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Superfund Achievements Highlighted in 1999 Accomplishments Report

Release Date: 03/09/2000
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(#00037) NEW YORK, N.Y. -- Since 1980, when the U.S.Congress and the President created the Superfund program in the wake of Love Canal, EPA has cleaned up hundreds of hazardous waste sites across the country making communities safer for millions of Americans. EPA   Region 2 is continuing this successful effort and today released its 1999 Superfund Accomplishments report, which covers the period from October 1, 1998 to September 30, 1999, and summarizes immediate and long-term cleanups done by the Agency in New Jersey, New York, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands to eliminate the threats posed by contamination from hazardous waste sites. "All over Region 2, communities have been left to live with the consequences of decades of environmental neglect, but our Superfund cleanups have changed that," said EPA Regional Administrator Jeanne M. Fox. "In 1999, our regional Superfund team did a stellar job of protecting the health and environment of families throughout New Jersey, New York, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. EPA was out there providing emergency supplies of safe drinking water, stopping the uncontrolled spread of contamination and helping communities hard hit by hurricanes and floods get back on their feet." The annual accomplishments report highlights such wide-ranging achievements as the cleanup of more than 400,000 tons of chemically-contaminated soils and sediments. It refers to settlements with polluters at federal Superfund sites that recovered more than $57 million in government cleanup costs and put almost $127.5 million to work in cleanups at the sites during the last fiscal year. Among the accomplishments mentioned in the report are: the emergency removal of almost 28,000 drums and 69,000 tons of hazardous wastes products; the removal of 15,611 tons of harmful sediments from rivers and streams; and the treatment of approximately 8.4 billion gallons of contaminated ground water. The report cites the work of the Superfund Removal Program, which uses fast-track cleanup experts to quickly eliminate chemical hazards from communities where there is an immediate risk to public health. Through the Removal Program, 36 residences were provided with alternative water supplies in neighborhoods where drinking water was threatened by chemical contamination. The program was also responsible for the emergency removal of more than 1.56 million gallons of liquid waste and the treatment of 1.6 million gallons of contaminated water in the course of supervising 37 actions in as many communities. The report also focuses on the multi-phase cleanups often required to eliminate or control the long-term risks from the 236 regional hazardous waste sites included on the National Priorities List (NPL), the list of the nation's most seriously contaminated sites. During fiscal year 1999, EPA conducted these large scope actions at 32 NPL sites: 20 in New Jersey, 11 in New York and 1 in Puerto Rico. In that same period, the agency completed all the cleanup work at Superfund sites in eleven communities in the region. Since the Superfund program began, 85 (33%) of these sites have been cleaned up and deleted from the NPL or have all construction completed and are undergoing long-term cleanups where continued pumping of contaminated ground water is required. The ground water cleanups are critical to the long-term protection and restoration of drinking water sources in the region. Nearly 20% of all NPL sites are in Region 2. The regional added 12 new sites and proposed 5 more for the NPL in the last fiscal year. The Region also deleted 6 sites from the NPL in the same period. The 1999 Superfund Accomplishments Report chronicles the growing list of municipalities in the region that have received federal funding through EPA's Brownfields Program to revitalize industrial waste sites idled by hazardous waste problems. There are 34 such municipalities in the region. In the past fiscal year, the Region awarded 8 new Brownfield Assessment Demonstration Pilot Cooperative Agreements. In New Jersey, the City of Orange, Phillipsburg and the Hackensack Meadowlands Development Commission were selected to participate in the program. In New York, Albany, Johnstown, Schenectady, Seneca Nation of Indians and Watertown beat out the competition.