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Toxic waste in 24 states will be cleaned up through the Superfund program by the Environmental Protection Agency, with around 60 percent of the sites located in low-income and minority areas.
The money to clean the approximately 50 sites comes from the $1 trillion infrastructure bill President Joe Biden signed into law the previous month, helping officials combat a backlog of highly polluted Superfund sites in states across the country that haven't been cleaned due to lack of funding, said the EPA.
"With this funding, communities living near many of these most serious uncontrolled or abandoned releases of contamination will finally get the protection they deserve," said EPA Administrator Michael Regan Friday during a news conference at the Lower Darby Creek Superfund site in Philadelphia, where a former landfill leaked chemicals into soil and groundwater in the mostly minority Eastwick community.
Low-income and minority communities have been impacted disproportionately by contamination from closed manufacturing plants, landfills, and other abandoned industrial operations.
"No community should have to live in the shadows of contaminated waste sites," said Regan, who prioritizes environmental justice.
Among the sites to be cleaned is an area where dry cleaners closed 60 years ago that laced an aquifer with toxic solvents in Roswell, New Mexico. In Lockport, New York, dozens of residential backyards are affected by lead-contaminated soil from a former felt manufacturer. In Pensacola, Florida, the defunct American Creosote Works also used toxic preservatives to treat wood poles and impacted the soil and groundwater in a residential and commercial district.
In 2015, residents in Philadelphia went to the EPA to urge them to clean up the Clearview Landfill. Two years later, cleanup began and, since then, over 25,000 tons of contaminated soil have been removed from almost 200 residential properties, parks have been cleaned up, and stream banks have stabilized.
The funding is the first installment of a $3.5 billion appropriation to the Superfund program from the bipartisan infrastructure law. The announcement comes a day after Regan disclosed plans to release $2.9 billion in infrastructure law funds for lead pipe removal nationwide and to impose stricter rules to limit exposure to lead, a significant health hazard.
The $30 million cash infusion from the infrastructure law will accelerate those efforts, with work to be completed in 2023 — a year ahead of schedule.
"Our property values have never been higher," said Eastwick resident Ted Pickett, who serves on a community group that has been advising the EPA. "We no longer fear that our health is negatively impacted by concerns about contamination from the landfill. Our social fabric is stronger."
New Jersey accounts for seven sites on the Superfund backlog list, while Florida has five and Michigan and North Carolina have four each. Pennsylvania has two — and 90 on the Superfund list as a whole.
Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf said many of these toxic sites are in low-income and minority neighborhoods like Eastwick that have "borne a disproportionate share of the harmful effects of environmental damage." He said the harms have been compounded by a historical lack of funding for cleanup.
"We have to work tirelessly to clean up polluted places that are harming and holding back communities in which they are located," said Wolf, adding the new Superfund money "is going to help make the promise real for communities all across Pennsylvania."
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
