News Releases from Region 07

Dubuque, Iowa, Superfund Site Included in EPA Redevelopment Focus List

01/17/2018

Contact Information:

913-551-7940

Environmental News

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

(Lenexa, Kan., Jan. 17, 2018) - Today, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) released its initial list of Superfund National Priorities List (NPL) sites with the greatest expected redevelopment and commercial potential. Included in that list is the Peoples Natural Gas Superfund Site in Dubuque, Iowa.

“EPA is more than a collaborative partner to remediate the nation’s most contaminated sites. We’re also working to successfully integrate Superfund sites back into communities across the country,” said EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt. “Today’s redevelopment list incorporates Superfund sites ready to become catalysts for economic growth and revitalization.”

Superfund redevelopment has helped countless communities reclaim and reuse thousands of acres of formerly contaminated land. Superfund sites on the list have significant redevelopment potential, based on previous outside interest, access to transportation corridors, land values, and other critical development drivers.

The city of Dubuque and Iowa Department of Transportation own the Peoples Natural Gas site properties. A new bus storage, maintenance, and driver training facility for Dubuque’s Jule public transit system is located on-site. The site offers potential for additional redevelopment, including support and education facilities for a solar array on an adjacent property.

The list is intended to direct interested developers and potential owners to Superfund sites with redevelopment potential, but does not necessarily include all possible sites with similar potential.

The sites on this list are in alphabetical order and not ranked in any particular way. As of Jan. 11, 2018, the Superfund Redevelopment List is:

Aerojet General Corp., Rancho Cordova, California
Aircraft Components, Benton Harbor, Michigan
Allied Paper, Inc./Portage Creek/Kalamazoo River, Kalamazoo, Michigan
Armour Road, North Kansas City, Missouri
Arrowhead Refinery Co., Hermantown, Minnesota
BoRit Asbestos, Ambler, Pennsylvania
Bunker Hill Mining & Metallurgical Complex, Smelterville, Idaho
Crater Resources Inc./Keystone Coke Co./Alan Wood Steel Co., Upper Merion Township, Pennsylvania
Eagle Mine, Minturn, Colorado
Florida Steel Corp., Indiantown, Florida
Frontier Hard Chrome, Inc., Vancouver, Washington
Kerr-McGee Chemical Corp., Columbus, Mississippi
Kerr-McGee Chemical Corp., Jacksonville, Florida
Koppers Co., Inc., Charleston, South Carolina
Libby Asbestos and Libby Groundwater Sites, Libby, Montana
Many Diversified Interests, Inc., Houston, Texas
McCormick & Baxter Creosoting Co., Portland, Oregon
Metal Bank, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
MGM Brakes, Cloverdale, California
New Bedford, New Bedford, Massachusetts
Operating Industries Inc. Landfill, Monterey Park, California
Peoples Natural Gas, Dubuque, Iowa
Pepper Steel & Alloys, Inc., Medley, Florida
Quendall Terminal, Renton, Washington
Raymark Industries, Inc., Stratford, Connecticut
Roebling Steel Co., Burlington County, New Jersey
Sanford Dry Cleaners, Sanford, Florida
Sharon Steel Corp., Midvale, Utah
St. Louis River Site, Duluth, Minnesota
U.S. Finishing/Cone Mills, Greenville, South Carolina
U.S. Smelter and Lead Refinery, Inc., East Chicago, Indiana

In July 2017, the Superfund Task Force released its recommendations to streamline and improve the Superfund program, including a focus on redevelopment training, tools and resources towards sites on the NPL.

EPA will work diligently with developers interested in reusing these and other Superfund sites; identify potentially interested businesses and industries to keep them apprised of redevelopment opportunities; and continue to engage with community groups in cleanup and redevelopment activities to ensure the successful redevelopment and revitalization of their communities.

Administrator Pruitt has set the expectation that there will be a renewed focus on accelerating work and progress at all Superfund sites across the country. The Superfund program remains dedicated to addressing risk and accelerating progress at all of its sites, not just those on the list. The list is intended to be dynamic. Sites will move on and off the list as appropriate.