The Multistate Trust, in coordination with our beneficiaries — the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality — is deeply committed to involving the community in the cleanup and redevelopment planning of the former Kerr-McGee Site in Columbus, Mississippi.

We work in partnership with Site stakeholders, including the people that live and work near the Site, the City of Columbus, and community organizations.

The Multistate Trust, with our beneficiaries, is dedicated to:

• Protecting and involving the community as we clean up the Site and facilitate its safe, beneficial reuse.

• Investing in the community by hiring and training local residents, giving them skills, certifications, and experience in the environmental sector.

• Building a better tomorrow for the Memphis Town neighborhood and the surrounding City of Columbus by turning a polluted site into a community asset.

Our Key Stakeholders

In addition to the community surrounding the Site, our key stakeholders are:

The Memphis Town Community Action Group

The Memphis Town Community Action Group (CAG) was formed to provide a platform for meaningful public involvement in the Superfund process. The CAG receives a Technical Assistance Grant (TAG) from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), which funds the engagement of an independent technical resource to review and comment on work performed by the Multistate Trust.

The CAG’s Board of Directors consists of dedicated community members who meet to discuss issues related to environmental cleanup and redevelopment plans.

The CAG is a valued partner for the Multistate Trust, serving as a key neighborhood voice and the primary means for our team to provide regular updates to the community. At CAG meetings, we share our progress and welcome the opportunity to hear community concerns.

The CAG generally meets on the fourth Tuesday of every month at 6:30 p.m. at the Genesis Dream Center, 1820 23rd Street North. Read more about the CAG here.

The City of Columbus

The City of Columbus is a key stakeholder in the Multistate Trust’s work at the former Kerr-McGee Site. We continue to collaborate with the City to remove creosote and contamination in the City’s storm drainage ditches and restore them to a condition that will also minimize flooding in the neighborhoods.

Work to date includes improving the 14th Avenue North and 7th Avenue North stormwater ditches.

The City of Columbus won the Mississippi Municipal League’s (MML) municipal excellence award for public works for two consecutive years—in 2017 for the 7th Avenue North ditch improvement project, and in 2016 for the 14th Avenue North ditch restoration.

Visit the City of Columbus website here.

Redevelopment Planning: Our Community Activities

We are dedicated to involving our neighbors and other stakeholders in the Redevelopment Planning Initiative to ensure the effort produces a community-supported plan for safe, beneficial reuse of the Site.

Visit Redevelopment Planning Initiative and News & Events to learn more.

Sign up to receive notices about upcoming events.

Investing in Columbus: Local Training and Hiring

As part of our cleanup and revitalization of the former Kerr-McGee Site, the Multistate Trust is providing training and employment opportunities to individuals and reinvesting cleanup funds in the local economy by hiring qualified area businesses.

• 94 local residents and 10 local contractors were hired for the Pine Yard soil removal project in 2018–2019.

• 20 local residents and 6 local contractors were hired for the 7th Avenue North ditch improvement project in 2016–2017.

We work to recruit and train under- or unemployed residents and provide on-the-job experience needed to secure long-term jobs in the environmental sector.

Seventeen minority individuals were trained under the EPA Superfund Job Training Initiative (SuperJTI). Since training, several of these SuperJTI graduates were hired to work at the Site, while others took jobs elsewhere.

Learn more about how we’re reinvesting in Columbus here.

Other Community Involvement Initiatives

• Town Hall Meetings: We periodically host Town Halls to provide updates and answer questions.

• Community Updates: Project team members attend the Memphis Town Community Action Group’s (CAG) meetings in order to share our updates about cleanup, investigations, and other Site activities.

• Availability Sessions: Our project team offers informal, drop-in sessions at the Site’s Community Resource Building at 2300 14th Avenue North. We encourage our neighbors to meet one-on-one with project team members to ask questions, express concerns, and learn more about our work.

• Materials: We have developed and distributed fact sheets, a community newsletter, and other materials to inform stakeholders of Site activities and progress, including on- and off-site work. See Documents & Resources.

• Website: This website provides information and links to documents and other resources about the Site.