State Ports Authority to help with coal terminal cleanup

The South Carolina Ports Authority plans to spend up to $400,000 on environmental cleanup costs at a former Charleston coal terminal it is selling to a company for a new manufacturing plant.

The authority’s board of directors approved the expense Wednesday, The (Charleston) Post and Courier reported. The board previously agreed to sell the former coal-loading facility and about 15 acres of adjacent land to Agru America Inc. for $3 million.

Soil testing at the property showed arsenic, various metals and semi-volatile organic compounds exceeding federal screening levels. The contamination is related to old coal operations done on the property before the authority bought the land in 1968, said the authority’s attorney, Philip Lawrence.

Old appliances, roofing shingles and siding containing asbestos have also been found on the site.

Agru America plans to build a $29.6 million facility at the site that will make high-density polyethylene for geomembrane and other products for export through the Port of Charleston.