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Public Meeting For Kerr-McGee Clean-up Plan

News4Jax

The Environmental Protection Agency is holding a community meeting Wednesday for input on clean-up plans for a contaminated site on the eastside of springfield.

The meeting is from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. at the Matthew W. Gilbert Middle School auditorium.The public is encouraged to attend and make public comments on the proposed cleanup plan.

The Kerr-McGee Chemical company made fertilizer and pesticides on the site until the late 1970s, leaving polluted water and soil behind. The EPA placed the site on the National Priorities List in 2010.

Eastside Environmental Council President Wynetta Wright told our partner News4Jax, the superfund site is a hazard.

“This is very important because of the contaminants that people are being exposed to,” she said. “Even in the Talleyrand area when you have down winds or winds that blow it’s only a mile away from the community and two neighborhood schools.“

Wright says it’s ruining the environment.

“The contaminants are leaching out of the soil into the river’s sedimentation and it runs 150 feet out in the St. John’s River,” she said.

Emailed comments should be sent to EPA remedial project manager Robenson Joseph at joseph.robenson@epa.gov or mailed to him at the Atlanta Federal Center by Oct. 12.

Reporter Andre Roman can be reached at newsteam@wjct.org or on Twitter @adromanify

Andre Roman is a senior studying multimedia journalism at the University of North Florida. He is also the creator/host/producer of the the radio/podcast show One Tank Radio.