News Releases from Region 01

EPA Completes Clean Up Actions and Removes Maine Site from National Superfund List

Union Chemical Company Superfund Site Deleted from National Priorities List

BOSTON – The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has removed the Union Chemical Company Superfund Site from the National Priorities List ("NPL," commonly referred to as Superfund). Located in Hope, Maine, the Site has been the subject of EPA and State of Maine investigations and cleanup activities since it was added to the NPL Superfund list in 1989.

EPA and the State of Maine have determined that all appropriate Superfund-financed responses under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act (CERCLA), have been implemented and that no further cleanup by responsible parties is appropriate for the Site.

"EPA is intently focused on making substantial and meaningful progress cleaning up Superfund Sites," said EPA New England Regional Administrator Alexandra Dunn. "Delisting the Union Chemical Company Site from the Superfund list is an important milestone that marks the completion of many years of cleanup work, collaboration across many levels of government and private parties, and will now allow for future planning."

"MaineDEP appreciates the substantial work done by EPA throughout this process," said Maine DEP Commissioner Paul Mercer. "The collaborative approach with responsible parties and EPA made these accomplishments possible and we look forward to returning this property to a productive use in the near future."

Long-term monitoring will continue to assure that remedial actions conducted at the site to date continue to be protective of public health and the environment. This deletion does not preclude future actions under Superfund if warranted.

Background:

Once all response actions are complete and all cleanup goals have been achieved or waived, a site becomes eligible for deletion from the NPL. EPA held a 30-day public comment period on the proposal to delete the Union Chemical Company Superfund Site from the NPL, and the decision to finalize the removal of this site from the NPL responds to the comments received.

EPA's decision to remove the Union Chemical Site from the NPL is based on work spanning many years. The facility's buildings and storage containers were successfully decontaminated and disposed of off-site, the soil cleanup actions successfully met the soil cleanup goals, and extensive testing concluded no off-site impacts from the facility's operations. In all, it has been estimated that the soil and groundwater cleanup efforts have removed approximately 95 percent of the site's contamination. However, after multiple remedial attempts, including both standard and innovative technologies employed to reduce the groundwater contamination, EPA determined in 2013 that it was technically impracticable to restore groundwater at the Site fully to drinking water quality. While EPA's cleanup actions have dramatically reduced contamination of the groundwater, in 2013 EPA, after consultation with the State and the local community, issued a Record of Decision (ROD) Amendment that called for a deed restriction on the property for future uses at the Site that would not rely on drinking water sourced from the groundwater.

More information on past work to assess and cleanup the Union Chemical Superfund Site is available at: https://www.epa.gov/superfund/union