US EPA announces prospective purchase agreement for Mississippi Phosphates plant site

HOUSTON (ICIS)–The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the US Department of Justice (DOJ) and the Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality (MDEQ) are proposing to enter into a prospective purchaser agreement with Seven Seas Terminals for the former plant portion of the Mississippi Phosphates Corporation (MPC) Superfund site.

Located in Pascagoula, Mississippi, the MPC site is a former diammonium phosphate (DAP) fertilizer operation that commenced in the 1950s but ceased in December 2014 leaving contaminated wastewater stored at the facility and impacts to the ground.

The EPA said as a result of former phosphate ore processing, which included phosphoric and sulphuric acid plant operations, the soil at the site is contaminated primarily by heavy metals, radium-226 and low pH. Groundwater beneath the former plant contains elevated metals concentrations and low pH.

An environmental trust managed wastewater treatment at the site after MPC filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in 2014, but the EPA assumed oversight when the trust became insolvent and then placed the site on the Superfund National Priorities List in January 2018.

It since has been overseeing an expensive treatment campaign.

Seven Seas plans to purchase and redevelop the former MPC manufacturing plant area as a dry bulk storage and tank terminal operation. The demolition and construction work will require several years and is anticipated to create 25-30 jobs when complete.

Under the agreement, Seven Seas will conduct a removal action under EPA oversight that includes demolition of the sulphuric acid plants, and demolition and/or re-use of the phosphoric acid plant, DAP plant and two bulk storage warehouses.

Seven Seas will also have to install an impermeable cap as a containment control for the area proposed as a tank terminal operation, and undertake soil sampling under demolished structures with responsibility for removal, treatment or containment outside of the capped area.

It will also make payment for the EPA’s oversight costs and allow the agency continued access to support their response actions on other portions of the site.

Seven Seas will be provided with legal protections against Superfund liability for legacy contamination at the site.

The agreement is subject to a 30-day public comment period ending on 20 September.