News Releases from Region 01

EPA Begins Review of Woodford, Vermont Superfund Site Cleanup

BOSTON – The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) will conduct a comprehensive review of previously completed site cleanup work at the Burgess Brothers Landfill in Woodford this year. The site, listed as a National Priorities List (NPL) Superfund site, will undergo a legally-required Five-Year Review to ensure that previous remediation efforts at the site continue to protect public health and the environment.

"It is a major EPA priority to make continued progress cleaning up Superfund sites across New England. Once cleanup work at all or a portion of a site is completed, EPA conducts regular periodic reviews of our previous work to ensure that it is continuing to protect human health and the environment," said EPA New England Regional Administrator Dennis Deziel.

"The Five-Year Review is an important step in the site rehabilitation process. The review helps confirm that the remediation work remains effective, giving confidence to Vermont citizens and groups who may be interested in redeveloping the site," said Vermont Department of Environmental Conservation Commissioner Peter Walke.

Background

The Superfund program, a federal program established by Congress in 1980, investigates and cleans up the most complex, uncontrolled or abandoned hazardous waste sites in the country and works to facilitate activities to return them to productive use. Under the Trump Administration, the Superfund program has reemerged as a priority to fulfill EPA's core mission of protecting human health and the environment. EPA is actively involved in Superfund studies and cleanups at 14 sites in Vermont. The Superfund cleanup process involves many phases, including consideration of the future use and redevelopment at the sites and post cleanup monitoring of sites. EPA must make sure remedies protect the public health and the environment and that any redevelopment will uphold that goal in the future.

More information

• Detailed information on the Burgess Brothers Landfill site, including past assessment and cleanup activity is available at www.epa.gov/superfund/burgess. Once the Five-Year Review is complete, its findings will be posted to the website in a final report.
• Superfund and other cleanup sites in New England: https://19january2021snapshot.epa.gov/cleanups/cleaning-new-england