EPA Adds Federated Metals Corp Whiting Site in Hammond, Indiana to Superfund National Priorities List
CHICAGO (September 6, 2023) -- Today, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced that it is adding Federated Metals Corp Whiting site in Hammond, Indiana to the Superfund National Priorities List, a list of sites in the United States where releases of hazardous substances, pollutants, or contaminants pose significant threats to human health and the environment.
“Superfund cleanups make a visible and lasting difference in communities, especially communities already overburdened by pollution,” said EPA Administrator Michael S. Regan. “The historic funding secured through President Biden’s Investing in America agenda provides a critical boost in funding for sites on the National Priorities List, allowing EPA to tackle legacy pollution in underserved communities across the country.”
“The families of Hammond and Whiting deserve to live in a healthy environment,” said EPA Regional Administrator Debra Shore. “Adding the Federated Metals site to the National Priorities List showcases EPA’s commitment to protecting human health. By cleaning up this site, EPA can support residents to help create healthy, thriving communities.”
The Federated Metals site is a former metal smelting, refining, recovery, and recycling facility that operated for nearly 50 years along the shore of Lake George. Federated Metals closed operations in 1983 but various smelting facilities subsequently operated on the property. The property was regulated under the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act until 2016 when the site was referred to EPA’s Superfund removal program to investigate potential contamination in the surrounding neighborhood.
Lead and arsenic were found at elevated concentrations in residential yards near the facility. From 2018 to 2019 EPA performed a short-term cleanup, or removal action, excavating lead-contaminated soils at 33 priority residential properties in Whiting and Hammond. These priority properties were properties where surface lead levels were equal to or exceeded 1,200 parts lead per million parts soil, and where sensitive populations lived. During EPA’s site investigation and evaluation of the site for the NPL, Lake George sediments were found to have elevated lead concentrations which may impact wildlife. EPA has confirmed that approximately 130 residential properties have lead-contaminated soil and an estimated 700 residential properties still need to be sampled.
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 from EPA’s EJSCREEN tool. 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, where hazardous waste was 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 an evaluation 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.
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’s public comment period opened on March 29, 2023. The Agency’s responses to public comments can be found at on the website.
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 EPA’s website.
For more information about the site, click here.
For Federal Register notices and supporting documents for the National Priorities List and proposed sites, please visit New Proposed and New Superfund National Priorities List Sites.