The following press release was published by the US EPA on Sept. 14. It is reproduced in full below.
CHICAGO (Sept. 14, 2021) – Today, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced that five additional properties in the South Minneapolis Residential Soil Contamination site, Minnesota, have been deleted from Superfund’s National Priorities List, or NPL. EPA previously deleted all but nine residential properties from the NPL. Soil sampling shows that these five properties do not require cleanup and should be deleted from the NPL. Four properties remain on the NPL and require cleanup. EPA is in the process of cleaning up three properties and will continue to seek access to clean up the fourth property.
“Removing these five properties at the South Minneapolis Residential Soil Contamination Superfund site from the National Priorities List is a big win for all those who live and work in Minneapolis,” said acting EPA Region 5 Administrator Cheryl Newton. “It also clearly demonstrates EPA’s commitment to cleaning up contaminated sites to protect public health and the environment.”
“We are grateful for the EPA’s consistent assertive cleanup efforts and partnership with the City of Minneapolis over the last three decades to ensure every property in the ‘Arsenic Triangle’ of Minneapolis is remediated,” said Patrick Hanlon, Director of Environmental Programs, City of Minneapolis. “We look forward to the remediation of the final property associated with this contaminated site. As this site closes we are reminded of the ever important role of the Environmental Protection Agency and their crucial ongoing work in protecting human health.”
The South Minneapolis site is near a former manufacturing plant where arsenic-based pesticides were made. EPA added the site to the NPL in 2007. Experts believe that during plant operations, powder-like arsenic trioxide was blown into the surrounding neighborhoods and contaminated the soil. EPA has already cleaned up many other properties in the neighborhood, but sampling results show arsenic contamination is not a threat to human health or the environment at these five properties.
The NPL tracks the nation’s most contaminated sites that threaten human health or the environment. Sites on the list are eligible for cleanup under the Superfund program and once all the remedies are successfully implemented, EPA removes sites or parts of sites from the list.
Superfund law requires regular reviews of sites after cleanups are completed to ensure that the remedy continues to effectively protect human health and the environment. A proposed or final deletion does not prevent future actions under the Superfund law.
EPA proposed the properties for deletion on May 14, 2021 and did not receive any comments on the proposal during the 30-day public comment period.
For more information: http://www.epa.gov/superfund/south-minneapolis-soil.
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Source: US EPA
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