EPA Adds Seven Waste Sites to the Superfund List

Washington, D.C. — The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is adding seven new hazardous waste sites that pose risks to human health and the environment to the list for investigation and clean-up. The list, known as National Priorities List (NPL), sets priorities under the federal Superfund program that addresses complex uncontrolled or abandoned hazardous waste sites in the country.

Contaminants found at the final and proposed sites include arsenic, barium, benzene, beryllium, cadmium, cesium-137, chromium, copper, 1,1-dichloroethane, dioxins, lead, mercury, naphthalene, polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins, polychlorinated dibenzofurans silver, tetrachloroethene (PCE), thorium-230, 1,1,1-trichloroethane, trichloroethene (TCE), and zinc, and other metals.

To date, there have been 1,569 sites listed on the NPL. Of these sites, 320 sites have been deleted resulting in 1,249 sites currently on the NPL. EPA is also proposing to add 12 other sites to the list.

With the proposal of the 12 new sites, there are 66 proposed sites awaiting final agency action: 61 in the general Superfund section and five in the federal facilities section. There are 1,315 final and proposed sites.

With all Superfund sites, EPA tries to identify and locate the parties potentially responsible for the 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:

1. 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;
2. EPA determines the site poses a significant threat to public health; and
3. 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.

The following seven sites have been added to the National Priorities List:

1. Halaco Engineering Company (Oxnard, Calif.)
2. Eagle Zinc Co Div T L Diamond (Hillsboro, Ill,)
3. South Minneapolis Residential Soil Contamination (Minneapolis, Minn.)
4. Standard Chlorine (Kearny, N.J.)
5. Eagle Picher Carefree Battery (Socorro, N.M.)
6. Formosa Mine (Douglas County, Ore.)
7. Five Points PCE Plume (Woods Cross/Bountiful, Utah)

The following 12 sites have been proposed to the National Priorities List:

1. Lusher Street Ground Water Contamination (Elkhart, Ind.)
2. Plating Inc. (Great Bend, Kan.)
3. Washington County Lead District — Old Mines (Old Mines, Mo.)
4. Washington County Lead District — Potosi (Potosi, Mo.)
5. Washington County Lead District — Richwoods (Richwoods, Mo.)
6. East Troy Contaminated Aquifer (Troy, Ohio)
7. Chem-Fab (Doylestown, Penn.)
8. San German Ground Water Contamination (San German, Puerto Rico)
9. Donna Reservoir and Canal System (Donna, Texas)
10. Midessa Ground Water Plume (Odessa, Texas)
11. San Jacinto River Waste Pits (Houston, Texas)
12. Hidden Lane Landfill (Sterling, Va.)

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