EPA recognizes Dallas Housing Authority, Goodwill for Dallas Superfund Site development

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) last week celebrated the efforts of the Dallas Housing Authority and Goodwill Industries to clean up Dallas’ RSR Corporation Superfund site, designating the organizations for their Excellence in Site Reuse.

“This project shows the dramatic transformations that happen when the Superfund program meets a strong and engaged community committed to redevelopment,”  EPA Regional Administrator Ron Curry said. “Innovative and beneficial reuse of Superfund sites, such as this one, supports economic growth and a more sustainable community.”

The Superfund site and the surrounding community now host the headquarters of the Goodwill Industries of Dallas, the Lakewest YMCA, the Dallas Area Habitat for Humanity, schools, a shopping center, an animal care clinic, restaurants, a grocery store and more housing options. Formerly, it was an abandoned and contaminated lead smelter.

“Through EPA’s Superfund Redevelopment Initiative, our cleanups have helped communities across the country return over 850 of the nation's worst hazardous waste sites to safe and productive uses,” EPA Office of Solid Waste and Emergency Response Assistant Administrator Mathy Stanislaus said. “There is no stronger testament to the power of redevelopment at a former hazardous waste site than what has occurred in West Dallas at the RSR site.”