Pollution Analyst
How it works→
Superfund / NPL site · EPA Superfund SEMS through latest publishNPL Final

Koppers Co., Inc. (Charleston Plant)

This site is currently on the EPA Superfund National Priorities List and remains under federal cleanup oversight. Most-cited contaminant of concern: Arsenic.

Charleston Heights, Charleston, South Carolina · ZIP 29405 · EPA ID SCD980310239

See Charleston ContaminantsEquity contextHow we read Superfund data
CLEANUP TIMELINE

Listing-date and cleanup-phase enrichment from EPA's per-site SEMS profile is queued for a follow-up ingest pass. Until then, this section will populate from EPA's published timeline data.

Anomaly engine

Notable Signals

No notable signals at this Superfund site for the current ingest. Cleanup-phase and SEMS-action flags are deferred to a follow-up engineering pass.

Contaminants of concern · per EPA SEMS

What's In This Site

Each row pairs a contaminant with the medium it was found in (the exposure pathway). Hover any named contaminant for an agency-cited health-risk summary. Cited count = number of SEMS decision records (RODs and related) that name the pair.

ContaminantPathwayCited
ArsenicHealth riskIARC Group 1 carcinogen via inhalation and ingestion. EPA MCL 10 µg/L; chronic exposure causes skin, lung, bladder cancer and cardiovascular disease. (IARC, EPA, ATSDR)Sediment2
ArsenicHealth riskIARC Group 1 carcinogen via inhalation and ingestion. EPA MCL 10 µg/L; chronic exposure causes skin, lung, bladder cancer and cardiovascular disease. (IARC, EPA, ATSDR)Surface Water2
Benzo[A]PyreneHealth riskPAH; IARC Group 1 carcinogen; the prototypical PAH used to benchmark PAH-mixture cancer risk. EPA MCL 0.2 µg/L. (IARC, EPA)Sediment2
LeadHealth riskNeurotoxin. Even low childhood exposure impairs cognitive development; chronic adult exposure damages kidneys and the cardiovascular system. (EPA, ATSDR)Sediment2
ArsenicHealth riskIARC Group 1 carcinogen via inhalation and ingestion. EPA MCL 10 µg/L; chronic exposure causes skin, lung, bladder cancer and cardiovascular disease. (IARC, EPA, ATSDR)Soil1
BenzeneHealth riskIARC Group 1 carcinogen. Long-term inhalation causes leukemia and bone-marrow disorders. (IARC, EPA)Groundwater1
Benzo[A]PyreneHealth riskPAH; IARC Group 1 carcinogen; the prototypical PAH used to benchmark PAH-mixture cancer risk. EPA MCL 0.2 µg/L. (IARC, EPA)Groundwater1
Benzo[A]PyreneHealth riskPAH; IARC Group 1 carcinogen; the prototypical PAH used to benchmark PAH-mixture cancer risk. EPA MCL 0.2 µg/L. (IARC, EPA)Soil1
Benzo[A]PyreneHealth riskPAH; IARC Group 1 carcinogen; the prototypical PAH used to benchmark PAH-mixture cancer risk. EPA MCL 0.2 µg/L. (IARC, EPA)Surface Water1
ChromiumHealth riskHexavalent chromium (Cr-VI) is an IARC Group 1 carcinogen via inhalation, causing lung cancer; trivalent chromium is far less toxic. (IARC, EPA)Sediment1
CopperHealth riskInhaled copper fumes cause metal-fume fever; chronic ingestion above EPA's 1.3 mg/L action level damages the liver. (EPA)Sediment1
CreosoteHealth riskCoal-tar creosote is an IARC Group 2A probable carcinogen; PAH-rich preservative used in railroad ties and utility poles. (IARC, EPA)Free-phase NAPL1
DieldrinHealth riskIARC Group 3 (inadequate evidence) but EPA classifies as 'probable human carcinogen'; neurotoxin and persistent organic pollutant. (EPA, ATSDR)Sediment1
DieldrinHealth riskIARC Group 3 (inadequate evidence) but EPA classifies as 'probable human carcinogen'; neurotoxin and persistent organic pollutant. (EPA, ATSDR)Surface Water1
Dioxins (Chlorinated Dibenzodioxins)Sediment1
Dioxins (Chlorinated Dibenzodioxins)Soil1
Dioxins (Chlorinated Dibenzodioxins)Surface Water1
Dioxins And DibenzofuransSediment1
Dioxins And DibenzofuransSurface Water1
LeadHealth riskNeurotoxin. Even low childhood exposure impairs cognitive development; chronic adult exposure damages kidneys and the cardiovascular system. (EPA, ATSDR)Soil1
LeadHealth riskNeurotoxin. Even low childhood exposure impairs cognitive development; chronic adult exposure damages kidneys and the cardiovascular system. (EPA, ATSDR)Surface Water1
PentachlorophenolHealth riskIARC Group 1 carcinogen; wood preservative; persistent in soil and groundwater. (IARC, EPA)Sediment1
PentachlorophenolHealth riskIARC Group 1 carcinogen; wood preservative; persistent in soil and groundwater. (IARC, EPA)Soil1
Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (Pahs)Health riskPAH class includes IARC Group 1 carcinogens (e.g., benzo[a]pyrene); long-term exposure raises cancer risk. (IARC, EPA)Groundwater1
Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (Pahs)Health riskPAH class includes IARC Group 1 carcinogens (e.g., benzo[a]pyrene); long-term exposure raises cancer risk. (IARC, EPA)Sediment1
Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (Pahs)Health riskPAH class includes IARC Group 1 carcinogens (e.g., benzo[a]pyrene); long-term exposure raises cancer risk. (IARC, EPA)Soil1
Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (Pahs)Health riskPAH class includes IARC Group 1 carcinogens (e.g., benzo[a]pyrene); long-term exposure raises cancer risk. (IARC, EPA)Surface Water1
Drinking-water linkage · SDWIS

No Groundwater PWSes Serving Communities Within 3 Miles

No SDWIS public water systems drawing groundwater (or mixed sources) serve a community whose centroid sits within 3 miles of this site. Empty results are not a guarantee of non-impact — distance is computed to served-place centroids, and SDWIS does not expose individual wellhead locations.

Methodology: served-city centroid (TIGER 2020) is used as the PWS coordinate. Source-water classification from SDWIS primary_source_code; only groundwater and mixed-source systems are queried. Click any system above for its full SDWIS profile.

Equity context · ACS 2018-2022 block-group demographics

Who Lives Near This Site

Within 1 mile of this site (4 Census block groups, population-weighted demographics): a population of 4,476. Why we surface this →

POPULATION SHARE
20.2%

Low-income

POPULATION SHARE
53.8%

People of color

POPULATION SHARE
5.6%

Under age 5

POPULATION SHARE
19.6%

Over age 64

Source: Census ACS 2018-2022 block-group demographics, population-weighted across the 1-mile buffer around this site (from USEPA-clone/EJAM-open blockgroupstats). NPL site proximity contributes to the national EJ pattern; indicator-level percentile and disparity scores are surfaced on the county page and the state page.

Source. EPA Superfund Enterprise Management System (SEMS) · retrieved 2026-05-07. SEMS is a federal public-domain dataset under 17 USC §105.

What this is not. We report EPA's published Superfund record — site listing, status, and contaminants of concern as named in EPA's decision documents. We do not perform site visits, independent air or water sampling, or current-state health-risk assessment. NPL listing reflects EPA's Hazard Ranking Score at a point in time; it does not by itself describe present-day exposure.