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EPA Adds Nine New Hazardous Waste Sites to Superfund National Priorities List;
Release Date: 07/21/2004
Contact Information:
Dave Ryan, 202-564-7827 / ryan.dave@epa.gov
(07/21/04) EPA is making progress in protecting public health, cleaning up the nation's hazardous waste, and encouraging economic revitalization and land reuse by adding nine final sites to the Superfund National Priorities List (NPL). EPA's selection of the sites was based on various factors including: risk to human health and the environment; the response urgency needed; maintenance of a strong enforcement program; leverage of other cleanups (polluters wanting to avoid NPL listing can choose to participate in the Superfund Alternative Site cleanup program or enter into a voluntary cleanup agreement with the State); and program management and resource considerations.
The nine sites were proposed in the Federal Register on March 8 for a 60 day public comment period. The proposals received only comments in favor of this NPL listing. The nine sites being added are: Jacobsville Neighborhood Soil Contamination, Evansville, Ind.; Annapolis Lead Mine, Annapolis, Mo.; Picayune Wood Treating, Picayune, Miss.; Grants Chlorinated Solvents Plume, Grants, N. M.; Diaz Chemical Corporation, Holley, N.Y.; Peninsula Boulevard Ground Water Plume, Hewlett, N.Y.; Ryeland Road Arsenic, Heidelberg Township, Pa.; Cidra Ground Water Contamination, Cidra, Puerto Rico; and Pike Hill Copper Mine, Corinth, Vt. With the addition of nine new sites to the NPL, there are now 1,245 final sites on the NPL (1,087 non-Federal sites and 158 Federal facility sites). Additionally, EPA has proposed 56 sites now waiting final agency action (50 non-federal sites and 6 federal facility sites). If these sites are eventually funded, EPA will work with states, tribes, local communities and other partners in identifying land reuse options and opportunities at these sites. Under its Land Revitalization Agenda announced last year, EPA made a commitment that revitalization and reuse will now be a formal part of planning at every site.
Nationally, more than 70 percent of all Superfund sites are cleaned up by those responsible for the pollution; even when EPA has to fund cleanup, the Agency works to get reimbursed from polluters under its cost recovery program. Since the beginning of the Superfund program, more than $22 billion in cleanup commitments and funding have been provided by the parties responsible for toxic waste sites. The NPL serves primarily informational purposes, identifying for the states and the public those sites that appear to warrant remedial actions. For Federal Register notices and supporting documents for the nine sites announced today, go to: https://www.epa.gov/superfund/sites/npl/current.htm
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