Celebrating Success:
Landia Chemical Company
Lakeland, Florida

&EPA

Superfuncl

Redevelopment

Initiative

"... local residents will benefit from the
improved environmental quality and
reduced health risks."

- Stan Meiburg, EPA Region 4 Deputy
Administrator

Trees that clean ground water and provide
habitats for animals. (Source: EPA)

For more information, please contact
Melissa Friedland at

friedland.melissa@epa.gov or (703) 603-8864
or Frank Awisato at

awisato.frank@epa.gov or (703) 603-8949.

Thanks to early planning and active participation from responsible
parties, portions of the 13-acre Landia Chemical Company Superfund
site are now revitalized ecological habitats for native plants, wildlife
and pollinators.

The site includes two industrial properties located in Lakeland, Florida.
The Landia Chemical Company and Florida Favorite Fertilizer used
the site for pesticide and fertilizer blending operations for many
years beginning in the 1930s These operations, as well as storage of
various chemicals on site, led to contaminated soil, ground water and
sediments. EPA added the site to the National Priorities List in May
2000. By 2001, the potentially responsible parties (PRPs), under EPA
oversight, had removed 4,760 tons of contaminated soil and sediments
as an early action to address the most pressing contamination issues.
In 2011, the PRP group removed an additional 14,800 cubic yards
of soil and sediment as a part of the long-term soil cleanup. While
conducting the long-term cleanup, the PRPs took the extra step of
removing neighborhood "eyesores" by demolishing vacant, abandoned
buildings.

The PRP group worked with EPA to develop ecologically sustainable
cleanup approaches that enhanced the selected soil remedy to have a
greater impact on the eventual ground water cleanup. In order to help
reduce soil and ground water acidity, the PRP group filled excavated
areas with crushed limestone. The PRPs then placed a cover made of
clay and native vegetation on top of the clean fill that would reduce
stormwater infiltration. The vegetative cover offers dual benefits of
aiding remediation work and revitalizing the site's natural ecology.
Over 1,000 individual plants, including 30 varieties of grasses,
sagebrush, maple trees, slash pines and poplar trees, now populate
the site. These trees will remove contaminants through ground water
uptake and phytoremediation, as well as reducing the amount of
water that infiltrates into the water table beneath the cover Ecological
revitalization provides habitat for native animals, as well as migratory
birds and pollinators that add biological diversity to the area. To date,
members of the PRP group have successfully created ecological spaces
like this at other similar sites along the East Coast with the intention
of creating viable habitats for migrating birds and other wildlife. They
continue working with EPA to design effective solutions that transform
these formerly contaminated sites into ecological assets.

In 2013, EPA Region 4 selected the site for an "Excellence in Site
Reuse" award to recognize the extensive revitalization and ecological
reuse work performed by the site's proactive PRP group.

May 2014

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