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Former Ducane Proposed Plan & Public Meeting

The South Carolina Department of Environmental Services (SCDES) has completed an evaluation of cleanup alternatives to address contamination at the Former Ducane Company Site (the Site). The Proposed Plan identifies SCDES’s Preferred Alternative for cleanup and provides the reasoning for this preference.

SCDES will hold an in person public meeting to further explain the Proposed Plan and all the alternatives presented in the Remedial Alternatives Evaluation and answer questions.

A public meeting will be held on January 30, 2025 at 6:00 pm at Blackville Community Center, 19464 Solomon Blatt Avenue, Blackville, South Carolina.

SCDES will accept written comments on the Proposed Plan from January 30 - March 17, 2025. Please submit your written comments to: 

Kylie Moore, Project Manager 
SCDES Bureau of Land & Waste Management 
2600 Bull Street Columbia, SC 29201 
or by email at kylie.moore@des.sc.gov


Site History

The Ducane Company property (Site) is located at 118 West Main Street, Blackville, Barnwell County, South Carolina. The Site consists of approximately 105 acres with roughly 19 acres originally developed as a production building and a research and development building. The main structures were a production building ~375,000 square feet  and a research and development building ~13,000 square feet . The northern portion of the site is primarily wooded.  In 1968, Ducane began operations at the Site manufacturing gas grills, furnaces, and air conditioners and ceased operation in 1999. In 1999, Lennox International Inc. acquired Ducane Company. Lennox International Inc. entered into a Responsible Party Voluntary Cleanup Contract (VCC 16-5848-RP) with the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control, South Carolina Department of Environmental Services (SCDES) predecessor agency, on November 17, 2016.  The site is currently owned by Barnwell County Economic Development Corporation and is being leased out to Pine View Buildings for warehouse storage for their wooden building production.

Areas of Concern

Environmental assessment and remediation activities have been conducted at this site since 1999. During the assessments at the Site, chlorinated volatile organic compounds (CVOCs) and aromatic hydrocarbons were detected in the soil and groundwater. The chemicals of concern (CoCs) at the Site are tetrachloroethene (PCE), trichloroethene (TCE), cis-1,2-dichloroethene (cis-1,2-DCE), trans-1,2-dichloroethylene (trans-1,2-DCE), 1,1- dichloroethylene (1,1-DCE), Vinyl Chloride (VC), 1,1,2-trichloroethane (1,1,2-TCA), 1,2-dichloroethane (1,2-DCA), 1,1-dichloroethane (1,1-DCA), and 1-4, dioxane. The contamination at the Site appears to have occurred as result of historical releases, and not current operations.

There have been nine in-situ chemical oxidation/bioremediation injections conducted at different areas of concern between July 2003 and April 2008 to address CoCs at the Site. There has been a significant reduction in concentrations of the CoCs since the implementation of the injections, currently CoCs are still present above the EPA Maximum Contaminant Levels (MCLs).

Future groundwater treatment will focus on areas beneath the production building and to the North, East, and South of the building. These areas correspond to the highest levels of groundwater contamination at the Site.

SCDES’s Preferred Cleanup Alternative

SCDES has identified a preferred alternative to address the contamination in the groundwater at the Site.  The preferred remedial alternative is Alternative 4, in situ chemical reduction (ISCR), enhanced bioremediation (EB), and monitoring natural attenuation (MNA).  

Alternative 4, the ISCR treatment will initially reduce the plume by chemical reduction, reducing the target Chemicals of Concern (CoCs) at the injection location. Due to the chemical reduction, the result is a graduated lowering of oxidation reduction potential (ORP) from the injection location. Once the reductant is spent, the ORP in the groundwater may increase and stall the reductive dechlorination process. Introducing EB to the plume will prolong the lowered  ORP in the groundwater and drive further reductive dechlorination of the daughter products to harmless end products over the course of the remedial action.

The initial ISCR and EB treatment event would occur in the first year, followed by an extended period of performance monitoring to observe and document the extent and influence of the applied treatment. Annual groundwater monitoring would be conducted at the site to ensure the progress of the treatment and institutional controls (i.e. land use restrictions) would be implemented at this Site. This alternative will have a five-year review post treatment to demonstrate that cleanup goals have been achieved. If not achieved, additional injection events would be conducted in the areas that are not progressing.

The total estimated net present worth of this alternative combination is approximately $1,700,000.  It is SCDES’s judgment that the Preferred Alternative identified in this Proposed Plan is necessary to protect public health and the environment.

Administrative Record

The Administrative Record includes historic and recent documents used by SCDES in its oversight role.  The Administrative Record documents are provided below for convenient access by those who are interested in learning more about the site: