Rutgers agrees to clean probable carcinogens from Nease Chemical site near Salem

Staff report

YOUNGSTOWN

Rutgers Organics Corp. has agreed to complete the cleanup of the Nease Chemical Superfund site near Salem, estimated to cost $18.75 million, federal officials announced.

The agreement is in a consent decree filed Friday in federal court in Youngstown.

Under the consent decree, Rutgers, based in State College, Pa., also agrees to restore injured natural resources at the site and nearby areas at a cost of about $500,000.

Further, Rutgers will reimburse federal and state agencies for their past response and assessment costs of about $1 million.

“This agreement will undo the damage done in the past while preserving creeks and the [Little Beaver Creek] watershed for future generations,” said Carole S. Rendon, U.S. attorney for the Northern District of Ohio.

In a complaint filed with the consent decree, federal and state agencies allege that between 1961 and 1973, portions of the site were owned and operated by a chemical manufacturing plant known as the Nease Chemical Co.

Nease Chemical produced specialty products, including pesticides such as Mirex, a probable human carcinogen no longer produced in the United States.

Hazardous substances derived from these products were detected in the soil, groundwater, sediments, floodplains and wetlands in the area, as well as in the fish in the nearby Middle Fork of Little Beaver Creek.

Read more about the situation in Tuesday's Vindicator or on VIndy.com.