Officials update public on work at contaminated Yadkin site

(Image: The Winston-Salem Journal)

YADKINVILLE, N.C. — Emergency environmental cleanup of the closed Holcomb Creosote Co. off U.S. 601 has cost the Environmental Protection Agency about $3.5 million so far, and the agency is trying to get the site placed on the Superfund’s National Priorities List to do long-term cleanup.
The business closed in 2009. For more than 50 years, it treated wood to make it more resistant to rot, using distilled coal tar.
EPA officials met with the public Tuesday night to give an update on the work. About 60 people showed up for the meeting at the Yadkinville Volunteer Fire Department.
Monecia Thomas, Yadkin County’s health director, said there have been no reports of anyone getting sick from contamination at the site.
Cleanup started in January 2011. Workers dismantled the plant, disposed of 4 pounds of elemental mercury, and excavated and disposed of 2,200 tons of contaminated soil. They removed tanks containing creosote sludge and oil and did other emergency work to stop further contamination of a tributary creek, which is behind the plant and flows into Dobbins Mill Pond.
This article was written by Monte Mitchell and originally published by The Winston-Salem