Third-Party Agreement Supports Cleanup and Redevelopment at Conroe Creosoting Superfund Site in Texas
In July 2020, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the Department of Justice (DOJ), the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ), and Conroe Logistics Center, LLC (CLC) entered into a Bona Fide Prospective Purchaser (BFPP) agreement related to the Conroe Creosoting Superfund site in Conroe, Texas. CLC agreed to perform some of the federal cleanup work needed on the portion of the site that they purchased, including dioxin testing, vapor intrusion assessment, and plugging of wells to prevent the movement of contaminants or injection fluids. The company’s redevelopment plans include construction of a large distribution building that will provide numerous benefits to the community, including the creation of permanent and temporary jobs and the generation of tax revenues.
The BFPP agreement supports the redevelopment of a long-blighted property consistent with the community’s reuse plans that likely would not happen in the absence of this agreement.
On this page:
- Information about Conroe Logistics Center, LLC
- Information about the Conroe Creosoting Company Superfund Site
- Overview of the Bona Fide Prospective Purchaser Agreement
- Contact Information
Information about Conroe Logistics Center, LLC
Conroe Logistics Center, LLC, an affiliate of Trammell Crow Company (TCC), purchased a portion of the site for redevelopment. TCC, founded in 1948, is one of the nation’s leading developers and investors in commercial real estate.
Information about the Conroe Creosoting Company Superfund Site
The Conroe Creosoting Company Superfund site is a former wood-treating facility in the East Davis Development Redevelopment Zone in Conroe, Texas, about 30 miles north of Houston. Wood-treating operations took place at the approximately 147-acre facility from 1946 to 1997. Three wood preserving chemicals – pentachlorophenol, creosote, and copper chromated arsenate – were used in these operations, leading to contamination of the soil, sediment and groundwater at the site.
In 2003, EPA listed the site on the National Priorities List and issued a record of decision (ROD) that explains the cleanup plan for the site, which includes monitored natural attenuation of groundwater as well as institutional controls to prevent future installation of water supply wells and restrict future development of the site to non-residential uses. In 2008, EPA determined that the site was ready for commercial/industrial reuse as long as the requirements of the ROD are met. The Agency’s 2018 Five-Year-Review of the site recommended the collection of additional data as part of EPA’s reevaluation of the dioxin soil cleanup, a vapor intrusion assessment prior to construction of onsite buildings, and abandonment of a former well to prevent potential contamination of the aquifer.
More information about the site is available on the Agency’s Conroe Creosoting Company Superfund site profile webpage.
Overview of the Bona Fide Prospective Purchaser Agreement
In exchange for the BFPP agreement, CLC commits to perform some of the remaining federal cleanup work at the site, including the dioxin testing, vapor intrusion assessment, and well plugging and abandonment, that EPA otherwise would have been required to perform. CLC also agreed to conduct some cleanup work on behalf of TCEQ and to pay $180,000 toward TCEQ’s past cleanup costs at the site.
Contact Information
For more information contact:
Leonard Schilling
Assistant Regional Counsel
Office of Regional Counsel
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
Region 6
1201 Elm Street, Suite 500
Dallas, Texas 75270
214-665-7166
schilling.leonard@epa.gov