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News Releases from Region 05

EPA adds Illinois hazardous waste site to Superfund National Priorities List

09/28/2015
Contact Information: 
Francisco Arcaute (arcaute.francisco@epa.gov)
312-886-7613, 312-898-2042

For Immediate Release No. 15-OPA153

CHICAGO (Sept. 28, 2015) - The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency today added the site of the former Estech General Chemical Co. to the National Priorities List of Superfund sites. The 54-acre site includes adjacent properties in Calumet City and Burnham, Illinois. Superfund is the federal program that investigates and cleans up the most complex uncontrolled or abandoned hazardous waste sites in the country.

The Estech General Chemical Company manufactured pesticides and fertilizers from 1952 to 1969. From the late 1980s until 1996, the site was an open dump for auto-fluff waste. The principal contaminant on the site are polychlorinated biphenyls, pesticides, metals, and semi-volatile organic compounds. EPA proposed adding the site to the National Priorities List in March.

Information about proposed and final NPL sites are available on EPA's website: http://www.epa.gov/superfund/sites/npl/current.htm.

This year marks the 35th anniversary of the enactment of the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act, the law establishing the Superfund program. The Superfund law gives EPA the authority to clean up releases of hazardous substances and directs EPA to update the National Priorities List at least once a year.


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