(AGENPARL) – mar 27 febbraio 2024 Issued: Feb 27, 2024 (3:05pm EST)
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EPA Announces New Cleanup Projects in Kansas as Part of Biden-Harris
Administration’s Investing in America Agenda
Bipartisan Infrastructure Law is continuing to boost Superfund cleanup efforts
across Kansas
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Region 7 – 11201 Renner Blvd., Lenexa,
KS 66219
Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, and Nine Tribal Nations
LENEXA, KAN. (FEB. 27, 2024) – Today, the U.S. Environmental Protection
Agency (EPA) announced a third and final wave of over $1 billion for cleanup
projects at more than 100 Superfund sites across the country, as part of
President Biden’s Investing in America Agenda.
This funding is made possible by the president’s Bipartisan Infrastructure
Law and will launch new cleanup projects at 25 Superfund sites, including the
Cherokee County Superfund Site in Kansas.
“This historic investment into our communities from the Bipartisan
Infrastructure Law will provide additional funding for the cleanup project at
the Cherokee County Superfund Site in southeast Kansas,” said EPA Region 7
Administrator Meg McCollister. “Historic mine waste in the area has
contaminated residential and non-residential areas. Cleaning up this site is
essential to protecting the health of our communities and the environment.”
“The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law funds have been and continue to be
important building blocks to improving the health and quality of drinking
water for all Kansans,” said Kansas Department of Health and Environment
Secretary Janet Stanek. “The investment in the cleanup at Kansas sites is
crucial to improving a sustainable water infrastructure across the state.”
Thanks to the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law funding announced today, the
Cherokee County Superfund Site will have additional funding to continue
cleanup projects. The site is a part of the larger, regional mining area known
as the Tri-State Mining District. Years of widespread lead and zinc mining
have created mine tailings covering over 4,000 acres. The mine tailings have
contaminated residential and non-residential soils, surface water, sediment,
and groundwater with lead, zinc, and cadmium. Site work is designated to nine
operable units with varying work statuses.
In addition to the Cherokee County site and 25 new cleanups announced,
today’s investment supports continued construction at a number of other
Superfund sites across Kansas:
In Wichita, at the 57th and North Broadway Streets Superfund Site, EPA is
moving toward the remedial action phase and will install a groundwater
extraction/treatment system to treat a contaminated groundwater plume.
In Caney, at the Caney Residential Yards Superfund Site, remedial project
managers are currently working with community members to gain access to
residential properties to facilitate sampling for lead in residential soils
and, if a property qualifies, commence with residential property remediation.
In Great Bend, at the Plating Inc. Superfund Site, work recently began to
address a 2-mile-long groundwater plume that was contaminated with hexavalent
chromium. The source of the contaminant plume was from leaking in-ground
plating baths and an outside air vent that discharged chrome particulates onto
the ground.
Thousands of contaminated sites exist nationally due to hazardous waste being
dumped, left out in the open, or otherwise improperly managed. These sites can
include toxic chemicals from manufacturing facilities, processing plants,
landfills, and mining, and present risks to human health and the well-being of
local communities in urban, suburban, and rural areas.
“After three rounds of investments, EPA is delivering on President Biden’s
full promise to invest in cleaning up America’s most contaminated Superfund
sites,” said EPA Deputy Administrator Janet McCabe. “This final round of
Bipartisan Infrastructure Law funding has made it possible for EPA to initiate
clean ups at every single Superfund site where construction work is ready to
begin. This is an incredible milestone in our efforts to clean up and protect
communities, deliver local jobs, enhance economic activity, and improve
people’s lives for years to come.”
Today’s investment is the final wave of funding from the $3.5 billion
allocated for Superfund cleanup work in the president’s Bipartisan
Infrastructure Law. So far, EPA has deployed over $2 billion for cleanup
activities at more than 150 Superfund National Priorities List sites. Thanks
to President Biden’s commitment to addressing legacy pollution and improving
public health, EPA has been able to provide as much funding for cleanup work
in the past two years as it did in the previous five years, while delivering
on President Biden’s Justice40 Initiative, which set a goal to deliver 40%
of the overall benefits of certain federal investments to disadvantaged
communities that are marginalized by underinvestment and overburdened by
pollution.
EPA is committed to continue carrying out this work, advancing environmental
justice and incorporating equity considerations into all aspects of the
Superfund cleanup process. More than one in four Black and Hispanic Americans
live within 3 miles of a Superfund site. These investments are restoring the
health and economic vitality of communities that have been exposed to
pervasive legacy pollution. Thus far, nearly 80% of the funding from the
Bipartisan Infrastructure Law has gone to sites in communities with potential
environmental justice concerns. Of the 25 sites to receive funding for new
cleanup projects, over 75% are in communities with potential environmental
justice concerns, based on data from EPA’s EJScreen.
The historic investment made by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law strengthens
every part of the Superfund Program, making a dramatic difference in EPA’s
ability to tackle threats to human health and the environment. In addition to
funding cleanup construction work, this investment is enabling EPA to increase
funding for and accelerate the essential work needed to prepare sites for
construction and to ensure that communities are meaningfully involved in the
cleanup process. In 2023, EPA continued to fund Superfund pre-construction
activities, such as remedial investigations, feasibility studies, remedial
designs, and community involvement at double pre-Bipartisan Infrastructure Law
levels.
In 1980, Congress passed the Comprehensive Environmental Response,
Compensation and Liability Act (CERLCA), commonly known as Superfund. The law
gave EPA the authority and funds to hold polluters accountable for cleaning up
the most contaminated sites across the country. When no viable responsible
party is found or cannot afford the cleanup, EPA steps in to address risks to
human health and the environment using funds appropriated by Congress, like
the funding provided by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law.
View a list of the 25 sites to receive funding for new cleanup projects.
View highlights from the first two years of Bipartisan Infrastructure Law
funding at Superfund sites.
Learn more about EPA’s Superfund Program.
# # #
Learn more about EPA Region 7
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