EPA Press Office:

EPA Adds Sites to the Superfund National Priorities List in Illinois, Iowa, Navajo Nation, Louisiana and Pennsylvania

WASHINGTON — Today, Mar. 5, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is adding five sites and proposing to add three additional sites to the Superfund National Priorities List. 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. 

President Biden’s historic Bipartisan Infrastructure Law continues to accelerate EPA’s work to clean up NPL sites with a $3.5 billion investment in the Superfund remedial program. The law also reinstated the Superfund “polluter pays” chemical excise taxes to help clean up such sites, making it one of the largest investments in American history to address legacy pollution. Due to this historic funding, EPA was able to clear the pre-existing backlog of unfunded Superfund sites and has provided as much cleanup funding in the past two years as it did in the previous five years. 

“Today’s updates are a crucial step forward as the Biden-Harris Administration works comprehensively to clean up some of the nation’s most contaminated sites, especially those in communities already overburdened by pollution,” said EPA Administrator Michael S. Regan. “Cleaning up contaminated land and groundwater and returning them for productive use to communities is a win-win-win for our environment, for public health and for the economy.” 

The five added sites and one of the proposed additions (Upper Columbia River) to the NPL are located in communities historically overburdened by pollution. These sites raise potential environmental justice concerns based on income, demographic, education, linguistic, and life expectancy data. By taking action to add and propose to add these sites to the NPL, EPA is working to protect communities in the greatest need – in alignment with President Biden’s Justice40 Initiative, which makes it a goal that 40 percent of the overall benefits of certain Federal climate, clean energy, affordable and sustainable housing, and other investments flow to disadvantaged communities that are marginalized by underinvestment and overburdened by pollution.

EPA is adding the following sites to the National Priorities List:

• Former Exide Technologies Laureldale; Laureldale, Pennsylvania
• Acme Steel Coke Plant; Chicago, Illinois
• Exide Baton Rouge; Baton Rouge, Louisiana
• Lot 46 Valley Gardens TCE; Des Moines, Iowa
• Lukachukai Mountains Mining District; Cove, Navajo Nation

EPA is proposing to add the following sites to the National Priorities List:

• Gelman Sciences Inc; Ann Arbor, Michigan
• Afterthought Mine; Bella Vista, California
• Upper Columbia River; Upper Columbia River, Washington

Past activities at the sites announced today include uranium, copper, zinc, lead, silver and gold mining; lead smelting and refining; coke, molten iron and steel production; and battery manufacturing and recycling. Site contaminants are numerous and includes hazardous substances such as lead, mercury, zinc and other metals; radium 226; chlorinated solvents; and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons. Contamination affects surface water, groundwater, soil, air and sediment. 

Background:   

The NPL 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 NPL are eligible to receive federal funding for long-term, permanent cleanup.  

Before EPA adds a site to the NPL, 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 may add the site to the NPL if it continues to meet the listing requirements after the public comment period closes and the agency has responded to any comments. 

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 percent within three miles of sites after cleanup. 

Since taking office, the Biden-Harris Administration has followed through on commitments to update the NPL twice a year, as opposed to once per year. Today’s announcement is the first time EPA is updating the NPL in 2024. 

Learn more about Superfund and the National Priorities List. 

For Federal Register notices and supporting documents for the NPL and proposed sites, please visit: 

New Proposed and New Superfund National Priorities List Sites.