The EPA will conduct comprehensive reviews of previously-completed cleanup work at seven National Priorities List (NPL) Superfund sites in New England this year. The sites, located in Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts and New Hampshire, will undergo a legally-required Five-Year Review to ensure that previous remediation efforts at the sites continue to protect public health and the environment.
“Five-Year Reviews are designed to ensure that cleanup remedies continue to protect human health and the environment over time,” said EPA New England Acting Regional Administrator Deborah Szaro. “These reviews also identify if changing circumstances or scientific understanding might require EPA to take additional actions at the site. By doing this work EPA provides assurance to community that health protection measures are adequate and working.”
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. EPA oversees Superfund studies and cleanups at 123 NPL sites across the six New England states. There are many phases of the Superfund cleanup process including considering future use and redevelopment and conducting post-cleanup monitoring of sites. EPA must ensure completed remedies continue to be protective of public health and the environment.
The Superfund sites where EPA will complete Five-Year Reviews in 2021 are listed below, and the web links provide detailed information on site status and past assessment and cleanup activity. Once the Five-Year Review is complete, its findings will be posted to the website in a final report.
Five-Year Reviews of Superfund sites in New England to be completed in 2021:
Durham Meadows, Durham, Conn. www.epa.gov/superfund/durham
Callahan Mine, Brooksville, Maine www.epa.gov/superfund/callahan
Eastern Surplus, Meddybemps, Maine www.epa.gov/superfund/eastern
AMTL (Materials Technology Lab), Watertown, Mass. www.epa.gov/superfund/amtl
Fort Devens – Sudbury Training Annex, Sudbury, Mass. www.epa.gov/superfund/sudburyannex
Coakley Landfill, N. Hampton, N.H. www.epa.gov/superfund/coakley
Savage Municipal Water Supply, Milford, N.H. www.epa.gov/superfund/savage