May 9, 2005—A battery recycling plant, a sheet-metal manufacturer, a zinc smelter, and a gold mine are among 10 sites just added to the National Priorities List (NPL) of Superfund sites. The just-added sites bring the total to 1,245 on the NPL. The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) also proposed that an additional seven sites be added to the list.
The sites were selected because of their degree of risk to human health and to sensitive environments. Contaminants found include cadmium, tetrachloroethylene, carbon tetrachloride, mercury, dioxins, zinc, lead, and arsenic, among others.
EPA tries to identify and locate the parties potentially responsible for such contamination. Such parties agree, on average, to initiate or pay for 70 percent of cleanups. When no parties can be located, EPA conducts in-depth inspections to determine the full extent of the contamination before starting significant construction at the site.
