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Recovery Act Funding to Accelerate Cleanup, Boost Economy, Create Jobs and Protect Human Health at Davis Hazardous Waste Site

Release Date: 04/15/2009
Contact Information: Francisco Arcaute, Cell 213 798 1404

Up to $5 million in Recovery Act funds added to cleanup at Frontier Fertilizer Superfund Site

SAN FRANCISCO – The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency today announced up to $5 million in new funding through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 for the Frontier Fertilizer Superfund site near Davis, Calif. The money will accelerate the hazardous waste clean-up already underway at the site. It will also jumpstart the local economy by creating jobs in the Davis area. This Recovery Act funding is part of the $600 million that Congress appropriated to the Federal Superfund remedial program.

“EPA has an answer to these challenging economic times,” said EPA Administrator Lisa P. Jackson. “Under the Recovery Act, we're getting harmful pollutants and dangerous chemicals out of these communities and putting jobs and investment back in.”

This funding will allow EPA to expand the planned cleanup to address deep soil contamination. EPA is using an innovative technology to heat the subsurface to treat pesticide contamination over 80 feet below the ground surface.

“The infusion of Recovery Act funding will allow us to clean up deep soil contamination right away and bring additional jobs to the local community when we initiate construction this spring,” said Laura Yoshii, the EPA’s acting regional administrator for the Pacific Southwest.

The Federal Superfund program was created in 1980 to clean up uncontrolled hazardous waste sites that pose unacceptable risks to human health and the environment. Superfund sites are often found in industrial areas hardest hit by the recession. Superfund cleanups are major construction projects which employ thousands of workers nationwide. The Superfund program is implementing new or expanded cleanup actions at 50 sites around the country and since it began, the program has completed construction of remedies at more than 1,060 of the 1,596 sites on its National Priorities List.

By starting or speeding up cleanup at Superfund sites, Recovery Act funding is also increasing the speed with which these sites are returned to productive use. When a Superfund site is redeveloped, it can offer significant economic benefits to local communities including future job creation.

President Obama signed the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act on February 17, 2009 and has directed the Recovery Act be implemented with unprecedented transparency and accountability. To that end, the American people can see how every dollar is being invested at www.Recovery.gov.

For more information on the Superfund program, please visit: https://www.epa.gov/superfund/