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EPA adds Sandoval, Illinois, site to Superfund National Priorities List

Release Date: 09/15/2011
Contact Information: (EPA) Josh Singer, 312-353-5069, [email protected] (Illinois EPA) Maggie Carson, 217-558-1536, [email protected]

09/15/11
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
No. 11-OPA 086

(CHICAGO – Sept. 15, 2011) The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency today added the Sandoval Zinc Co. site in Sandoval, Illinois, to the Superfund National Priorities List (NPL) of hazardous waste sites. Superfund is the federal program that investigates and cleans up the most complex, uncontrolled or abandoned hazardous waste sites in the country.

The Sandoval Zinc smelting facility closed in 1985 and filed for bankruptcy in 1986. A large waste pile containing elevated levels of lead, zinc and other metals covers five acres of the site. Wind-blown contaminants from the plant settled onto a number of properties in the area, and cinder and slag material was used in roads and driveways in the community. A drainage ditch, a pond and wetlands are also contaminated by material from the site. EPA recently collected soil samples on nearby residential properties and will be gathering additional data that is needed to develop a cleanup strategy.

Currently, 1,302 sites are on the Superfund NPL including 15 new sites added to the list today. Sixty-two additional sites await final agency action, including the 11 new proposed sites announced today: http:/www.epa.gov/superfund/sites/npl/current.htm .

For more information on the Sandoval site, contact the EPA’s community involvement coordinator for the site, Heriberto Leon, at 800-621-8431, Ext. 66163 from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., weekdays, or via e-mail at [email protected]. More information is also available online at https://www.epa.gov/region5/sites/sandovalzinc/index.html .