Hazardous Waste Cleanup: Venator Americas LLC (Formerly: Huntsman P-A Americas LLC) in Beltsville, Maryland
On this page:
- Cleanup Status
- Site Description
- Contaminants at this Facility
- Institutional/Engineer Controls
- Land Reuse
- Site Responsibility
Cleanup Status
Rockwood Pigments NA, Incorporated (Rockwood) entered the Facility Lead Program on August 19, 2005. RCRA Corrective Action activities at this facility are being conducted under the direction of EPA Region 3. In accordance with the Facility Lead Agreement, Rockwood submitted a Work Plan/Phase I Site Characterization Report on December 1, 2005. The Facility met with EPA and MDE in June 2006, to discuss site characterization work at the facility. EPA approved the work plan, and the investigation began in the summer of 2008. A report documenting the results of this investigation was submitted in October 2008.
EPA and the new owners met on May 19, 2016, to discuss further groundwater characterization. Rockwood submitted a work plan for the site on May 2016, which was approved by EPA in June 2016. During the rest of 2016 and 2017, Rockwood was performing site investigation work to better characterize the site and nearby properties. The groundwater contamination plume is now delineated.
During 2019 and 2020, Rockwood will investigate soil and groundwater contamination under the facility buildings.
Site Description
The Facility, formerly operating under the names Laporte Pigments, Mineral Pigments, and Rockwood Pigments operated a pigment manufacturing facility, located approximately two miles north of Beltsville, Maryland.
Rockwood Holdings was acquired in its entirety by Albemarle Corporation on January 13, 2015, and Albemarle is now 100% owner of the subsidiary Excalibur Realty. The site owner continues to be Excalibur Realty Company, a wholly owned subsidiary of Rockwood Holdings ("Rockwood"). Huntsman Pigments Americas LLC ("Huntsman") is the lessee of the site and has manufacturing operations there.
The site is bordered to the west by US Route 1 and the Chessie Railroad tracks; to the east by Conway Road; to the north by Muirkirk Road, and to the south by a light industrial park. Records indicate that the site has been used for industrial purposes since at least the 1940s. The earliest file records mentioning Mineral Pigments, however, date to 1972. The facility activities include the manufacturing of zinc phosphate and the milling and blending of iron oxides. Shallow groundwater at the site has been investigated since 1985 under MDE supervision. Two source areas were removed under MDE supervision in the 1980s and 1990s.
Contaminants at this Facility
The primary contaminant of concern at the site is chromium in groundwater.
Institutional and Engineering Controls at this Facility
The need for institutional controls has not yet been established.
Land Reuse Information at this Facility
- The facility is under continued use.
Site Responsibility at this Facility
Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) Corrective Action activities at this facility are being conducted under the direction of the EPA Region 3 with assistance from MDE.