Will Velsicol be Memphis’ next Superfund site?

Velsicol was a chemical plant in Memphis that made pesticides for decades. Though it shut down in 2012, the pollution it left behind — in the soil, water and surrounding neighborhoods — is still a problem today. Now, the company has filed for bankruptcy, and state officials are weighing whether the site should be turned over for federal cleanup under the Superfund program.

This explainer breaks down what’s happened at the site, why it still matters, and how people can get involved as the state decides what happens next.

What is a Superfund site?

Since its enactment in 1980, the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act — more simply known as Superfund — has been used to clean up toxic sites when responsible parties can’t or won’t do it themselves.

It’s a long process that starts with a site being proposed for the National Priorities List, which identifies the most hazardous, uncontrolled or abandoned sites in the country in need of cleanup.

The Environmental Protection Agency typically designates a Superfund site when a company has gone bankrupt, abandoned its property or lacks the financial means to carry out remediation on its own.

Wasn’t Velsicol already a Superfund site?

No, and yes.

Velsicol’s former plant has not been a Superfund site. The defunct 62-acre site in Memphis has led many residents to believe it is one, due to perceived inactivity and deteriorating infrastructure, but the EPA hasn’t listed it as such.

The facility has been operating under a Resource Conservation and Recovery Act permit, which allows Velsicol to legally store, treat and dispose of hazardous waste.

While both are federal programs, the difference is that Superfund sites prioritize remediation and redevelopment, whereas RCRA focuses on the management of hazardous waste.

Velsicol’s defunct Memphis plant may become environmental trust

Other Velsicol sites, like the one in Michigan, have been listed as Superfund sites and are now among the costliest in the country.

However, landfills in Tennessee where Velsicol sought to dispose of its chemicals have been designated Superfund sites over the past few decades. One was in Toone, about an hour east of Memphis. The other was in the Hollywood community — essentially the facility’s backyard.

Both have since been removed from the National Priorities List, though long-term monitoring of water, soil and fish continues.

Is Velsicol going into Superfund site status? 

That’s what’s trying to be decided right now. While nothing is final, the situation at Velsicol aligns with a textbook case for Superfund: extraordinary contamination without enough funding to clean it up.

The Department of Environment and Conservation’s Solid Waste Management division has made a tentative decision not to renew Velsicol’s RCRA permit. If that permit is terminated, Velsicol would hand over the facility to the state as an environmental trust. Under a proposed settlement, as part of Velsicol’s Chapter 11 bankruptcy case, the company would pay about $3.8 million into the trust over five years.

But TDEC estimates the company is still responsible for between $137 million and $143 million in cleanup costs, based on claims filed in the bankruptcy case.

Programs like Superfund help fill those funding gaps. TDEC is considering referring the site for federal management under the Superfund program, a step that would begin a years-long process in cleanup. 

What happened at Velsicol in Memphis?

Within walking distance of homes, Velsicol manufactured pesticides so potent that a single spray could kill a flying insect before it hit the ground. These included DDT and a broader class of industrial chemicals like chlordane, dieldrin and endrin — all linked to neurological harm in people and wildlife, and to long-lasting contamination in ecosystems.

These chemicals were spilled and dumped across the site, eventually migrating onto neighboring properties through both potential human activity and rain that spread the contamination.

Alongside questionable environmental practices were troubling business decisions. Velsicol was a major producer of chlordane, a man-made pesticide the EPA banned in 1988 due to its cancer risk. Yet Velsicol continued producing chemicals like chlordane in Memphis into the early 1990s — for export.

The company ceased chemical production in 2012 but continued brokering chemicals as recently as last year.

Why are these chemicals still a problem? 

They are still in the soil and water.

Often called “forever chemicals,” they don’t break down easily — leaving behind a toxic legacy that still affects Douglass Park, a historically Black community that industry built around.

Traces have been found in the Wolf River and its tributaries, including Cypress Creek near homes like Cypress Gardens Apartments on Springdale Street. Soil contamination tied to the former Velsicol plant still exists there and may pose a continued risk. In 2023, lab tests found several pesticides — including aldrin, endrin and dieldrin — in concentrations that exceeded the EPA’s residential contamination limits around the property. 

Velsicol has reported efforts to reduce a fluctuating plume of chemicals beneath the facility — a mass covering about 126 acres, roughly the size of Simmons Bank Liberty Stadium. Though still in the shallow layers, chemicals could seep deeper into the ground, scientists and advocates warn. That means it could potentially reach into the Memphis Sand Aquifer — the main drinking water source for more than a million people in the region.

Why hasn’t it been cleaned up already? 

A years-long investigation by Tennessee Lookout has sought to answer that question. The reporting brought public attention to the extent of pollution that still exists at the facility, the slow progress under its RCRA permit, and allegations of fraudulent bank transfers involving company leadership.

The investigation also revealed that while Velsicol continued brokering chemicals, the source of those products was unclear. Manufacturing has long shut down, yet chemicals remained available for sale — raising more questions about what was stored on site and where materials for their modern-day products were coming from.

Despite repeated inquiries to both TDEC and Velsicol, The Lookout and MLK50 have not received clear answers about the specifics of chemical extraction activities over the past decade or what cleanup tasks remain. The investigation is ongoing.

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