News Releases from Headquarters›Land and Emergency Management (OLEM)

EPA Administrator Wheeler Announces FY 2019 Superfund Accomplishments Report at Strasburg Landfill

Highlights Key Trump Administration Accomplishments, Focuses on Future

Newlin Township, Pa. (June 10, 2020) — Today, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Andrew Wheeler visited the Strasburg Superfund site in Newlin Township, PA, where he announced EPA’s annual Superfund Accomplishments Report documenting national achievements in the Superfund program during FY 2019. The Superfund program addresses the nation’s most contaminated sites and is a key priority for the Trump Administration. The report also documents improvements to the program as a result of the Superfund Task Force work under EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler.

“As we celebrate 50 years of EPA’s commitment to protecting human health and the environment, we can take pride in the last 40 years that the Superfund program has contributed to that success,” said EPA Administrator, Andrew Wheeler. “The Trump Administration is proud to showcase all we have achieved to clean up contaminated sites such as the Strasburg Landfill, protect our communities, and turn these spaces into economic and recreational assets for generations to come.”

“By using sound science and engaging with responsible parties, communities and other partners we’ve achieved the greatest record of Superfund success in nearly two decades,” said EPA mid-Atlantic Regional Administrator Cosmo Servidio. “EPA is committed to continue this successful formula to restore contaminated properties to community assets.”

The FY 2019 report highlights achievements to improve site cleanups, protect health, revitalize our communities, innovate through science and technology, and engage communities. Across America, communities continue to experience the benefits of EPA’s Superfund program. Several key community highlights from FY 2019 include:

Launching progress and securing a final cleanup decision at the legacy Silver Bow Creek mine site in Butte, Montana. The Administrator’s engagement helped move the parties, who had been stuck for over a decade, towards an agreement to conduct significant additional work at the site to address various stormwater and water-quality related issues that resulted from decades of mine waste being dumped into nearby streams and wetlands.

“This is big news for the folks of Butte-Silver Bow. After nearly four decades, this agreement brings us one step closer to not only a solutions-driven cleanup, but also removing the stigma of the Superfund listing by 2024” said U.S. Senator Steve Daines of Montana.

Increasing domestic supplies of colbalt by recovering metals and critical minerals from existing mine waste. In Fredericktown, Missouri, after years of stalled negotiations, an EPA agreement with Missouri Mining Investments to consolidate and cap mine waste will result in a 1,750-acre property being redeveloped for future mining of cobalt and other metals. EPA’s work allowed the mine to reopen, creating job opportunities and enhancing U.S. domestic supply needs for cobalt, which is a critical component used in medical equipment, electric cars, and even fighter jets.

Harnessing public and private sector partnerships to strengthen a local community in Troutdale, Oregon where EPA’s work led to Amazon opening a new $178.4 million, 855,000 square-foot distribution center at the formerly contaminated site providing approximately 3,000 new jobs and strengthening the local community.

Returning land to communities by creating green space in Croydon Township, Pennsylvania where EPA’s work transformed an abandoned area with ground and surface water contaminated by volatile organic contaminants into the Croydon Woods Nature Preserve, a project that’s greatly improving the quality of life and providing needed services to the area’s local communities.

“It was Win, Win, Win, across the board, adding value to the quality of the neighborhood, which in the end is increasing home values, tax revenues, it’s a rising tide, lifting all boats,” said Robert G. Loughery, [Former] Commissioner, Bristol Township, PA.

Other key achievements in the report include:

• Finishing the job by deleting all or part of 27 sites from the Superfund’s National Priorities List (NPL), the largest number of deletions in a single year since 2001.
• Targeting sites for the Administrator’s immediate and intense attention, using the Administrator’s Emphasis List to resolve issues delaying cleanups and spur action at sites, that in many cases have been waiting idle amid uncertainty for years.
• Completing 233 removal actions to address imminent and substantial threats to human health and the environment
• Securing more than $570 million from Potentially Responsible Parties to clean up Superfund sites and reimburse the Agency more than $280 million
• Celebrating 20 years of redeveloping more than 1,000 Superfund sites that now support 9,180 businesses generating $58.3 billion in sales and employing more than 208,400 people earning a combined income of more than $14.4 billion
• Expanding the charge for the National Environmental Justice Advisory Council to identify additional opportunities for EPA to engage with communities, expedite cleanups and return sites to productive use.

Read the full report here: https://semspub.epa.gov/src/document/HQ/100002479

Additional information about EPA’s Superfund program can be read here: https://19january2021snapshot.epa.gov/superfund

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