News Releases from Region 03
EPA Removes Dorney Road Landfill Superfund Site from Superfund National Priorities List
(PHILADELPHIA) September 26, 2018 – Today, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced that the Dorney Road Landfill Superfund Site located in Berks and Lehigh Counties, Pennsylvania is being deleted from the Superfund National Priorities List (NPL). In Fiscal Year 2018, EPA has deleted 18 sites and partially deleted four sites from the NPL.
“Completing Superfund cleanups continues to be a priority at EPA as we work to create a safer and healthier environment for all communities affected,” said EPA Mid-Atlantic Regional Administrator Cosmo Servidio. “Removing the Dorney Road site from the list represents an important step toward achieving this goal.”
The Dorney Road site is located in Upper Macungie Township, Lehigh County, with a small parcel extending into Longswamp Township in Berks County. The site was originally an open-pit iron mine, before it was operated as a 27-acre municipal and industrial landfill from 1952 to 1978. During operation of the landfill, industrial sludge, batteries and barrels of petroleum products were dumped on site, resulting in impacts to soil and groundwater.
On March 28, 2018, EPA issued the Final Close Out Report for the site, documenting that all performance standards have been achieved and that no additional Superfund response actions, other than operation and maintenance and Five-Year Reviews, are necessary to protect human health and the environment.
Cleanup work included the installation of a multi-layered cap over the landfill and groundwater and residential well monitoring. The site is surrounded by rural residences and farmland, although many housing developments have been constructed in recent years. Monitoring of residential wells in the vicinity of the site will continue on a quarterly basis to ensure the long-term protection of human health.
Under the Trump Administration, the Superfund program has reemerged as a priority to fulfill and strengthen EPA’s core mission of protecting human health and the environment.
Background
The National Priorities List is a roster of the nation’s most contaminated sites that threaten human health or the environment. The sites on the list are eligible for cleanup under EPA’s Superfund program. EPA removes sites from the list once all the remedies are successfully implemented and no further cleanup is required to protect human health or the environment.
For more information about the site, visit: https://cumulis.epa.gov/supercpad/cursites/csitinfo.cfm?id=0301228
