The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued a Rule document on National Priorities List (NPL), which was recently finalized and will be in effect on April 27, 2015. According to the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act of 1980 (CERCLA) requirements, the National Oil and Hazardous Substances Pollution Contingency Plan (NCP) must include a list of national priorities among the known releases or threatened releases of hazardous substances, pollutants or contaminants throughout the United States.

 

 

The National Priorities List aims to provide the EPA with guidelines for determining which sites necessitate further investigation.  Furthermore, this will enable the EPA to estimate the nature and extent of public health and environmental risks related to the site and to define the suitable CERCLA-financed remedial action(s). The National Priorities List must be revised at least every year.

 

 

The NPL includes two sections. The General Superfund section includes sites that are usually examined and cleaned up by the EPA, which is responsible for preparing a Hazard Ranking System (HRS) score and defining whether the facility is instated in the NPL. The Federal Facilities section consists of sites that are owned or operated by other federal agencies, which are responsible for implementing most response actions at facilities under their own jurisdiction, custody or control.

 

 

Two new sites were proposed for NPL addition on September 22, 2014 (79 FR 56538). The sites are the Kokomo Contaminated Ground Water Plume in Kokomo, Indiana, and the DSC McLouth Steel Gibraltar Plant in Gibraltar, Michigan. According to this final rule, the EPA adds these two sites to the General Superfund section of the NPL based on HRS score.

 

 

You can get an updated list of NPL sites at http://www.epa.gov/superfund/sites/npl/index.htm

Or by contacting the EPA Headquarters and EPA Region 5 dockets:

  • Docket Coordinator, Headquarters; U.S. Environmental Protection Agency; CERCLA Docket Office; 1301 Constitution Avenue NW.; William Jefferson Clinton Building West, Room3334, Washington, DC 20004, 202/566-0276.
  • Todd Quesada, Region 5 (IL, IN, MI, MN, OH, WI), U.S. EPA Superfund Division Librarian/SFD Records Manager SRC-7J, Metcalfe Federal Building, 77 West Jackson Boulevard, Chicago, IL 60604; 312/886-4465.

 

For Further Information Contact

  • Terry Jeng, phone: (703) 603-8852, email: terry@epa.govSite Assessment and Remedy Decisions Branch, Assessment and Remediation Division, Office of Superfund Remediation and Technology Innovation (Mailcode 5204P), U.S. Environmental Protection Agency; 1200 Pennsylvania Avenue NW., Washington, DC 20460; or the Superfund Hotline, phone (800) 424-9346 FREE or (703) 412-9810 in the Washington, DC, metropolitan area.

 

http://www.regulations.gov/#!documentDetail;D=EPA-HQ-SFUND-2014-0624-0005