Saint-Gobain Announces Intent to Construct a New Gypsum Logistics Facility and Support the Remediation of a Superfund Site in Jacksonville, Florida

MALVERN, Pa.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Saint-Gobain, through its building products subsidiary CertainTeed LLC, today announced the company intends to build a new gypsum logistics facility that will be integrated into the remediation of a vacant Superfund site in Jacksonville, Florida, along the St. Johns River.

CertainTeed’s construction of a terminal dock operation and other improvements will be integrated with the environmental remediation being managed by Greenfield Environmental Multistate Trust (Greenfield), the environmental response trustee that assumed responsibility in 2011 for the site located at 1611 Talleyrand Avenue. The Kerr-McGee Chemical Corp Site has been unused since 1978 and was formerly used to manufacture fertilizer and formulate pesticides.

Construction is expected to begin in 2022 after the final remedial design is approved by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the State of Florida. Greenfield and CertainTeed will be coordinating portions of the cleanup that are required for the CertainTeed facility for an estimated total cost of $70 million. The remainder of the remedy will be implemented by Greenfield. Cleanup activities will be performed under EPA oversight in consultation with the Florida Department of Environmental Protection.

The new dock will support CertainTeed’s nearby wallboard plant in Palatka and strengthen the company’s supply chain throughout the southeastern United States.

CertainTeed’s construction of the logistics facility and its other improvements will be supported by $3.4 Million in property tax incentives approved last night by Jacksonville City Council.

“We are deeply grateful to the City of Jacksonville for their support of our new logistics facility on the St. Johns River, and we look forward to continuing our partnership with Greenfield to ensure the responsible stewardship of this Superfund site,” said Jay Bachmann, Vice President and General Manager of CertainTeed Gypsum Product Group. “This project will return a heavily contaminated Superfund site to productive use, creating dozens of full-time jobs and strengthening our company’s ability to serve our customers.”

Once operational, CertainTeed’s dock in Jacksonville will be equipped with a bulkhead, a conveyor, an unloading ramp, truck staging areas and a small office. Approximately 32 new fulltime jobs will be created at the facility by the end of 2024.

CertainTeed’s planned reuse of the Superfund site in Jacksonville follows several other major investments this year towards environmental sustainability. In March, the company signed a 12-year power purchase agreement for 120 megawatts of renewable energy from a wind farm in McLean County, Illinois. In August, the company launched “Sustaining Futures, Raising Communities,” a program that will bring more sustainable construction to neighborhoods across North America.

For more details on Saint-Gobain, visit www.saint-gobain.com and follow us on Twitter @saintgobain.

About CertainTeed
Through the responsible development of innovative and sustainable building products, CertainTeed, headquartered in Malvern, Pennsylvania, has helped shape the building products industry for more than 115 years. Founded in 1904 as General Roofing Manufacturing Company, the firm’s slogan “Quality Made Certain, Satisfaction Guaranteed,” inspired the name CertainTeed. Today, CertainTeed is a leading North American brand of exterior and interior building products, including roofing, siding, solar, fence, railing, trim, insulation, drywall and ceilings. www.certainteed.com

About Saint-Gobain
Saint-Gobain designs, manufactures and distributes materials and solutions for the construction, mobility, healthcare and other industrial application markets. Developed through a continuous innovation process, they can be found everywhere in our living places and daily life, providing wellbeing, performance and safety, while addressing the challenges of sustainable construction, resource efficiency and the fight against climate change.

This strategy of responsible growth is guided by the Saint-Gobain purpose, “MAKING THE WORLD A BETTER HOME,” which responds to the shared ambition of all the women and men in the Group to act every day to make the world a more beautiful and sustainable place to live in.

€42.6 billion in sales in 2019
More than 170, 000 employees, located in 70 countries
Committed to achieving Carbon Neutrality by 2050

About Greenfield Environmental Multistate Trust
Greenfield Environmental Multistate Trust is the Trustee of the Multistate Environmental Response Trust (the Multistate Trust). The Multistate Trust was established as part of a bankruptcy settlement to own, investigate, and clean up the Kerr-McGee Chemical Corp. Superfund Site in Jacksonville and facilitate its reuse. Visit https://jacksonville.greenfieldenvironmental.com to learn more.