The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (U.S. EPA) recently announced that it is adding seven sites to the Superfund National Priorities List (NPL) where releases of contamination pose human health and environmental risks.
The NPL includes the United States’ most serious uncontrolled or abandoned releases of contamination. The list serves as the basis for prioritizing U.S. EPA Superfund cleanup funding and enforcement actions. Only releases at sites included on the NPL are eligible to receive federal funding for long-term, permanent cleanup.
“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 U.S. EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler. “Our commitment to these communities is that sites on the National Priorities List 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 following sites are being added to the NPL:
· Magna Metals in Cortlandt Manor, New York
· PROTECO in Peñuelas, Puerto Rico
· Shaffer Equipment/Arbuckle Creek Area in Minden, West Virginia
· Cliff Drive Groundwater Contamination in Logansport, Indiana
· McLouth Steel Corp in Trenton, Michigan
· Sporlan Valve Plant #1 in Washington, Missouri
· Copper Bluff Mine in Hoopa, California
Superfund cleanups provide health and economic benefits to communities. The program is credited for significant reductions in birth defects and blood-lead levels among children living near sites, and research has shown residential property values increase up to 24% within 3 miles of sites after cleanup.
Redeveloped Superfund sites can generate a great deal of economic activity. Thanks to Superfund cleanups, previously blighted properties are now being used for a wide range of purposes, including retail businesses, office space, public parks, residences, warehouses, and solar power generation. At 529 Superfund sites returned to productive use, 8,600 businesses operate and 195,000 employees earn more than $13 billion in annual income.
The Superfund Task Force is working to improve the Superfund program. The U.S. EPA has implemented nearly half of the Task Force’s recommendations to expedite site cleanups and redevelopment and expects to complete the remaining recommendations by July 2019.
Source: U.S. EPA
