If you drive north on Palafox Street, there is an empty lot at 3910 that is easy to miss. There’s a chain-link fence along the road. Beyond it, there is grass, trees, and open space.
The lot looks ordinary. But this is the former Escambia Wood Treating Company site. And for people who have lived around this part of Pensacola for decades, there is nothing ordinary about it.
Brandy Johnson lives nearby. She told Escambia County commissioners she’s worried about what could happen if the property is developed now.
“I live uncomfortably close to this site and I, like many others, cannot afford to move," Johnson said. "Disturbing Mount Dioxin by heavy earth moving, grading and deep-foundation driving required for a dry port risks breach of localized containment caps and stirring up residual toxic dust.”
An inland port, sometimes called a dry port, is a place to move and store shipping containers away from the waterfront. And one is now being considered for this property. That possibility is bringing new attention to a site with a long and difficult history.
For about 40 years, the Escambia Wood Treating Company treated telephone poles, railroad ties, and other wood products here with chemical preservatives.
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Those chemicals eventually contaminated the soil and groundwater. By the early 1990s, the federal government had begun cleaning it up. Workers dug up enormous amounts of contaminated dirt and piled it on the property. The mound became so large that people living nearby gave it a name:
Mount Dioxin.
The property was added to the federal Superfund list in 1994. Over time, the government bought out and relocated 358 nearby households.
The mound itself is gone now. The contaminated soil was removed in 2009. But that doesn’t mean the site’s history disappeared with it. Environmental monitoring continues, and there are still restrictions on how the property can be used.
That’s why Brandy Johnson said any new construction deserves a close look.
She’s especially concerned about heavy equipment and digging deep into the ground. And she made this appeal to commissioners.
“In the original disaster, elected officials prioritized businesses over people," Johnson said. "Please do not make the same mistake twice.”
Commissioner Lumon May has known about this property for most of his life.
He said he started attending community meetings about the contamination when he was just 15. May told residents he understands why they’re concerned.
“The reality of it is that property has stayed vacant for at least 40 plus years," May said. "We’re not going to do anything that’s not environmentally sensitive to the citizens and certainly we’re not going to exacerbate a problem that has existed. We’re not going to do anything without citizen input. “
For Johnson, there is something that could help ease some of those worries.
“One thing that I think would comfort the community is up to-date water, soil, and air quality testing,” she said.
Standing here today, it’s easy to understand why someone unfamiliar with this property might drive right past it. There’s no giant mound anymore. Just grass, trees and a chain-link fence covered in vines.
It looks very different from the Mount Dioxin people remember. But for those who lived through what happened here, that history is still very much part of this place.
We reached out to Commissioner May for an update on where things stand now. He did not provide additional comment.
