EPA provides $492,000 to evaluate polluted Natchez sites

NATCHEZ, Miss. – The federal government has allocated $492,000 to assess the extent of pollution at the old Natchez tire plant and other contaminated sites that local leaders hope can be redeveloped.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced Tuesday that Natchez-Adams County is among 151 communities to be awarded “Brownfields” grants.

The Natchez Board of Aldermen and Adams County Board of Supervisors last year joined to apply for the money to pay for analyzing the pollution and the clean-up costs for properties to be reused.

While they broadly discussed assessing sites in the downtown area extending from the Mississippi River bluffs to Martin Luther King Street, the main focus is on the old Armstrong tire plant in north Natchez.

The city-owned property on Kelly and South Concord streets has been the source of pollution with gasoline and cleaning solvents seeping into groundwater. The sprawling site been monitored for several years by the state Department of Environmental Quality since the tire-making factory closed in 2001.

Since taking office in July, Natchez Mayor Dan Gibson has said rehabilitating the property for new use is a top priority for his administration.

Natchez-Adams County’s $492,000 grant is the largest of the allotments given to three Mississippi communities in this latest national round of Brownfields funding.

In announcing the grant distribution Tuesday, EPA Administrator Michael Regansaid: “These assessment and cleanup grants will not only support economic growth and job creation, but they will also empower communities to address the environmental, public health and social issues associated with contaminated land.”

The 82-year-old former Natchez tire plant is about a half-mile from Martin Luther King Street between MLK and D’Evereaux Drive. It was constructed for Armstrong Rubber Co. in 1939 with state financing. The property was deeded to the city. The tire manufacturer, which had more than 1,000 employees at its peak, has been dormant for 20 years.

After Armstrong left, the property was used by successor tire-making tenants Fidelity, Condere and Titan. Titan took over in 1998 but shuttered the factory in 2001. It continued to lease the vacant property from the city until 2017.