Velsicol Chemical contaminated groundwater and Cypress Creek in North Memphis with cancer-causing pesticides, harming workers and residents of North Memphis. Today, groundwater and soil remediation continues onsite.
Originally Hayden Chemical Company throughout the 1940s, the chemical plant at 1199 Warford Street in North Memphis became Velsicol Chemical in 1952. They produced pesticides – mainly endrin used against boll weevils in cotton fields, chlordane, and heptachlor, applied to home foundations to repel termites.
Though all 3 chemicals were found to be carcinogenic and banned by the EPA in 1988, the Memphis Velsicol plant continued to produce over 2.5 million pounds of the chemicals for global export until 1997, when international bans emerged.
In 1963, nearly 12 million dead fish (bleeding from their mouths!) washed up on the banks of the Mississippi River south of Memphis. An investigation revealed Velsicol Chemical as the primary source of the endrin pollution that killed them.
It turns out, Velsicol Chemical had been dumping waste directly into Cypress Creek. (They also dumped chemicals at North Hollywood Dump, contributing to its designation as a Superfund Site in 1983). This toxic behavior had far-ranging impacts - both on the surrounding environment and on the lives of North Hollywood neighbors.
Velsicol Chemical actively processed chemicals from the 1950s until 2012, when they officially ceased manufacturing and reduced their staff to 2. Velsicol Chemical's handling of volatile, dangerous chemicals often harmed workers and neighbors.
On November 2, 1955, an explosion of phosgene and chlorine killed two workers and wounded 15. In August 1988, a leaking railcar spewed 19,500 gallons of hydrochloric acid into the air, misting workers and residents and spilling into the ground. In February 2001, a 45,000 gallon dicyclopentadiene (DCPD) tank exploded, causing a fire and exposing workers. These are just a few highlights of an over-60-year history of toxic behavior at Velsicol Chemical.
Meanwhile, Velsicol was dumping all of their toxic waste into Cypress Creek, which runs through the North Hollywood and Hyde Park neighborhoods. Unaware of the toxic dumping, the City of Memphis dredged the creek in the 1960s to straighten it out and prevent flooding, lining it with concrete. That dredged sediment was dropped in residents’ backyards along the creek.
In 2001, utility workers were exposed to toxic pesticides working near the Velsicol plant. This prompted soil sampling downstream from Velsicol in the backyards of 129 homes along the creek. Every single soil sample showed dangerous levels of the carcinogenic pesticide dieldrin – up to 15 times over the maximum threshold. We now knew what we feared: the city had (unknowingly) dumped toxic chemicals in the backyards of homes where children played since the 1960s.
In response, Velsicol was forced to remediate the contamination, cleaning up 18 of the most heavily contaminated properties along the creek by 2007. Notably, Springdale Creek Apartments, at 2510 Jackson Avenue, is a City of Memphis affordable housing project built on a former junkyard and designated as a Superfund site due to contamination. That junkyard was filled in with soil from Cypress Creek during construction in 2003, further contaminating the 84-unit apartment complex. Neighborhood residents have rallied for reparations, while the Concerned Citizens Crump Neighborhood Association in the Douglass Community fought to stop Velsicol’s air pollution - a whole other issue of toxic behavior! In 2004, residents filed a lawsuit against Velsicol on behalf of 195 properties affected by their dieldrin releases into Cypress Creek. In 2008, Velsicol agreed to pay a $2.1 million class action settlement to be shared by impacted property owners. Homeowners received checks ranging from $1,500 to $20,000.
Today, the site remains contaminated, and concerns around Cypress Creek remain. Neighbors and activists who protested the plant when it was in operation continue the fight to hold Velsicol Chemical accountable.
Though most of the plant was demolished by 2017, Velsicol maintains 2 employees in a building onsite. They have held multiple hazardous waste permits (RCRA) since 1984, managed by TDEC since 2001. Onsite remediation has included capping contaminated soils, "pump and treat" groundwater remediation to remove a plume of contamination in the shallow aquifer, and ongoing groundwater monitoring. Deeper wells in the Memphis Sand have shown no signs of contamination.
In 2006, their permit was modified to include the remediation of residences along Cypress Creek. In 2023, soil and vapor sampling at residences along the creek indicate that contamination remains in the neighborhood. That RCRA Permit expires September 30, 2024.
Check out POA's repository of resources about Velsicol Chemical and Cypress Creek for a deep dive on the history and current threats onsite and in the neighborhood.
A good place to start is the most recent Corrective Action Effectiveness Report, released in 2022. Be warned: this has highly technical jargon, but it has the latest updates on their remediation.
Or, you can start at the beginning with the 1991 Corrective Action Work Plan. At 235 pages, it's not for the faint of heart.
This 2006 Cypress Creek Health Study is also a great entry point - it gives a succinct overview of the history and health concerns. Another good place to start!
