News Releases from Region 05

EPA Removes Nutting Co. Site in Minnesota from National Priorities List

EPA Making Strides in Cleaning Up the Nation’s Most Contaminated Sites

For Immediate Release   No. 18-OPA  097

EPA Removes Nutting Co. Site in Minnesota from National Priorities List

EPA Making Strides in Cleaning Up the Nation’s Most Contaminated Sites

CHICAGO (Jan. 2, 2018) – As a result of staff working hard to implement Administrator Scott Pruitt’s initiatives to make strides in cleaning up the nation’s most contaminated toxic land sites, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is announcing significant improvement in 2017 – through the deletion of all or parts of seven Superfund sites from the National Priorities List (NPL), including the Nutting Truck & Caster Co. site in Faribault, Minn. This is more than triple the number of sites removed from the list in 2016.

“We have made it a priority to get these sites cleaned up faster and in the right way,” said EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt.  “By creating a streamlined task force and making major remedy decisions that hold potentially responsible parties accountable for clean up, the Superfund program is carrying out the Agency’s mission of protecting human health and the environment more every day.”

EPA determined that actions taken by the Nutting Co. and overseen by the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) effectively cleaned up the soil and groundwater contamination and the site no longer poses a threat to human health or the environment.

The 8.6-acre site is located at 85 Prairie Ave. in Faribault. The Nutting Co. manufactured casters, wheels and hand trucks at the site from 1891 to 1984. In 1959 the company began using a seepage pit in the west central area of the site to deposit waste. Soil and groundwater were found to be contaminated as a result of these disposal practices.

A cleanup began in 1979 under MPCA that included excavation of sludge and contaminated soil from the former seepage pit; installation of a groundwater extraction and treatment system; and installation of monitoring wells to assess the groundwater cleanup.

In 2016, EPA had deletion activities at two NPL sites, one full site and portions of another. But in 2017, under the leadership of Administrator Pruitt, EPA has deleted three entire sites and portions of four others.  This increase in deletions reflects Administrator Pruitt’s commitment to accelerating progress, reducing risks at Superfund sites and returning sites to productive use.

These deletions come on the heels of Administrator Pruitt’s list of 21 sites that have been targeted for immediate and intense attention – a direct response to the Superfund Task Force Recommendations issued this summer.

NPL deletion occurs when all the remedies are successfully implemented and no further cleanup is required to protect human health or the environment.  The Agency deletes portions of NPL sites when work at those portions is complete and other parts of the site still have ongoing actions.

The three completely deleted sites are:

• Nutting Truck & Caster Co. in Minnesota, originally contaminated with trichloroethylene (TCE) in groundwater;

• Shpack Landfill in Massachusetts, which had contaminated soil, sediment and groundwater; and,

• Perdido Ground Water Contamination in Alabama, which was originally contaminated with benzene.

EPA completed partial deletions for:

• Mystery Bridge Rd/U.S. Highway 20 in Wyoming, which had a groundwater plume and soils that contained benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene, and total xylenes;

• Ellisville Site in Missouri, which contained drums full of hazardous materials;

• Omaha Lead in Nebraska, where surface soil was contaminated by deposition of air emissions from historic lead smelting and refining operations; and,

• North Penn - Area 6 in Pennsylvania, where soils and groundwater were contaminated with volatile organic compounds.

Deleting a site or portions of a site from the NPL may facilitate future redevelopment, one of EPA’s goals for the Superfund program. 

The NPL is one focus area of the Superfund Task Force Recommendations to improve and revitalize the Superfund program. Work to prioritize and reinvigorate the Superfund program is underway and will continue into 2018.

The Superfund Task Force Recommendations can be viewed at https://www.epa.gov/superfund/superfund-task-force-recommendations

Additional information about EPA’s NPL deletions can be viewed at

https://www.epa.gov/superfund/superfund-national-priorities-list-deletion

To search for more information about these sites, and other sites deleted from the NPL, please visit https://www.epa.gov/superfund/superfund-national-priorities-list-npl-deletion-search