E.P.A. Adds Sites to National Priorities List to Reduce Risk to Public Health and Environment

WASHINGTON - The E.P.A. (EPA) is adding 5 and proposing to add 8 hazardous waste sites to the Superfund program's National Priorities List (NPL). These are sites with known or threatened hazardous waste delivers that could pose risks to public health and the environment.

"Cleaning up hazardous waste sites is vitally important to the health of America's communities," said Mathy Stanislaus, assistant administrator for EPA's Office of Land and Emergency Management. "Our goal is to give communities the best opportunity for productive use of a location after it is cleaned up."

A site's addition to the NPL helps address potential adverse human health impacts. Academic research shows that investment in Superfund cleanups reduces the incidence of congenital abnormalities in infants by as much as 25 percent for those living within approximately a mile and a quarter of a site. Cleanups involving lead-contaminated soil have contributed to documented reduced blood-lead levels in children. If left unaddressed, elevated blood-lead levels may result in irreversible neurological deficits, such as lowered intelligence and attention-related behavioral problems.

"Adding a location to the NPL generates new jobs and creates stronger local economies that will strengthen communities for years to come," continued Assistant Administrator Stanislaus. "A study by researchers at Duke University and the University of Pittsburgh found that once a location has all cleanup remedies in place and is deleted from the NPL, nearby property values increased 18.6-24.5 percent as compared to their pre-NPL suggestion values. Moreover, cleanups increase local communities' and state governments' tax revenue, and help to create jobs during and after cleanup. For example, at 454 of the 850 sites supporting use or reuse activities, E.P.A. found, at the end of fiscal year 2015, that approximately 3,900 businesses had ongoing operations that were generating yearly sales of in excess of $29 billion and employing in excess of 108,000 people."

Currently, in excess of 850 Superfund sites nationwide have some type of actual or planned reuse underway. For example, in the town of Corinna, Maine, the Maine Department of Environmental Protection, local officials and stakeholders worked together to integrate a reuse project for the Eastland Woolen Mill Superfund site. The 22-acre location is a former textile mill that operated from 1909 to 1996. Disposal practices resulted in extensive contamination of soil, groundwater and numerous private drinking water wells. With E.P.A. support, this collaboration resulted in the Corinna Village Center Reuse Project that focuses on mixed-use redevelopment of downtown Corinna and includes commercial, residential and recreational areas.

E.P.A. responds to requests from states, tribes and communities to propose a location for NPL addition when non-NPL response options have not proved viable. Prior to adding a location to the NPL, the agency works closely with states and tribes and looks for public comment. For each of the 13 sites announced today, E.P.A. has either received letters of state officials' concurrence supporting the NPL listing or, after working closely with the state, received no objection to adding the location to the NPL. Community partnerships are also critical to Superfund location cleanups. EPA's goal is to work with community partners at every location by establishing an effective process with the necessary tools and information needed to fully explore future uses before the cleanup remedy's selection. This approach gives the Agency the best chance of ensuring remedies are consistent with a site's likely future use.

Under Superfund law, only sites E.P.A. adds to the NPL are eligible to gain federal backing for long-term, permanent cleanup. The list serves as the basis for prioritizing both enforcement actions against potentially responsible parties and long-term E.P.A. Superfund cleanup funding. The Superfund plan operates on the principle that polluters should pay for the cleanups rather than passing the costs on to taxpayers. E.P.A. searches for parties legally responsible for contaminating a site, and holds those parties accountable for cleanup costs.

This year marks the 35th anniversary of the enactment of the Comprehensive Environmental, Response, Compensation and Liability Act, the law creating the Superfund program. The Superfund law gives E.P.A. the authority to clean up hazardous substance delivers and directs E.P.A. to update the NPL. E.P.A. and its partners continue to discover new sites qualifying for the NPL. These sites are the result of past industrial practices as well as other activities.

The sites in today's rules potentially affect drinking water, groundwater, soil, wetlands, and fishing for human consumption. Contaminants found at the sites include arsenic, mercury, uranium, cadmium, copper, manganese, zinc, aluminum, chromium, lead, trichloroethane (TCA) and trichloroethylene (TCE).

The following 5 sites have been added to the NPL:

* Illinois - Old American Zinc Plant (former zinc smelter) in Fairmont City.

* Iowa - PCE Former Dry Cleaner (former dry cleaner) in Atlantic.

* Nebraska - Iowa-Nebraska Light & Power Co (former gas plant manufacturer) in Norfolk.

* New Jersey - Former Kil-Tone Company (former pesticides manufacturer) in Vineland.

* New Mexico - Lea and West 2nd Street (ground water plume) in Roswell.

The following 8 sites have been suggested for addition to the NPL:

* California - Argonaut Mine (former hard rock mining area) in Jackson.

* Colorado - Bonita Peak Mining District (former hard rock mining area) in San Juan County.

* Indiana - Riverside Ground Water Contamination (ground water plume) in Indianapolis.

* New York - Wappinger Creek (site of various former industrial operations) in Dutchess County.

* Ohio - Valley Pike VOCs (former tire and heavy duty truck molding manufacturer) in Riverside.

* Puerto Rico - Dorado Ground Water Contamination (ground water contamination) in Dorado.

* Texas - Eldorado Chemical Co., Inc (former cleaning products manufacturer) in Live Oak.

* West Virginia - North 25th Street Glass and Zinc (former glass and zinc manufacturer) in Clarksburg.

For Federal Register notices and supporting documents for the final and suggested sites:
http://www.epa.gov/superfund/current-npl-updates-new-proposed-npl-sites-and-new-npl-sites

For information about how a location is listed on the NPL:
http://www.epa.gov/superfund/basic-npl-information

For information on the Superfund Redevelopment Initiative:
http://www.epa.gov/superfund-redevelopment-initiative

For information on the 35th Anniversary of Superfund:
http://www.epa.gov/superfund/superfund-35th-anniversary

For information about the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act (CERCLA), the law establishing the Superfund program:
http://www.epa.gov/superfund/superfund-cercla-overview

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