EPA adds Hillsboro, Ill. site to Superfund National Priorities List

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency today named the Eagle Zinc site in Hillsboro, Ill., for addition to the Superfund National Priorities List. Sites on the NPL are eligible for additional study and resources under EPA’s Superfund program. The site was proposed for addition to the NPL in March 2006, followed by a 60-day comment period.

The Eagle Zinc site, a 132-acre lead smelting operation that closed in 2003, is about 50 miles northeast of St. Louis. In 1984, 18,000 tons of waste material was removed under Illinois EPA supervision. At present, the major environmental focus is addressing waste piles that remain at the site. A comprehensive environmental investigation to be completed this winter will help determine the scope of site contamination and a range of possible cleanup options.

One other site in Region 5 was added to the NPL today, the South Minneapolis Residential Soil Contamination site in Minneapolis, Minn. Two Region 5 sites were proposed for addition to the NPL: Lusher Street Ground Water Contamination in Elkhart, Ind., and East Troy Contaminated Aquifer in Troy, Ohio.

Nationally, seven new hazardous waste sites were added to the NPL, with 12 others proposed for addition to the list. (Under the NPL process, sites are first proposed and public comments considered, before a determination is made to formally add a site to the list.) To date, there have been 1,569 sites listed on the NPL. Of these, 320 sites have been deleted from the list, resulting in 1,249 sites currently on the NPL. Cleanup construction has been completed at 1,017 sites. There are now 66 proposed sites awaiting final agency action.