EPA Updates Superfund National Priorities List, Adding Sites in Indiana, Louisiana, and Oklahoma
WASHINGTON — Today, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced that it is adding three sites and proposing to add four additional sites to the Superfund National Priorities List (NPL). The NPL is a list of known sites throughout the United States and its territories where historic releases of hazardous substances, pollutants, or contaminants pose significant threats to human health and the environment. Thanks to a $3.5 billion investment through President Biden’s Investing in America agenda, EPA is accelerating its work to clean up harmful pollution at NPL sites in communities located across the country.
“Superfund cleanups make a visible and lasting difference in communities, especially communities already overburdened by pollution,” said EPA Administrator Michael S. Regan. “The historic funding secured through President Biden’s Investing in America agenda provides a critical boost in funding for sites on the National Priorities List, allowing EPA to tackle legacy pollution in underserved communities across the country.”
EPA is adding the following sites to the National Priorities List:
- Federated Metals Corp Whiting in Hammond, Indiana.
- Capitol Lakes in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
- Fansteel Metals/FMRI in Muskogee, Oklahoma.
EPA is proposing to add the following sites to the National Priorities List:
- Former Exide Technologies Laureldale in Laureldale, Pennsylvania.
- Acme Steel Coke Plant in Chicago, Illinois.
- Exide Baton Rouge in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
- Lot 46 Valley Gardens TCE in Des Moines, Iowa.
All the sites being added or proposed to be added to the National Priorities List are located in communities that have been historically overburdened by pollution and raise potential environmental justice concerns based on income, demographic, education, linguistic, and life expectancy data from EJSCREEN. By adding sites to the National Priorities List, EPA is delivering protections to communities that need it the most.
Nationally, there are thousands of contaminated sites ranging from landfills and processing plants, to manufacturing facilities, that pose risks to public health and the environment due to hazardous waste being dumped, left out in the open, or otherwise improperly managed. President Biden’s historic Bipartisan Infrastructure Law accelerates EPA’s work to clean up such sites with a $3.5 billion investment in the Superfund Remedial Program. The law also reinstated the Superfund chemical excise taxes to help clean up such sites, making it one of the largest investments in American history to address legacy pollution.
EPA typically proposes to add sites to the National Priorities List based on a scientific determination of risks to people and the environment, consistent with the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act and the National Oil and Hazardous Substances Pollution Contingency Plan. The National Contingency Plan also allows each State to designate a single site as its top priority to be listed on the National Priorities List, without the need to apply a scientific determination. The State of Oklahoma is designating the Fansteel Metals/FMRI site its top-priority site.
Before EPA adds a site to the National Priorities List, a site must meet EPA’s requirements and be proposed for addition to the list in the Federal Register, subject to a 60-day public comment period. EPA will add the site to the National Priorities List if it continues to meet the listing requirements after the public comment period closes and the agency has responded to any comments.
Background:
The National Priorities List includes sites with the nation’s most serious uncontrolled or abandoned releases of contamination. This list serves as the basis for prioritizing EPA Superfund cleanup funding and enforcement actions. Only releases at non-federal sites included on the National Priorities List are eligible to receive federal funding for long-term, permanent cleanup.
Superfund cleanups provide health and economic benefits to communities. The program is credited for significant reductions in both birth defects and blood-lead levels among children living near sites, and research has shown residential property values increase up to 24% within three miles of sites after cleanup.
Since taking office, the Biden-Harris Administration has followed through on commitments to update the National Priorities List twice a year, as opposed to once per year. Today’s announcement is the second time EPA is updating the National Priorities List in 2023.
Learn more about Superfund and the National Priorities List.
For Federal Register notices and supporting documents for the National Priorities List and proposed sites, please visit:
New Proposed and New Superfund National Priorities List Sites.