News Releases from Region 05

EPA Removes Portion of Douglas Road/Uniroyal, Inc. Landfill Site in Mishawaka from Superfund List

For Immediate Release No. 20-OPA-009

MISHAWAKA, Ind. (Oct. 2, 2020) – Today, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) deleted the landfill portion of the Douglas Road/Uniroyal, Inc. Landfill Superfund Site from the National Priorities List (NPL). The groundwater portion of the site remains on the NPL.

“This administration is keeping its promise to pick up the pace of Superfund cleanups - projects that languished under previous administrations - so these sites can be restored to productive use" said EPA Regional Administrator Kurt Thiede. "Promoting redevelopment is part of EPA's core mission and helps spur the local economy and create jobs in communities near Superfund sites."

Cleanup of the Douglas Road/Uniroyal, Inc. site began with EPA funding and Indiana Department of Environmental Management (IDEM) oversight. This included connecting about 100 homes to city water and constructing an artificial wetland and groundwater treatment system. EPA and IDEM also supervised the installation of a low-permeability multi-layer containment system over the landfill and a landfill gas collection system. It is this latter system, the landfill cap, that is subject of this deletion.

The NPL tracks the nation’s most contaminated sites that threaten human health or the environment. Sites on the list are eligible for cleanup under the Superfund program. EPA removes sites or parts of sites from the list once all the remedies are successfully implemented.

On June 23, EPA opened a 30-day public comment period on the deletion proposal. For more information: https://semspub.epa.gov/work/05/2002811.pdf

A copy of the final Notice of Deletion is available at: https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/FR-2020-09-30/pdf/2020-20402.pdf

For more information: https://cumulis.epa.gov/supercpad/cursites/csitinfo.cfm?id=0501696

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