In the March 10, 2011 edition of the Federal Register, the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued the final rule adding 10 new sites to the National Priorities List (NPL). EPA also issued a proposed rule to add 15 new sites to the list of those sites that it proposes to add to the NPL in the future.
The NPL is authorized by the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liablity Act, 42 U.S.C. 9601, et seq (also known as Superfund). Only EPA is allowed to propose and finalize the sites on the NPL, which it determines: (1) based on the ranking of a site with a score of 28.50 or higher under the agency's Hazard Ranking System (40 CFR part 300); (2) if a site is designated by a state as its top priority site (40 CFR 300.452(c)(2); or (3) if EPA determines, without using the HRS, that the site poses a significant threat to public health based on a health advisory issued by the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR) and EPA believes that remedial action is more cost-effective than removal action at the site (40 CFR 300.452(c)(3). The NPL includes those sites with known or threatened releases of hazardous substances that may present an imminent or substantial danger to public health or welfare. The NPL is to guide EPA's priorities for further investigatory and remedial action, but is not a determination of any party's liability. The NPL is divided between sites that EPA may address and those owned or operated by other federal agencies, which then will be addressed by those agencies.
The ten new sites on the NPL are:
Dwyer Property Ground Water Plume – Elkton, MD
Washington County Lead District–Furnace Creek – Caledonia, MO
ACM Smelter and Refinery – Cascade County, MT
Wright Chemical Corporation – Riegelwood, NC
Mansfield Trail Dump – Byram Township, NJ
Dewey Loeffel Landfill – Nassau, NY
Milford Contaminated Aquifer – Milford, OH
Cabo Rojo Ground Water Contamination – Cabo Rojo, PR
Hormigas Ground Water Plume – Caguas, PR
West County Road 112 Ground Water– Midland, TX
All of the proposed sites were listed based on scoring above 28.50, except for the Klamath Falls, OR site, which is listed as a state top-priority site, and the Garfield, NJ site, which is listed based on the ATSDR health advisory criterion. The fifteen proposed sites for addition to the NPL are:
Blue Ledge Mine, Rogue River – Siskiyou National Forest, CA
New Idria Mercury Mine – Idria, CA
Sandoval Zinc Company – Sandoval, IL
Gary Development Landfill – Gary, IN
Sauer Dump – Dundalk, MD
Kerr-McGee Chemical Corp – Columbus, MS
Red Panther Chemical Company – Clarksdale, MS
Garfield Ground Water Contamination – Garfield, NJ
MolyCorp Inc. – Questa, NM (re-proposal)
New Cassel/Hicksville Ground Water Contamination – New Cassell/Hicksville, NY
CTS of Asheville, Inc. – Asheville, NC.
Astoria Marine Construction Company – Astoria, OR
North Ridge Estates – Klamath Falls, OR
US Finishing/Cone Mills – Greenville, SC
Alamo Contaminated Ground Water – Alamo,TN
Public comments on the proposed sites must be submitted by May 9, 2011.