EPA Press Office:

EPA and Senator Carper join DNREC for visit to Standard Chlorine Superfund Site in New Castle, DE

 

New Castle, DE – During a visit to Delaware this week, EPA Deputy Administrator Janet McCabe joined Regional Administrator Adam Ortiz, U.S. Senator Tom Carper (D-Del.), and Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control (DNREC) Secretary Shawn Garvin at the Standard Chlorine Superfund site in New Castle, Delaware. The Superfund Site benefitted from $1 million in Bipartisan Infrastructure Law funding toward its ongoing remediation.

“It was an honor to join Senator Carper and Secretary Garvin yesterday in New Castle, Delaware to see firsthand the benefits of President Biden’s Investing in America Agenda and the progress that has been made in cleaning up the Standard Chlorine Superfund site,” said Deputy Administrator Janet McCabe. “Investments like the ones we are making right here in Delaware are helping us continue to build momentum toward ensuring that the communities living near these sites get the public health and environmental protections they deserve.”

"EPA’s Superfund program is not only responsible for cleaning up the past, but also for cleaning up for the future,” said EPA Mid-Atlantic Regional Administrator Adam Ortiz. “These contaminated sites are hurting our local economies and holding back some of our most vulnerable communities. Thanks to historic bipartisan infrastructure investments, these sites continue to move closer to being fully remediated and returned to productive use.”

During the visit, EPA and DNREC staff highlighted the response actions taken so far, including the removal of hazardous chemicals, decontamination and removal of equipment and piping, the installation of a groundwater extraction and treatment system, and a soil cap on a 25-acre portion of the site – all measures undertaken to prevent the migration of contamination off-site and to protect the surrounding environment and community.

“The Superfund program plays an important role in protecting communities from the health risks associated with legacy pollution,” said Senator Carper, Chairman of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee. “Thanks to our historic investments in the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, EPA has more resources to remove the harmful pollutants present at sites like Standard Chorine in New Castle, Delaware. I am pleased that Deputy Administrator McCabe and Regional Administrator Ortiz joined me in touring this Superfund site and seeing firsthand how this EPA grant is benefiting the First State.”

Standard Chlorine of Delaware is a 65-acre Superfund site located three miles northwest of Delaware City that manufactured chlorinated benzene compounds for nearly 40 years. Chlorobenzenes from two spills in the 1980’s have been found in groundwater, soil, creek sediments, surface water and nearby wetlands. After being added to the National Priorities List in 1987, EPA and DNREC took over control of the site in 2002 after the owner closed and abandoned the plant and declared bankruptcy.

“DNREC’s remediation work cleaning up former industrial sites to return them to productive use benefits all Delawareans, including underserved communities throughout the state,” said DNREC Secretary Shawn M. Garvin. “Our federal partners support this important work, most recently by providing funding from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law that helps us continue our ongoing groundwater remedy work at the former Standard Chlorine of Delaware in New Castle County.”

Also this week, EPA officials visited Sussex County, DE with Senator Carper, DNREC, and the Nature Conservancy to announce more than $500,000 in clean water investments for the state – while addressing climate change impacts facing Delaware. The announcement took place in Cape Henlopen State Park, a location that will receive funds under the BEACH Act for continued water quality monitoring.