The U.S. EPA announced the addition of seven hazardous waste sites to the Superfund Program’s National Priorities List (NPL) May 13. According to EPA, the additions represent commitments to advance cleanup to protect communities in the U.S.
The NPL is made up of some of the nation’s uncontrolled or abandoned releases of contamination. According to EPA, the list primarily serves as a way to prioritize EPA Superfund cleanup funding and enforcement actions. Sites on the NPL are only sites eligible to receive funding for long-term cleanup.
The site Sporlan Valve Plant #1 in Washington, Mo. has recently been added to the NPL. According to EPA, the site was development as a refrigeration valve manufacturing facility in 1939. At the site, trichloroethylene (TCE) was used as a degreaser and an industrial solvent. Release of TCE was released to the ground and resulted in contaminated soil and groundwater beneath the facility. The TCE was detected in groundwater, soil gas, and indoor air surrounding the site, according to EPA. It is the primary contaminant of concern at the site.
“By adding these sites to the National Priorities List, we are taking action to clean up some of the nation’s most contaminated sites, protect the health of the local communities, and return the sites to safe and productive reuse,” said EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler. “Our commitment to these communities is that sites on the NPL will be a true national priority. We’ve elevated the Superfund program to a top priority, and in fiscal year 2018, EPA deleted all or part of 22 sites from the NPL, the largest number of deletions in one year since fiscal year 2005.”
Other sites being added to the NPL include: Magna Metals in Cortlandt Manor, N.Y.; Shaffer Equipment/Arbuckle Creek Area in Minden, W.V.; Cliff Drive Groundwater Contamination in Logansport, Ind.; McLouth Steel Corp in Trenton, Mich.; PROTEC in Peñuelas, Puerto Rico; and Copper Bluff Mine in Hoopa, Calif.
