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EPA Proposes to Add Nine New Hazardous Waste Sites to Superfund’s National Priorities List

Release Date: 10/19/2010
Contact Information: Latisha Petteway, [email protected], 202-564-3191, 202-564-4355

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is proposing to add nine hazardous waste sites that pose risks to human health and the environment to the general Superfund section of the National Priorities List (NPL). Superfund is the federal program that investigates and cleans up the most complex, uncontrolled or abandoned hazardous waste sites in the country.

EPA is also withdrawing its 1992 proposal to add the GBF Inc., dump site in Antioch, Calif. to the NPL, because under a consent order the California Department of Toxic Substances Control continues to be the lead agency overseeing the site cleanup. The clean up is progressing successfully and no further EPA actions are necessary.

To date, 1,627 sites have been listed on the NPL. There have been 346 sites deleted from the NPL with 1,281 sites remaining. With the proposal of nine new sites and one site being withdrawn from proposal, there are 62 proposed sites awaiting final agency action: 57 in the general Superfund section and five in the federal facilities section. There are a total of 1,343 final and proposed sites.

Contaminants found at the proposed sites include arsenic, asbestos, barium, cadmium, chromium, copper, dichloroethene (DCE), lead, mercury, polynuclear aromatic hydrcarbons (PAHs), polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), tetrachloroethene (PCE), trichloroethane (TCA), trichloroethene (TCE), vinyl chloride, and zinc.

With all Superfund sites, EPA tries to identify and locate the parties potentially responsible for the contamination. For sites without viable potentially responsible parties, EPA will investigate the full extent of the contamination before starting significant clean up. Therefore, it may be several years before significant clean up funding is required for these sites.

Contaminated sites may be placed on the list through:

· 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:


- The Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR) of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has issued a health advisory that recommends eliminating or restricting peoples' contact with site contamination;

- EPA determines the site poses a significant threat to public health; and

- 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 Federal Register notices and supporting documents for these proposed sites: https://www.epa.gov/superfund/sites/npl/current.htm

The following nine sites have been proposed to the NPL:

Armstrong World Industries (ceiling tile manufacturer) in Macon, Ga.
Dwyer Property Ground Water Plume (contaminated ground water plume) in Elkton, Md.
Washington County Lead District – Furnace Creek (lead mining area) in Caledonia, Mo.
Horton Iron and Metal (former fertilizer manufacturer and metal salvage) in Wilmington, N.C.
Mansfield Trail Dump (waste disposal area) in Byram Township, N.J.
Milford Contaminated Aquifer (contaminated ground water plume) in Milford, Ohio
Cabo Rojo Ground Water Contamination (contaminated ground water plume) in Cabo Rojo, Puerto Rico
Hormigas Ground Water Plume (contaminated ground water plume) in Caguas, Puerto Rico
West County Road 112 Ground Water (contaminated ground water plume) in Midland, Texas