U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Regional Administrator Judith A. Enck and Congress Member Sean Patrick Maloney visited three Superfund sites in Orange and Dutchess Counties to review and assess progress on the cleanup of contamination at these hazardous waste sites.
Their first stop was the Shenandoah Road Ground Water Contamination Superfund site in East Fishkill, New York where a system is working to treat contaminated ground water. They were joined by local officials to highlight the success of the federal Superfund law in protecting the health of people who live and work near contaminated sites.
“Today Congress Member Sean Patrick Maloney and I got a first-hand look at how the ground water treatment system at the Shenandoah Road site and other Superfund cleanups are protecting people’s health and the environment, ” said EPA Regional Administrator Judith A. Enck. “The Superfund program is based on the principle that the polluters should pay for cleanups. Thanks to the Superfund law and the support of leaders like Congress Member Maloney, the EPA is cleaning up toxic waste sites like the ones visited today without passing the costs along to taxpayers. ”
Superfund is the federal cleanup program established by Congress in 1980 to investigate and clean up the country’s most hazardous waste sites. The Superfund program operates on the principle that polluters should pay for the cleanups, rather than passing the costs to taxpayers. When sites are placed on the Superfund list, the EPA looks for parties responsible for the contamination and requires them to perform or pay for the cleanups. Cleanups are only funded by taxpayer dollars when those responsible for the pollution cannot be found or are not financially viable.
If a responsible party declines to undertake cleanup work, the EPA can conduct the cleanup and seek to recover its costs. Work at two of the sites toured today – Shenandoah Road and Nepera Chemical – is being performed or funded by parties responsible for the cleanups. In the case of Consolidated Iron, the EPA performed the work using funds provided through a legal settlement with parties responsible for the site.
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Press Release, June 11, 2013