The long-contaminated Tremont City Barrel Fill in Clark County has been monitored by the U.S. EPA since 1997, but serious headway on cleanup and remediation could come as soon as 2026.
That’s what Ohio and U.S. EPA officials and environmental consultants shared at a Springfield City Commission meeting earlier this month, where they discussed progress on design plans for the site.
The Barrel Fill contains 300,000 gallons of industrial waste, including volatile organic compounds, semi-volatile organic compounds and metals.
Residents nearby have been asking for remediation for decades. It’s taken over 40 years of collaboration to get to this point, said Springfield’s Vice Mayor David Estrop.
“The reason this is so critical for us here in Springfield, as well as people throughout Southwest Ohio, is this Barrel Fill is very close to the aquifer that we all draw our water from,” Estrop said.
"The reason this is so critical for us here in Springfield, as well as people throughout Southwest Ohio, is this Barrel Fill is very close to the aquifer that we all draw our water from."
At the meeting, EPA project manager Jenny Polster said shovels will likely be in the ground by late 2026 to implement the remedial design.
“So the next step after the 30% design, we’ll be getting the 95% design. We're expecting that to be submitted in December of 2025,” Polster said.
It's possible the start could be pushed back to 2027, she added. The full schedule will be included with the 95% remedial design plan, she said.
Over 51,000 waste barrels will be removed and drained, with the liquids being disposed of off-site. Environmental contractor John Priebe said they will then install a hazardous waste storage cell in a lined area underground, beneath the parcel.
“So in a nutshell, following all the Ohio regulations, exceeding them in certain aspects, but a state-of-the-art cell constructed with the best materials available,” he said.
One of the project managers Bob Rule said they will take it one barrel at a time, assessing for things like leakage.
“So it's a very slow process. We're hopeful that on our good days, we'll be able to achieve somewhere about a hundred drums a day removed,” Rule explained.
"It's a very slow process. We're hopeful that on our good days, we'll be able to achieve somewhere about a hundred drums a day removed."
Rule said they will scan and categorize the barrels to avoid chemical mixing.
Seven companies — Chemical Waste Management, Inc.; Franklin International, Inc.; International Paper, Co.; The Procter & Gamble Co.; PPG Industries; Inc.; Strebor, Inc. and Worthington Cylinder Corporation — are responsible for funding the clean-up, as established through a 2022 consent decree. Staff previously estimated the project would cost $27 million, but they say they’ve exceeded that amount.
Groundwater samples taken last fall showed that waste wasn’t migrating, according to Priebe.
