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EPA Press Advisory: EPA Adds Two New Hazardous Waste Sites to Superfund National Priority List, and Proposes Fourteen More
Release Date: 09/23/2004
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(09/23/04) EPA is continuing to make progress in protecting public health, cleaning up the nation's hazardous waste, and encouraging economic revitalization and land reuse by adding two final sites and proposing 14 more sites to the Superfund National Priorities List (NPL). EPA's selection of the two final sites and 14 proposed sites was based on various factors, including: risk to human health and the environment; the need for urgent response; 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 two final sites are the White Swan Cleaners/Sun Cleaners Area Ground Water Plume site, Wall Township, NJ; and the Ravenswood PCE Ground Water Plume site, Ravenswood, W.Va. The 14 sites being proposed are: Klau/Buena Vista Mine, San Luis Obispo County, Calif.; Hegeler Zinc, Danville, Ill; Sigmon's Septic Tank Service, Statesville, N.C.; Parkview Well, Grand Island, Neb.; Crown Vantage Landfill, Alexandria Township, N.J.; Hopewell Precision Area Contamination, Hopewell Junction, N.Y.; Copley Square Plaza, Copley, Ohio; South Dayton Dump and Landfill, Moraine, Ohio; Price Battery, Hamburg, Pa.; Safety Light Corp., Bloomsburg, Pa.; Pesticide Warehouse I, Arecibo, Puerto Rico; Brewer Gold Mine, Jefferson, S.C.; Smalley-Piper, Collierville, Tenn.; and Commerce Street Plume, Williston, Vt. Historically, on average, parties held responsible for the contamination agree to initiate or pay for 70 percent of cleanups started each year. For the newly listed sites without viable "Potentially Responsible Parties" (PRPs), EPA will investigate the full extent of the contamination before starting significant construction at the site. In today's proposed rule, EPA is withdrawing its proposal to list the East Multnomah County Ground Water Contamination site on the NPL. The site, located in Multnomah County, Oregon, was proposed to the NPL on May 10, 1993. Since the 1993 proposal, EPA has completed all the remedial action work at this site to remove any imminent risks to public health and the environment. At this time, EPA does not believe that further response under Superfund is needed. In Fiscal Year 2003, EPA obligated $292 million for long-term construction work. EPA spent $142 million to conduct or oversee short-term emergency actions and removal actions at 381 sites to remove immediate threats to human health in Fiscal Year 2003. With this proposal of 14 new sites and withdrawal of one proposed site, there are now 68 sites proposed and awaiting final agency action, 61 non-federal sites and seven federal facility sites. With the final rule adding two sites, there are now 1,244 final sites on the NPL; 1086 non-federal sites and 158 federal facilities. Final and proposed sites now total 1,312. For Federal Register notices and supporting documents for these proposed sites, go to: https://www.epa.gov/superfund/sites/npl/current.htm .
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