All News Releases By Date

EPA Updates Its National Priorities List of Superfund Sites -Three Sites Added and Two Proposed in Texas

Release Date: 03/19/2008
Contact Information: Dave Bary or Tressa Tillman at 214-665-2200 or r6press@epa.gov

(Dallas, Texas - March 19, 2008) Today the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) announced three sites in Texas have been added to the National Priorities List (NPL) for cleanup and two are being proposed.

Donna Reservoir and Canal System in Donna, Midessa Ground Water Plume in Odessa, and the San Jacinto River Waste Pits in Harris County are the sites that were added to the program after being proposed in September 2007.

Old Esco Manufacturing in Greenville and the Attebury Grain Storage Facility in Happy, Texas, are being considered for placement in the federal cleanup program, also known as Superfund. The Superfund program investigates and cleans up the most complex contaminated waste sites in the country.

“Adding these sites to the NPL makes federal assets available to help protect the drinking water sources for thousands of Texans,” EPA Regional Administrator Richard E. Greene said.

“The TCEQ and EPA work closely in this area to bring the resources of the federal government to bear on remediating these sites, which are the most complex, most polluted in the state of Texas,” said TCEQ Chairman Buddy Garcia.

The Donna Reservoir and Canal System is being added to the NPL because of adverse levels of polychlorinated biphenyls in water and fish. At the Midessa Ground Water Plume site, trichloroethene and other chlorinated solvents were found in concentrations above safe drinking water maximum contamination levels. The San Jacinto River Waste Pits site is being added because of elevated levels of dioxins found in sediment, water, fish and crabs.

The Old Esco Manufacturing site is being proposed to the NPL because of polychlorinated biphenyl contaminated soil, at concentrations exceeding health-based benchmarks, on the facility property and on surrounding residential properties. The Attebury Grain Storage Facility is being proposed to the NPL because carbon tetrachloride and other solvents were found in concentrations above safe drinking water maximum contamination levels.

EPA will seek public comment on adding the Old Esco Manufacturing and Attebury Grain Storage Facility sites to the NPL for 60 days. Comments will be considered as the agency completes the final decision process. During the public comment period, EPA will continue to develop cleanup plans so that actual work may begin as quickly after NPL listing as possible.

More information on the Superfund National Priorities List in available at https://www.epa.gov/superfund/sites/npl/current.htm

To learn more about activities in EPA Region 6, visit https://www.epa.gov/region6

EPA audio file is available at https://www.epa.gov/region6/6xa/audio.htm#audio031908_npl