OSWER/OSRTI Washington, DC 20460



## N ATIONAL 

## P RIORITIES 

## L IST 

## (NPL)

***Final Site*** September 2011


### US FINISHING/CONE MI LL S Greenville, S outh C arolina

Greenville County

 **Site Location :**  The former US Finishing/Cone Mills property is located at 3555 Buncombe Road approximately 3 miles north of

do wntown Greenville

, South Carolina

. The property is situated along the Reedy River, and is bordered to the east by Langston Creek and Highway 253, to the west by a residential neighborhood

, to the north by Old Buncombe Road and to the south by the Reedy Riv er

. Two reservoirs utilized by the facility are located northeast of Buncombe Road (the northern reservoir) and northwest of the residential area (the northwestern reservoir).

 **Site History:**
The US Finishing/Cone Mills site, originally constructed in 1 903 for Uni on Bleachery, was a textile, bleaching and finishing operation. In 1947, the plant was sold to Aspinook Corporation

, which then became Cone Mills in 1952. Cone Mills prepared and dye d grey goods and other fabrics. American Fast Print, Ltd. (AFP) purchased the facility in May 1984 and operated the plant under the name U.S. Finishing. The main portion of the 259

- acre property consists of three buildings , including the approximately 400,000 square f oo t industrial building that includes a basement an d two floors parti ally destroyed by a 2003 fire. The property also formerly housed seven caustic tanks with an estimated capacity of 10,000 gallons each, a 13,5 00- gallon chromium storage tank and underground pipelines directing chromium to the storage

tank and then delivering it to the facility

. Several surface water impoundments are located or backfilled on the property, including an aeration lagoon, a former sludge settling lagoon; a former brine pit; and an impoundment on Langston Creek. A dump area is l ocated in the Reedy River floodplain, south of the aeration lagoon.

 **Site Contamination/Contaminants:**
Chromium, ranging from 2,100 micrograms per liter ( μ g/ L) to 4,400 μ g/L, was detected in surface water and s ediment within Langston Creek. State officia ls concluded that the point of discharge for the chromium was below the Langston Creek impoundment on the east side of the US Finishing/Cone Mills property. Ground water is contaminated with chromium, and the source was determined to be a break in the line supplying chromium from the storage tank to the facility.

 **Potential Impacts on Surrounding Community/Environment :**  Numerous areas of contamination still exist at the site, includin g the surface impoundments, surface and subsurface soil contamination, a ground water plume, and contaminated sediments in Langston Creek and the Reedy River.

 **Response Activities (to date):**

Several closure activities were conducted under s tate oversight. A ground water extraction and treatment system was installed in 1982, but has not been operational since the bankruptcy of the site owner.

 **Need for NPL Listing:**

The S tate of South Carolina referred the site to EPA because contamination remains at the site and because of the bankruptcy of the site owner. Other federal and state cleanup programs were evaluated, but are not viable at this time. EPA received a letter of support for placing this site on the NPL from the state.

[The description of the site (release) is based on information available at the time the site was evaluated with the HRS. The description may change as additional information is gathered on the sources and extent of contamination.]

For more information about the hazardous substances identified in this narrative summary, including general information regarding the effects of exposure to these substances on human health, please see the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR) ToxFAQs. ATSDR ToxFAQs ca n be found on the Internet

at http://www.atsdr.cdc.gov/toxfaq.html or by telephone at 1

- 888

- 42

- ATSDR or 1

- 888

- 422

- 8737.