News Releases from Region 04
Florida Steel Corp. Site in Indiantown, Florida included on EPA Superfund Redevelopment Focus List
Florida Steel Corp. Site in Indiantown, Florida included on EPA Superfund Redevelopment Focus List
Media Contact: Dawn Harris-Young, (404) 562-8421 (Direct), (404) 562-8400 (Main), harris-young.dawn@epa.gov
ATLANTA (January 17, 2018) – Today, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) released its initial list of Superfund National Priorities List (NPL) sites with the greatest expected redevelopment and commercial potential. The Florida Steel Corp. site is one of 31 sites on the list.
“EPA is more than a collaborative partner to remediate the nation’s most contaminated sites, we’re also working to successfully integrate Superfund sites back into communities across the country,” said EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt. “Today’s redevelopment list incorporates Superfund sites ready to become catalysts for economic growth and revitalization.”
The 151-acre Florida Steel Corp. site is located in Martin County, Florida, 10 miles east of Lake Okeechobee. It includes the area where Florida Steel Corporation, now known as Gerdau AmeriSteel, operated a steel mill from 1970 to 1982. EPA placed the site on the Superfund program’s National Priorities List (NPL) in 1983 because of contaminated groundwater, sediment and soil resulting from facility operations. EPA, the Florida Department of Environmental Protection (FDEP) and Gerdau AmeriSteel, the site’s potentially responsible party (PRP), have investigated site conditions and taken steps to clean up the site in order to protect people and the environment from contamination. Site contamination does not currently threaten people living and working near the site. By treating and monitoring groundwater, conducting required Five-Year Reviews and enforcing institutional controls, EPA, FDEP and the site’s PRP continue to protect people and the environment from site contamination.
Planning for a natural gas storage facility on the majority of the property is underway. The Floridian Natural Gas Storage Company plans to build two large steel natural gas storage tanks on site. The facility will begin operations in 2018.
Superfund redevelopment has helped countless communities reclaim and reuse thousands of acres of formerly contaminated land. Superfund sites on the list have significant redevelopment potential based on previous outside interest, access to transportation corridors, land values, and other critical development drivers.
In July 2017, the Superfund Task Force released its recommendations to streamline and improve the Superfund program including a focus on redevelopment training, tools and resources towards sites on the NPL. EPA will work diligently with developers interested in reusing these and other Superfund sites; will identify potentially interested businesses and industries to keep them apprised of redevelopment opportunities; and will continue to engage with community groups in cleanup and redevelopment activities to ensure the successful redevelopment and revitalization of their communities.
Administrator Pruitt has set the expectation that there will be a renewed focus on accelerating work and progress at all Superfund sites across the country. The Superfund program remains dedicated to addressing risk and accelerating progress at all of its sites, not just those on the list.
This is not a complete list of sites in the Superfund program with redevelopment potential. The list is intended to be dynamic. Sites will move on and off the list as appropriate.
For more information, please visit: https://www.epa.gov/superfund-redevelopment-initiative/superfund-redevelopment-focus-list
Connect with EPA Region 4 on Facebook: www.facebook.com/eparegion4
And on Twitter: @EPASoutheast
