Fort Valley’s Woolfolk Alliance honored | Macon Telegraph

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency honored the Woolfolk Alliance Group this week with its 2010 Citizen Excellence in Community Involvement Award.

The group was formed in 1997 around the Woolfolk Chemical Works, which made pesticides, herbicides and, during World War II, arsenic tri-choloride for the U.S. Chemical Warfare Service. Dust from the operations spread to nearby attics, which led to a Superfund cleanup project and numerous brownfield sites.

By one count, at least 28 groups were working in the alliance.

“The Woolfolk Alliance Group serves as a great example for communities across the nation on how to bring together many diverse interests to solve a common challenge,” said EPA Region 4 Administrator Gwen Keyes Fleming.

Some of the alliance members have worked together for more than a decade.

The EPA said the alliance helped exchange information and then helped reuse the site with a public library and tourist information center.