(DALLAS - Sept. 16, 2014) The E.P.A. (EPA) has added the Delta Shipyard location in Terrebonne Parish, Louisiana, to the National Priorities List (NPL) of Superfund sites, a list of sites that pose risks to people's health and the environment. Superfund is the federal plan that investigates and cleans up the most complex, uncontrolled or abandoned hazardous waste sites in the country.
The 165-acre site, in a mixed industrial and residential area south of the city of Houma, operated as a cleaning and repair facility for small cargo boats, fishing boats, and oil barges. Oily waste from the cleaning process was stored in several unlined earthen pits used as evaporation ponds. These pits were reportedly also used to dispose of oil field drilling material. Wetlands near the location are contaminated with a variety of metals, including arsenic, benzene, and lead. Additionally, evaporation pits contain in excess of 30,000 cubic yards of hazardous material.
"Finalizing the Delta Shipyard location on the NPL will allow E.P.A. and our partners to begin restoring the land,"
said E.P.A. Regional Administrator Ron Curry. "Addressing these types of complex cleanups is one of the most important parts of EPA's mission."
Contamination from the location has been found in ground water, surface water, and soil. The state of Louisiana referred the location to E.P.A. for inclusion on the NPL. Without remediation of the site, delivers of contamination to ground water, surface water, and soil could continue.
The Superfund plan uses remedy effectiveness information to actively manage location operations and refine remedial strategies in order to efficiently move sites to completion. Today, in excess of 800 Superfund sites across the nation support some type of continued use, active reuse or planned reuse activities.
The Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act (CERCLA), the law establishing the Superfund program, gives E.P.A. the authority to clean up delivers of hazardous substances and directs E.P.A. to update the NPL at least annually to protect human health and the environment with the goal of returning these sites to communities for productive use. The NPL contains the nation's most serious uncontrolled or abandoned hazardous waste sites. The list serves as the basis for prioritizing both enforcement actions and long-term E.P.A. Superfund cleanup funding; only sites on the NPL are eligible for such funding.
Federal Register notices and supporting documents for the final and suggested sites:
http://www.epa.gov/superfund/sites/npl/current.htm
Information about how a location is listed on the NPL:
http://www.epa.gov/superfund/sites/npl/npl_hrs.htm
Superfund sites in local communities:
http://www.epa.gov/superfund/sites/index.htm
More information about the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act (CERCLA), the law establishing the Superfund program, can be found at:
http://epa.gov/superfund/policy/cercla.htm
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