Vermiculite Products, Inc., 3025 Maxroy Street, Houston, Texas
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EPA
Region		 Location of facility Type of facility Amount
of ore
received
(in tons)		 Did
EPA
visit
the
site?		 Were
samples
taken?		 Results of
evaluation
6 3025 Maxroy Street, Houston, Texas Active exfoliation facility 213,750 Yes-July 21, 2000 No According to an EPA database compiled from W.R. Grace shipping invoices, 213,750 tons of vermiculite ore from the Libby mine were shipped to this site between January 1967 and November 1986. At the time of EPA's visit, this facility was an active vermiculite exfoliation plant that processed vermiculite for use in concrete aggregate. The facility had been in operation since 1941. The plant manager told EPA that the facility received ore from Carolina Vermiculite Company, located in Woodruff, South Carolina. (This site is listed separately in this database.) The ore was trucked to the site and stored there in silos until it was expanded. The expanded vermiculite was stored in bags in a warehouse located on the site. According to the plant manager, from 1962 through 1987, the company purchased ore from a W.R. Grace mine in Caney, South Carolina and, before 1962, the ore was purchased from the W.R. Grace mine in Libby, Montana. The plant manager said the W.R. Grace shipping invoices that indicated Libby ore had been shipped to this site from 1967 through 1986 were inaccurate. EPA observed that operating conditions at the facility were dusty. Since EPA did not see any vermiculite waste piles at the site during its visit, it did not collect samples. EPA determined no further action was needed.

GAO-09-6R