News Releases from Region 07

EPA Updates National Priorities List; Adds Sporlan Valve Plant #1 Superfund Site in Washington, Missouri

05/13/2019

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Environmental News

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

(Lenexa, Kan., May 13, 2019) - Today, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced the addition of seven hazardous waste sites to the Superfund Program’s National Priorities List (NPL). These additions represent commitments from the Agency to advance cleanups to protect communities across the country.

The NPL includes the nation’s most serious uncontrolled or abandoned releases of contamination. The list serves as the basis for prioritizing EPA Superfund cleanup funding and enforcement actions. Only releases at sites included on the NPL are eligible to receive federal funding for long-term, permanent cleanup. In EPA Region 7, one site is added to the NPL: Sporlan Valve Plant #1 in Washington, Missouri.

“By adding these sites to the National Priorities List, we are taking action to clean up some of the nation’s most contaminated sites, protect the health of the local communities, and return the sites to safe and productive reuse,” said EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler. “Our commitment to these communities is that sites on the National Priorities List will be a true national priority. We’ve elevated the Superfund program to a top priority, and in fiscal year 2018, EPA deleted all or part of 22 sites from the NPL, the largest number of deletions in one year since fiscal year 2005.”

The following sites are being added to the NPL:

Sporlan Valve Plant #1 in Washington, Missouri
Magna Metals in Cortlandt Manor, New York
Shaffer Equipment/Arbuckle Creek Area in Minden, West Virginia
Cliff Drive Groundwater Contamination in Logansport, Indiana
McLouth Steel Corp in Trenton, Michigan
PROTECO in Peñuelas, Puerto Rico
Copper Bluff Mine in Hoopa, California

SPORLAN VALVE PLANT #1 SITE BACKGROUND

The site is located at 611 E. 7th Street in Washington, Franklin County, Missouri.

The site was first developed as a refrigeration valve manufacturing facility in 1939. Trichloroethylene (TCE) was used at the facility as a degreaser and industrial solvent. A release of TCE to the ground has occurred, potentially over several decades, resulting in contaminated soil and groundwater beneath the facility. TCE has been detected in groundwater, soil gas, and indoor air surrounding the site.

TCE is the primary contaminant of concern at the site. Exposure to TCE poses potential human health hazards to the central nervous system, kidney, liver, immune system, male reproductive system, and developing fetus. TCE is characterized by EPA as “carcinogenic in humans” by all routes of exposure. Other contaminants of concern at this site include vinyl chloride and dichloroethene, both of which are breakdown byproducts of the degradation of TCE in the environment.

VAPOR INTRUSION

A series of actions have been taken to mitigate the threat of vapor intrusion, due to the presence of TCE in shallow groundwater under residential properties adjacent to the site. These actions have included sampling for TCE in homes, installing, and requiring the Potentially Responsible Party to install vapor mitigation systems.

Vapor intrusion is a process by which volatile chemicals in soil and groundwater can migrate into and accumulate inside buildings. Vapor mitigation systems reduce concentrations of airborne contamination, so they do not pose health risks. At this time, EPA has installed and overseen installation of 19 vapor mitigation systems at homes adjacent to the site.