EPA announces 2018 annual Superfund accomplishments

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency released on March 4 its Superfund’s annual report covering major accomplishments and environmental progress during fiscal year 2018.

“We are proud to report that in Fiscal Year 2018 the EPA deleted all or part of 22 sites from the National Priorities List, the largest number of deletions in one year since 2005,” said EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler.

The EPA reached important milestones for cleanups at numerous Superfund sites across New England during 2018. After successful cleanups, the EPA deleted three New England sites from the Superfund National Priorities List: The Old Southington Landfill site in Southington, Connecticut; the Hatheway & Patterson site in Mansfield and Foxborough, Massachusetts; and the Union Chemical Co. Inc. site in Hope, Maine.

Highlights of the EPA’s 2018 accomplishments include:

• Improving human health for people living near sites by controlling potential or actual human exposure risk at 32 additional Superfund National Priorities List (NPL) sites and controlling the migration of contaminated groundwater at 29 sites
• Deleting 18 full and four partial sites from the NPL — the largest number of deletions in one year since 2005
• Returning sites to communities for redevelopment by identifying 51 additional sites as having all long-term protections in place and meeting its “sitewide ready for anticipated use” designation, the highest annual result since 2013
• Completing or providing oversight of 242 Superfund removal actions at sites where contamination posed an imminent and substantial threat to human health and the environment
• Quickly and effectively responding to large-scale emergencies brought on by hurricanes, wildfires, and other natural disasters in California, North Carolina, Puerto Rico, and elsewhere
• Moving many sites closer to completion by making decisions that have been delayed, including West Lake Landfill in Bridgeton, Missouri; USS Lead in East Chicago, Indiana; and San Jacinto Waste Pits in Channelview, Texas.

In addition, in July 2018, on the one-year anniversary of the agency’s Superfund Task Force Recommendations, the EPA issued a report covering task force accomplishments to date and laying out its plan for completing the remaining recommendations in 2019.