[NOTE: this was our first report on Seaboard and it asks more questions than it answers. We’ve learned a lot since. Go HERE for a list of the most recent reports, including the Responsible Parties who are still on the hook for the groundwater and soil remediation, and the Trust Fund that was established to pay for it. As of this date, July 19, 2025, the Seaboard/High Point Landfill site remains unmediated, contaminated, and is leaking a lengthy list of chemicals, VOCs and 1,4-Dioxane into Deep River, and methane gas into the air.]
Seaboard Chemical is an abandoned Superfund Site at 5899 Riverdale Drive in Jamestown that has never been cleaned up. Several decades ago, it was one of the only hazardous waste dumps in the state. Seaboard is owned by the City of High Point and is part of the inactive High Point Landfill on the east side of Riverdale Drive at I-85. Seaboard continues to leach 1,4-Dioxane, Vinyl Chloride, Chlorobenzene and a host of VOCs into Deep River, several miles upstream from Randleman Lake and Reservoir.
This is from a February 15, 2023 “Compliance Inspection” report:
“Remedial investigations conducted at the [Seaboard] Site have documented the presence of chlorinated and non-chlorinated volatile organic compounds in soils, landfill leachate, groundwater, and surface water. … the VOC-affected groundwater is migrating to Randleman Lake … which was created by the impoundment of the Deep River in 2006 by Randleman Lake Dam, located approximately 11.5 miles downstream of the Seaboard Site.
Seaboard Group II and the City of High Point entered into a Remedial Action Settlement Agreement with NC DENR on December 29, 2008. The proposed remedy would prevent movement of contaminants into the Deep River … Groundwater and surface water sampling would monitor the effectiveness of the remedy to ensure that there is no unacceptable migration of contaminants to the Deep River or Randleman Reservoir.“
A 211-page Water Quality Monitoring Report from October 2021, and follow-up assessments and evaluations through March 2022, provide test data and details about the contaminants at the Seaboard Chemical site and surrounding “inactive” High Point Landfill.
The maps below, from the October 2021 report, show the locations and concentrations of VOCs, 1,4-Dioxane, Vinyl Chloride and Chlorobenzene in ground- and surface-water. Deep River is labeled on the maps as “Randleman Lake.” Click on the individual images to enlarge:
On Jan 25, 2022, a Compliance Evaluation Inspection was conducted onsite at Seaboard by the NCDEQ, Division of Waste Management, Hazardous Waste Section.
The report states that the “affected groundwater” migrates to Randleman Lake & Reservoir, and that “Remedial investigations conducted at the Site have documented the presence of chlorinated and non-chlorinated volatile organic compounds ( VOCs) in soils, landfill leachate, ground water, and surface water. The remedial investigation results indicate that the VOC-affected groundwater is migrating to Randleman Lake, which bounds the site along the northern and eastern property boundary of the Landfill. The Randleman Lake was created by the impoundment of the Deep River in 2006 by Randleman Lake Dam, which is located approximately 11.5 miles downstream of the Site.”
The author of the January 25 2022 report was Dan Girdner, Environmental Specialist II, HWS, NCDEQ, McLeansville, NC. [Girdner is also the Environmental Specialist who paid a follow-up visit to Alberdingk Boley a month after the resin manufacturer spilled at least 16,000 gallons of raw contaminated wastewater into Bull Run.]
On site for the January 25 2022 visit were Gary Babb, PG (Babb & Associates); Rich Glover (PTRWA board of directors, Jamestown Eng. Group); Craig Coslett (de maximus, inc.); and Robby Stone (City of High Point). The Survey Inspectors were Dan Girdner, Environmental Specialist II, NCDEQ; Eric Aufderhaar, Environmental Program Consultant (NCDEQ); William Hunneke, Facilities Management Branch Head (NCDEQ).
In February of 2022, a TECHNICAL MEMORANDUM numbered E-11, from Seaboard Group II to the NCDEQ Hazardous Waste and Solid Waste sections, discussed plans for remediation system improvements.
Key points: In 2021, an evaluation of the Seaboard site was conducted to see if contaminant removal could be improved/made more effective.
In March 2021, as part of the initiative, four groundwater monitoring wells were installed near a “Southern Intermittent Stream” (SIS) which drains into Deep River. The wells are labeled AW-2, AW-3, AW-4 and AWB-4.
On page 2 of the report (included in its entirety below), the second paragraph states that these four new monitoring wells, along with several existing wells, “were sampled to provide a snapshot of contaminant concentration … A summary of the total VOCs and 1,4-Dioxane is shown on Figure 2.”
On page 3, the first and second paragraphs state that the sampling data “indicated an area of high contaminant concentrations downgradient of the former Pond 3 … this pond was subject to RCRA closure in the late 1980s and was closed with a concrete cap … Water quality data collected from monitoring well PW-SF1, which is part of the Annual Water Quality Monitoring Program, HAS REPORTED HIGH CONCENTRATIONS OF VOCs AND 1,4-DIOXANE ON A CONSISTENT BASIS.” Plans to install NEW PUMPS are discussed. The document is presented below – swipe left or tap the arrows to scroll back and forth through document pages:
On March 4, 2022, Seaboard submitted to the NCDEQ a revised Part A form application (EPA) as a “Treater, Storer or Disposer of hazardous waste.” A link to the application, which included the map below, is HERE.
Below, a March 8, 2022 letter and additional test results transmitted from Seaboard Group II to the NCDEQ Division of Waste Management. The additional information was requested by the State of North Carolina prior to granting approval of TECHNICAL MEMORANDUM E-11 (swipe left or tap arrows to scroll through slideshow):
FEBRUARY 15, 2023 Compliance Evaluation Inspection at Seaboard Chemical superfund site (currently operating as Seaboard Group). Present: Gary Babb, PG ( Babb & Associates); Rich Glover, PE ( Jamestown Eng. Group); Craig Coslett (de maximus, inc.); Robby Stone ( City of High Point); Eric Aufderhaar, Environmental Program Consultant (NCDEQ); Josh Hanks, Hydrogeologist (NCDEQ); SURVEY INSPECTOR: Dan Girdner, Environmental Specialist II, NCDEQ
SEABOARD GROUP CONTACTS
Brooks Reitzel, (Seaboard Bankruptcy Attorney), 1301 Eastchester Dr., Suite 201, High Point NC
P.O. Box 5544, High Point, NC 27265
336-885-7900
Email: eitzel@northstate.net
Gary Babb, P.G., Babb & Associates, P.A. (Contractor)
5506 Bradford Pear Ct, Raleigh, NC 27606
919-605-4719
Email: gbabb@gmail. com
Bruce Ashley, Fox Rothschild LLC (Attorney for the City of High Point)
230 N. Elm Street, Suite 200, Greensboro, NC 27401
336-378-5321
Email: bashley@foxrothschild.com
Craig Coslett, de maximus, inc., (Project Coordinator)
1550 Pond Road, Suite 120, Allentown, PA 18104
610-435-1151 Mobile: 610-360-7539
Email: ccoslett@demaximis.com
Amos Dawson III, Attorney, Williams Mullen
301 Fayetteville Street, Suite 1700, Raleigh, NC 27601
919-981-4010
Email: adawson@williamsmullen.com