EPA orders cleanup plan at Century Aluminum

RAVENSWOOD, W.Va. – The federal Environmental Protection Agency has ordered Century Aluminum to come up with an updated cleanup plan for its closed plant in Ravenswood.

Cleanup activities have been taking place there but the EPA wants a new plan to detail the contaminants that remain at the operation and how Century plans to take care of them.

The EPA says the soil and groundwater around the plant are contaminated with cyanide, fluoride, lead, arsenic and Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons.

The company must now come up with a materials management plan that the EPA says ”identifies specific locations at the plant where contaminants remain, and put in place procedures and safeguards for any future construction or excavation in those areas.”

Century Aluminum closed the Ravenswood plant in 2009 putting 651 employees out of work. The company has worked on a plan with the state, retirees, active workers and Appalachian Power Company to possibly reopen the facility but a final plan has yet to be realized.