Diamond Alkali Company was an American chemical company incorporated in 1910 in

West Virginia West Virginia is a mountainous U.S. state, state in the Southern United States, Southern and Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States.The United States Census Bureau, Census Bureau and the Association of American ...

by a group of glass industry businessmen from

Pittsburgh Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, United States, and its county seat. It is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, second-most populous city in Pennsylvania (after Philadelphia) and the List of Un ...

. The company soon established a large

chemical plant A chemical plant is an industrial process plant that manufactures (or otherwise processes) chemicals, usually on a large scale. The general objective of a chemical plant is to create new material wealth via the chemical or biological transfor ...

Fairport Harbor, Ohio Fairport Harbor is a village (United States)#Ohio, village in Lake County, Ohio, United States, along Lake Erie at the mouth of the Grand River (Ohio), Grand River. The population was 3,108 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. A far-eas ...

, which would operate for over sixty years. In 1947, the headquarters of the company was moved from Pittsburgh to

Cleveland Cleveland is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located along the southern shore of Lake Erie, it is situated across the Canada–U.S. maritime border and approximately west of the Ohio-Pennsylvania st ...

. Later the company established a plant in Redwood City, California, that produced ion-exchange resins. In 1967, Diamond Alkali and Shamrock Oil and Gas merged to form the

Diamond Shamrock Diamond Shamrock (formerly known as the Ultramar Diamond Shamrock Corporation) is an American brand of gasoline stations under the ownership of the Valero Energy Corporation and is currently headquartered in San Antonio, Texas. The former comp ...

Corporation. Diamond Shamrock would go on to merge with Ultramar Corporation, and the combined company, Ultramar Diamond Shamrock Corporation, would in turn be acquired by

Valero Energy Corporation Valero Energy Corporation is an American-based Petroleum industry, fuels producer mostly involved in manufacturing and marketing transportation fuels and other petrochemical, related products. It is headquartered in San Antonio, Texas, United ...

in 2001. Diamond Alkali was largely responsible for contamination leading to the creation of a Superfund Site in the Ironbound section of

Newark, New Jersey Newark ( , ) is the List of municipalities in New Jersey, most populous City (New Jersey), city in the U.S. state of New Jersey, the county seat of Essex County, New Jersey, Essex County, and a principal city of the New York metropolitan area. ...

. Between 1951 and 1969, Diamond Alkali in Newark produced approximately of the herbicide

Agent Orange Agent Orange is a chemical herbicide and defoliant, one of the tactical uses of Rainbow Herbicides. It was used by the U.S. military as part of its herbicidal warfare program, Operation Ranch Hand, during the Vietnam War from 1962 to 1971. T ...

. The plant had a reputation for accidents and producing the lowest quality (most contaminated with by-products) herbicides.Morren, George (2007). When the Chips are Down. Furthermore, the firm frequently dumped "bad" batches of the herbicide into the

Passaic River The Passaic River ( or ) is a river, approximately long, in North Jersey, northern New Jersey. The river in its upper course flows in a highly circuitous route, meandering through the swamp lowlands between the ridge hills of rural and suburb ...

. The former plant property and adjoining portions of the Lower

were declared a Superfund site in 1984. In 1986, the Diamond Shamrock Corporation agreed to pay $150,000 for a canvas

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to cover of the contaminated area. Remediation efforts at Diamond Alkali began in 2000 and ecological investigation, dredging, and other cleanup activities are still underway. As of 2020 the EPA indicates that the site is not yet ready for reuse and redevelopment. The Diamond Shamrock Corp. (Painesville Works) site is an 1,100-acre former chemical manufacturing facility in Lake County, Ohio. The Diamond Shamrock Painesville Works facility operated from 1912 through 1977. It made a variety of products, including soda ash, baking soda, chromium compounds, carbon tetrachloride, hydrochloric and sulfuric acids, chlorinated wax and coke. Facility operations contaminated soil, sediment and surface water with hazardous chemicals. Site cleanup is ongoing. The cleanup at the site has been divided into 22 portions, also known as Operable Units. U.S. EPA is the lead agency for Operable Unit #16, only one of the 22 Operable Units that comprise the overall Site. The source of pollution in Operable Unit #16 is waste from chromate ore processing placed at the site. Operable Unit #16 was proposed for the National Priorities List but was never added to the list. U.S. EPA will withdraw the Proposal to the NPL for O.U. #16 and transfer all cleanup supervision authority to Ohio EPA. Ohio EPA is directing the cleanup at all the other Operable Units that comprise the Site. In 1982, Diamond Shamrock completed closure of the area designated as Operable Unit #16. However, the presence of chromate wastes in the landfill cell made it necessary to continue long term monitoring, inspection, and reporting for this area. The closure consisted of installing sheet piling along the Grand River and an impermeable clay cap placed over all the waste areas. U.S. EPA issued a legal order, known as an Administrative Consent Order, in 1983 under the RCRA program to ensure that monitoring continued in the long term. In 2001, U.S. EPA performed a limited cleanup action. In 2006, the potentially responsible parties upgraded and repaired the clay cap at Operable Unit #16, and improved some of the drainage at and around the site. Groundwater sampling is conducted every two years. The site is currently being addressed by a potentially responsible party under Ohio EPA oversight. Sheet piling has been installed to control the seeps. Extraction wells behind (upgradient from) the sheet piling extract the contaminated groundwater and prevent overtopping of the sheet piling. Seeps have not been observed since this system was put in place in early 2006. Site cleanup continues under the direction of Ohio EPA.

Notes

{{Reflist, 2 Companies based in West Virginia Manufacturing companies based in Cleveland Superfund sites in New Jersey Economy of Newark, New Jersey History of Newark, New Jersey Chemical companies of the United States 1910 establishments in West Virginia Chemical companies established in 1910 Manufacturing companies disestablished in 1967 1967 disestablishments in Ohio

See also

Notes