MEMPHIS (AP) — The federal Environmental Protection Agency is proposing the addition of a former munitions factory in west Tennessee to a list of prioritized Superfund toxic cleanup sites, U.S. Rep. Steve Cohen said.
The EPA has proposed adding the National Fireworks site in the Memphis suburb of Cordova to its Superfund National Priorities List for removal of toxic chemicals detected in groundwater, Cohen, D-Memphis, said in a statement Thursday.
National Fireworks made flares, grenades, incendiary bombs and large caliber rounds for the U.S. Army and Navy from 1942 to 1945, the EPA said.
Metals and chlorinated solvent contamination have been identified in the soil and groundwater on the Superfund site, the EPA said. The 260-acre (105-hectare) site was redeveloped in 1986 as an industrial park.
The listing would make the site eligible for cleanup funding as one of the nation's highest priority contamination sites.
The site is "dangerously close to Memphis' Shaw Wellfield that provides drinking water to 79,000 people," Cohen said.