Agrico Chemical Company Pensacola, Florida

The Agrico Chemical Company (Agrico) site in Pensacola, Florida, was listed on the National Priorities List in 1989. Superphosphate fertilizer and sulfuric acid were produced at the site starting in the early 1900s.  The acidic process wastewater containing fluoride was discharged to ponds.  One public supply well was shut down in the late 1950s due to low pH.  At the time, operations at the Agrico site were suspected as a source of the low pH.  SSP&A provided expert services for Agrico in class action lawsuits.  The originally proposed class included about 6000 residential properties.  SSP&A used the concentrations of fluoride measured in groundwater downgradient from the Agrico site to define the extent of impacts from past operations that took place at the Agrico site.  The plume delineation and groundwater flow regime determined by SSP&A were central to a legal motion that resulted in a substantial reduction of the initial class size.  This project included detailed geochemical and hydrologic modeling, as well as an evaluation of the origin, fate, and transport of radionuclides (uranium, thorium, radium) in the subsurface environment.  The lawsuits were settled in March 2004 to the satisfaction of our client.

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