November 29, 2006—The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has reached a major milestone: the completion of construction at the 1,000th site under Superfund, the federal government program that cleans up abandoned hazardous waste sites.
To mark the 1000th construction completion, EPA officials joined South Carolina state and local government officials, and representatives of the Magnolia Development and Cherokee Investment Partners at the Macalloy Corporation Site celebration.
EPA and its partners completed work at this Superfund site in six years and several million dollars less than original estimates. Existing commercial and industrial businesses along the Ashley River will be relocated onto about 30 acres of the site, and the Charleston area is expected to benefit from a new port facility at the remaining roughly 115 acres of the site.
Today, construction is complete or in progress at 95 percent of all Superfund sites listed by the agency, reports EPA. Five hundred fifty sites are ready to be or have already been returned to communities for productive uses. Locations that once pulled local economies down are now generating new tax revenues and serving as catalysts for broader revitalization, EPA says. Redevelopment at Superfund sites has reportedly resulted in more than 80,000 on-site jobs and $2.7 billion in annual income.
For more information about EPA’s Superfund Program or the Macalloy Corporation Site, visit online.
