup did not begin until 1993. The Superfund list includes the nation's worst hazardous waste locations.
Arrow Electronics, the parent company of Schuylkill Metals paid for the cleanup, which was undertaken by Entract, an Irving, Texas, contractor that specializes in treating ground contamination. The cleanup was completed a number of years ago, but it was only recently that the EPA declared that the site is safe.