Located within the heavily polluted West Virginia Ordnance Works facility, this small manufacturer of resins had its own wealth of environmental problems.
History
When the West Virginia Ordnance Works was in operation from 1942 to 1945, it heavily polluted the ground with chemicals on 8,000 acres north of Point Pleasant, West Virginia. When the factory closed after the war, the land was seeded over to the local government who, until 1979, was blind to the problems. Chemicals were seeping into the ground, the contaminant going into wells and destroying wildlife. In 1983, the land at the former Ordinance Works facility was put on the EPA’s National Priority List.(1)(2)
But before this, a small fraction of this land was given over to Pantasote Incorporated, which began its West Virginia operations in the 1960′s. They manufactured resins in an 80-acre plot north of WV 62. After the factory closed in 1986, it was discovered that the plant had contaminated the ground water in the vicinity with trichloroethene.(1)
Gallery
Sources
- United States. Environmental Protection Agency. EPA, GENCORP SIGN AGREEMENT TO PROTECT PT. PLEASANT WATER SUPPLY. 6 Nov. 1997. EPA Environmental News. 6 Nov. 1997. 27 Sept. 2005 Article.
- United States. Cong. Congress. West Virginia Ordnance Works, West Virginia. 1996. Defense Environmental Restoration Program. 11 Mar. 1996. Department of Defense. 27 Sept. 2005 Article.
No comments yet.