United Stales
Environmental Protection
Agency

OLEM/OSRTI
Washington, DC 20460

*** NPL Site***

March 2022

BEAR CREEK SEDIMENTS Sparrows Point, Maryland

Baltimore County

(f) Site Location:	

The Bear Creek Sediments site consists of a minimum of 60 acres of contaminated sediments in the waters of Bear Creek,
near its confluence with the Patapsco River along the northwestern shore of the Sparrows Point peninsula six miles
southeast of downtown Baltimore in Baltimore County, Maryland.

xl Site History:	

Bear Creek is a tidal surface water body adjacent to the 3,100-acre Sparrows Point peninsula, which was the site of
steelmaking and ship building industries. The Bethlehem Steel Corporation (BSC) was the primary owner and operator
for much of the Sparrows Point operational history between 1887 and 2013. More than 100 years of steelmaking left
behind a legacy of contamination on both land and in the waters surrounding the peninsula. Sediments in Bear Creek
were contaminated primarily by the migration of substances associated with slag (a byproduct of steel making which was
used as fill to create additional landmass) and the effluent discharges from process wastewater and stormwater to the Tin
Mill Canal (TMC). The TMC is a nearly 2-mile canal carved out of slag fill that transects Sparrows Point and discharges
to Bear Creek.

I Site Contamination/Contaminants:

Hazardous substances detected in the sediments of Bear Creek and attributable to the historical activities at Sparrows
Point include polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) such as benzo(a)pyrene; metals such as arsenic, cadmium,
copper, lead, nickel, and zinc; and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs). Oil and grease have also been observed in the
sediments of Bear Creek in such high percentages that benthic invertebrate organisms cannot survive.

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