The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced today it is adding seven new hazardous waste sites that pose risks to human health and the environment to the National Priorities List (NPL) of Superfund sites.
Superfund is the federal program that investigates and cleans up the most complex, uncontrolled or abandoned hazardous waste sites in the country.
To date, there have been 1,627 sites listed on the NPL. Of these sites, 345 sites have been deleted resulting in 1,282 sites currently on the NPL (including the seven new sites added in today's rulemaking). There are 61 proposed sites awaiting final agency action: 56 in the general Superfund section and five in the federal facilities section. There are a total of 1,343 final and proposed sites.
Contaminants found at the sites include arsenic, asbestos, barium, cadmium, chromium, copper, dichloroethene (DCE), lead, mercury, polynuclear aromatic hydrcarbons (PAHs), polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), tetrachloroethene (PCE), trichloroethane (TCA), trichloroethene (TCE), vinyl chloride, and zinc.
With all Superfund sites, EPA tries to identify and locate the parties potentially responsible for the contamination to either fund the cleanup or conduct the cleanup with EPA oversight.
For the newly listed sites without viable potentially responsible parties, EPA will fund the cleanup. Each Superfund site is investigated to determine the full extent of the contamination before cleanup is started. Therefore, it may be several years before significant cleanup funding is required for the sites.
The following seven sites have been added to the National Priorities List: Newtown Creek in Brooklyn and Queens, New York; Black River PCBs in Jefferson County, N.Y.; General Dynamics Longwood in Longwood, Fla.; Sanford Dry Cleaners in Sanford, Fla.; Smokey Mountain Smelters in Knox County, Tenn.; Ten Mile Drain in St. Clair Shores, Mich.; and Vienna Wells in Vienna, Mo.
The site is located between the border of Queens and Brooklyn in New York City and is approximately 3.8 miles long.
By the 1850s, the area surrounding Newtown Creek had become one of the largest industrial centers in New York City. By 1870, more than 50 refineries were located along the banks of Newtown Creek. At the close of the 19th century, the creek was lined with oil refineries and petrochemical plants, fertilizer and glue factories, copper-smelting and fat-rendering plants, shipbuilders, sugar refineries, hide tanning plants, canneries, sawmills, paint works, and lumber and coal yards. In the early 1900s, Newtown Creek was one of the key industrial arteries in New York City, with more than 500 enterprises lining the Creek at its peak. During World War II, Newtown Creek was the busiest industrial port in the Northeast, with tanker traffic lining its length. As a result of its industrial past, including countless spills, Newtown Creek is highly polluted.
Newtown Creek is part of the New York-New Jersey Harbor Estuary, which has been designated by EPA as an Estuary of National Significance. Despite the ongoing pollution problems, some residents currently use the Creek for recreational purposes such as kayaking, while others catch fish for consumption out of the Creek.
Superfund is the federal program that investigates and cleans up the most complex, uncontrolled or abandoned hazardous waste sites in the country.
To date, there have been 1,627 sites listed on the NPL. Of these sites, 345 sites have been deleted resulting in 1,282 sites currently on the NPL (including the seven new sites added in today's rulemaking). There are 61 proposed sites awaiting final agency action: 56 in the general Superfund section and five in the federal facilities section. There are a total of 1,343 final and proposed sites.
Contaminants found at the sites include arsenic, asbestos, barium, cadmium, chromium, copper, dichloroethene (DCE), lead, mercury, polynuclear aromatic hydrcarbons (PAHs), polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), tetrachloroethene (PCE), trichloroethane (TCA), trichloroethene (TCE), vinyl chloride, and zinc.
With all Superfund sites, EPA tries to identify and locate the parties potentially responsible for the contamination to either fund the cleanup or conduct the cleanup with EPA oversight.
For the newly listed sites without viable potentially responsible parties, EPA will fund the cleanup. Each Superfund site is investigated to determine the full extent of the contamination before cleanup is started. Therefore, it may be several years before significant cleanup funding is required for the sites.
The following seven sites have been added to the National Priorities List: Newtown Creek in Brooklyn and Queens, New York; Black River PCBs in Jefferson County, N.Y.; General Dynamics Longwood in Longwood, Fla.; Sanford Dry Cleaners in Sanford, Fla.; Smokey Mountain Smelters in Knox County, Tenn.; Ten Mile Drain in St. Clair Shores, Mich.; and Vienna Wells in Vienna, Mo.
The site is located between the border of Queens and Brooklyn in New York City and is approximately 3.8 miles long.
By the 1850s, the area surrounding Newtown Creek had become one of the largest industrial centers in New York City. By 1870, more than 50 refineries were located along the banks of Newtown Creek. At the close of the 19th century, the creek was lined with oil refineries and petrochemical plants, fertilizer and glue factories, copper-smelting and fat-rendering plants, shipbuilders, sugar refineries, hide tanning plants, canneries, sawmills, paint works, and lumber and coal yards. In the early 1900s, Newtown Creek was one of the key industrial arteries in New York City, with more than 500 enterprises lining the Creek at its peak. During World War II, Newtown Creek was the busiest industrial port in the Northeast, with tanker traffic lining its length. As a result of its industrial past, including countless spills, Newtown Creek is highly polluted.
Newtown Creek is part of the New York-New Jersey Harbor Estuary, which has been designated by EPA as an Estuary of National Significance. Despite the ongoing pollution problems, some residents currently use the Creek for recreational purposes such as kayaking, while others catch fish for consumption out of the Creek.
Architecture Critic
Carter Horsley
Since 1997, Carter B. Horsley has been the editorial director of CityRealty. He began his journalistic career at The New York Times in 1961 where he spent 26 years as a reporter specializing in real estate & architectural news. In 1987, he became the architecture critic and real estate editor of The New York Post.
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