News Releases from Region 07

EPA Proposes the Addition of Sites in Atlantic, Iowa, and Norfolk, Nebraska, to Superfunds National Priorities List

Environmental News

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

(Lenexa, Kan., Sept. 28, 2015) - EPA is proposing to add two environmentally contaminated sites in Region 7 - the PCE Former Dry Cleaner Site in Atlantic, Iowa, and the Iowa-Nebraska Light & Power Company Site in Norfolk, Neb. - to the Superfund program's National Priorities List (NPL), potentially making both sites eligible for long-term cleanup funding.

The proposed addition of the two Region 7 sites to the NPL was announced today by EPA in Washington. All told, the Agency today added five sites to the NPL, and proposed the addition of seven others.

The NPL, which is updated at least annually, contains the nation's most serious uncontrolled or abandoned hazardous waste sites, and serves as the basis for prioritizing both enforcement actions and long-term EPA Superfund cleanup funding. Only sites on the NPL are eligible for such funding. The two EPA Region 7 sites proposed for addition to the NPL:

• The PCE Former Dry Cleaner Site, Atlantic, Iowa, is the former location of a dry cleaner operation that was in business in the 1960s, and beginning in 1974, the building there was leased by the Iowa Department of Transportation for use as a materials testing laboratory. It was demolished sometime after 1982 and the land is now occupied by a bank. The site has groundwater contamination from chlorinated solvents, including tetrachloroethene (PCE), trichloroethene (TCE) and degradation products. The City of Atlantic, and the Atlantic Municipal Utilities, have expressed support for placing the site on the NPL.

• The Iowa-Nebraska Light & Power Company Site, Norfolk, Neb., is a former manufactured gas plant location contaminated by waste products in soil and groundwater. A portion of the site is owned by Black Hills/Nebraska Gas Utility Company LLC, and the remainder of the site is owned by the Nebraska Public Power District. Contaminants of concern at the site are polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, including benzo(a)pyrene and naphthalene, and volatile organic compounds, including benzene. The State of Nebraska has expressed support for placing the site on the NPL.

EPA will accept public comments regarding these and other proposed NPL site listings during a 60-day comment period following the publication date of official notice in the Federal Register. Those notices and supporting documents for final and proposed NPL sites are available online.

Established by Congress in 1980, the Superfund program investigates and cleans up the most complex, uncontrolled or abandoned hazardous waste sites in the country and converts them into productive community resources by eliminating or reducing public health risks and environmental contamination.

This year marks the 35^th anniversary of the enactment of the Comprehensive Environmental, Response, Compensation and Liability Act (CERCLA), often referred to as the Superfund law. Superfund's passage was a giant step forward in cleaning up industrial waste sites to help ensure human health and environmental protection.