EPA Adds Oklahoma Site to Superfund National Priorities List

 USEPA News Release:

EPA Adds Oklahoma Site to Superfund National Priorities List

Biden-Harris Administration Continues Its Commitment to Cleaning Up Pollution and Address Public Health Risks

DALLAS, TEXAS (September 8, 2023) – The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced that it is finalizing adding Oklahoma’s Fansteel Metals/FMRI Superfund site to the National Priorities List (NPL). This list contains sites throughout the United States and its territories where releases of hazardous substances, pollutants, or contaminants pose significant threats to human health and the environment.

“Finalizing the Fansteel Metals/FMRI site to the National Priorities List will help protect the people and environment of Muskogee,” said Regional Administrator Dr. Earthea Nance. “Part of the historic amounts of funding through the Biden-Harris Administration’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law will now be available for remediation, outreach, and cleanup efforts at this site. I would like to thank our state partners and Muskogee residents for their patience as we continue to work together to remove the hazardous substances from this site.”

 

The Fansteel Metals/FMRI site in Muskogee, Oklahoma, encompasses 105 acres along the Arkansas River. This area is also within the historic boundaries of the Cherokee Nation land. The site operated between the years of 1956 to 1989, producing metals from uranium ore. The residue from these operations was disposed of in acidic ponds. Over the years, the groundwater near the facility became contaminated with metal residue. A water treatment system is in place, but funding for the system is expected to run out next year. The state of Oklahoma referred the site to EPA to ensure the water treatment system remains in place to prevent contaminated water from potentially leaking into the Arkansas River.

 

EPA is adding the following sites to the National Priorities List: 

 

• Federated Metals Corp Whiting in Hammond, Indiana.
• Capitol Lakes in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
• Fansteel Metals/FMRI in Muskogee, Oklahoma.

 

 

EPA is proposing to add the following sites to the National Priorities List: 

 

• Former Exide Technologies Laureldale in Laureldale, Pennsylvania.
• Acme Steel Coke Plant in Chicago, Illinois.
• Exide Baton Rouge in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
• Lot 46 Valley Gardens TCE in Des Moines, Iowa.

 

Superfund sites disproportionately affect overburdened and underserved communities. All the sites being added or proposed to be added to the National Priorities List are in communities with potential environmental justice concerns based on income, demographic, education, linguistic, and life expectancy data from EJSCREEN. By adding sites to the National Priorities List, EPA is delivering protections to communities that need it the most.

 

Nationally there are thousands of contaminated sites, from landfills, to processing plants, to manufacturing facilities, due to hazardous waste being dumped, left out in the open, or otherwise improperly managed. The historic Bipartisan Infrastructure Law accelerates EPA’s work to clean up this pollution with a $3.5 billion investment in the Superfund Remedial Program. The law also reinstates the Superfund chemical excise taxes, making it one of the largest investments in American history to address legacy pollution.

 

EPA typically proposes sites to the National Priorities List based on a scientific determination of risks to people and the environment, consistent with the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act and the National Oil and Hazardous Substances Pollution Contingency Plan. The National Contingency Plan also allows each State to designate a single site as its top priority to be listed on the National Priorities List, without the need to apply a scientific determination. The State of Oklahoma is designating the Fansteel Metals/FMRI site its top-priority site. 

 

Before EPA adds a site to the National Priorities List, a site must meet EPA’s requirements and be proposed for addition to the list in the Federal Register, subject to a 60-day public comment period. EPA will add the site to the National Priorities List if it continues to meet the listing requirements after the public comment period closes and the agency has responded to any comments. 

 

Background:   

The National Priorities List includes the nation’s most serious uncontrolled or abandoned releases of contamination. This list serves as the basis for prioritizing EPA Superfund cleanup funding and enforcement actions. Only releases at non-federal sites included on the National Priorities List are eligible to receive federal funding for long-term, permanent cleanup.  

 

Superfund cleanups provide health and economic benefits to communities. The program is credited for significant reductions in both birth defects and blood-lead levels among children living near sites, and research has shown residential property values increase up to 24 percent within three miles of sites after cleanup. 

 

Since taking office, the Biden-Harris Administration has followed through on updating the National Priorities List twice a year, as opposed to once per year. Today’s announcement is the second time EPA is updating the National Priorities List in 2023. 

 

For information about Superfund and the National Priorities List, please visit our webpage. For Federal Register notices and supporting documents for the National Priorities List and proposed sites, please visit the New Proposed and New Superfund National Priorities List Sites