On July 9, 2013, a consent decree between the United States and Beazer East, Inc. was approved by the United States District Court for the Northern District of Florida, Gainesville Division, to complete cleanup work at the Cabot/Koppers Superfund site in Gainesville, Fla. at an estimated cost of $55 million.

Information about the Company
Information about the Cabot/Koppers Superfund Site
Pollutants and Environmental Effects
Summary of Consent Decree
Contact Information

Information about the Company

Beazer East was incorporated in the State of Pennsylvania and owns Superfund sites and other environmental liabilities for Beazer/HiedelbergCement AG.  Beazer East holds the liability for the wood treater that formerly operated at the Cabot/Koppers Superfund Site.

Information about the Cabot/Koppers Superfund Site

The Koppers portion of the Cabot/Koppers Superfund Site, a 140-acre site, is located in Gainesville, Fla., and includes two properties: the Koppers area, covering 90 acres on the western side of the site, and the Cabot Carbon area, covering 50 acres on the eastern side of the site. Commercial businesses and apartments border the site to the north and south, undeveloped land borders the site to the east and single-family homes border the site to the west. A wood treating facility operated on the Koppers portion of the site from 1916 until 2009. Cabot Carbon operated a charcoal production facility on the Cabot Carbon portion of the site. In 1984, EPA listed the site on the National Priorities List.

The Cabot portion of the site was addressed in a previous settlement and has been redeveloped.

Additional information is available on the Cabot/Koppers Superfund Site Web page.

Pollutants and Environmental Effects

Contaminants of concern include arsenic, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), dioxins/furans and creosote compounds. Contamination has impacted soil, groundwater, and off-site surface water and sediment.

Summary of the Consent Decree:

The consent decree requires Beazer East to complete remedial design and remedial action (RD/RA) at the Cabot/Koppers Site and to pay future response costs. Beazer East has paid all past response costs and is obligated to perform all work required to remediate the portion of the site defined as operable units 2, 4 and 5, and a portion of operable unit 3.

The selected remedy has three parts that address three distinct media groups: on-site media (soil and groundwater above the Upper Floridan Aquifer, groundwater in the Upper Floridan Aquifer, and off-site media (soil, sediment, and surface water). In order to ensure the full and final completion of the work, the consent decree requires Beazer East to establish a performance guarantee initially in the amount of $55 million.

Contact Information

For more information contact: 

Caroline Philson
Associate Regional Counsel
Region 4
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
61 Forsyth Street, SW
Atlanta, GA 30303
(404) 562-9588
philson.caroline@epa.gov