EPA Begins Reviews of Three Connecticut Superfund Site Cleanups This Year

Targeted News Service (Press Releases)

BOSTON, Massachusetts, March 14 -- The Environmental Protection Agency issued the following news release:

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) will conduct comprehensive reviews of previously-completed cleanup work at three National Priorities List (NPL) Superfund sites in Connecticut this year. The sites, Raymark Industries in Stratford; Old Southington Landfill in Southington; and Solvents Recovery Service of New England in Southington, will undergo a legally-required Five-Year Review to ensure that previous remediation efforts at the site continue to protect public health and the environment.

"It is a major EPA priority to make continued progress cleaning up Superfund sites across New England. Once cleanup work at all or a portion of a site is completed, EPA conducts regular periodic reviews of our previous work to ensure that it is continuing to protect human health and the environment," said EPA New England Regional Administrator Dennis Deziel.

"The Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection, in partnership with EPA New England, continues to monitor all Superfund sites in Connecticut. The five-year review provides an important opportunity to verify that the remedies in place at each of these Superfund sites are still protective and continue to function as designed," said DEEP Commissioner Katie Dykes.

Background

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. Under the Trump Administration, the Superfund program has reemerged as a priority to fulfill EPA's core mission of protecting human health and the environment.

EPA is actively involved in Superfund studies and cleanups at 18 sites, including one federal facility, in Connecticut. 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 NPL Superfund sites where EPA will begin work on Five-Year Reviews in 2020 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.