Zonolite Company/W.R. Grace, 3401 N. 3rd Avenue, Tampa, Florida
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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
4 3401 N. 3rd Avenue, Tampa, Florida Active exfoliation facility 112,101.6 Yes-May 12, 2000 Yes According to an EPA database compiled from W.R. Grace shipping records, this facility received 112,101.6 tons of Libby ore between approximately February 1966 and January 1991. According to information gathered about this site by the Florida Department of Health under a cooperative agreement with the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR), before 1990, this facility had also received vermiculite ore from a source located in Enoree, South Carolina. Vermiculite had been exfoliated at this site since the 1950s. The Zonolite Company operated this facility from the early 1960s until 1974. A fireproof spray product (Monokote-3) that contained vermiculite was produced in the Zonolite plant from the early 1960s until 1972. In 1974, the W.R. Grace Company built a new plant at this site that had an air filter to help reduce air emissions. According to W.R. Grace records, expansion of Libby vermiculite ore began at this site in early 1976. W.R. Grace continued to operate this facility until 1991. Another company leased this site in 1991, purchased the site in 1993, and continued to operate the vermiculite expansion (exfoliation) plant. The owner of that company said he did not process Libby ore at the facility but instead obtained ore from sources in South Carolina, Virginia, and South Africa. On January 24, 2001, EPA collected one surface soil sample from an area where ore had been unloaded and one sample of raw South African vermiculite ore from under a conveyor. When analyzed using polarized light microscopy (PLM), the sample from the unloading area contained less than 1-percent asbestos and the sample of raw ore did not contain detectable levels of asbestos. EPA determined no further action was needed at this site. The ATSDR’s health consultation report for this site can be found at ATSDR.

GAO-09-6R