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Alternate Energy Resources Site in Augusta, GA Added to EPA's Superfund National Priorities List

Release Date: 04/19/2006
Contact Information: Laura Niles, 404-562-8353, niles.laura@epa.gov

(ATLANTA – April 19, 2006) The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has added the Alternate Energy Resources (AER) hazardous waste site in Augusta, Ga. to the National Priorities List (NPL) of Superfund sites. It is one of six new hazardous waste sites nationally to be added to the NPL. That brings the total of final sites on the list to 1,244. EPA is also proposing to add four other sites to the list.

AER operated as a commercial hazardous waste storage and treatment facility from 1975 to 2000. Contaminants of concern associated with activities at the AER facility include trichloroethene and tetrachloroethene.

With all Superfund sites, EPA tries to identify and locate the parties potentially responsible for the contamination. Historically, through EPA’s enforcement program, approximately 70 percent of Superfund cleanups have been performed by the parties responsible for site contamination. For the newly listed sites without viable potentially responsible parties, EPA will investigate the full extent of the contamination before starting significant cleanup at the site. Therefore, it may be several years before significant cleanup funding is required for these sites.

Sites may be placed on the list through various mechanisms:

• Numeric ranking established by EPA’s Hazard Ranking System.
• Designation by states or territories of one top-priority site.
• Meeting all three of the following requirements:

Ø The Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR) of the U.S. Public Health Service has issued a health advisory that recommends removing people from the site;
Ø EPA determines the site poses a significant threat to public health; and
Ø EPA anticipates it will be more cost-effective to use its remedial authority than to use its emergency removal authority to respond to the site.

For the Federal Register notice and supporting documents for the AER site and other final and proposed sites, please visit https://www.epa.gov/superfund/sites/npl/current.htm.