FL superfund site partially removed

PENSACOLA, Fla. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced Oct. 29 that in FY 2019 the agency deleted all or part of 27 sites from Superfund’s National Priorities List (NPL) including Escambia Wood - Pensacola Superfund Site in Northwest Florida. This marks the largest number of deletions in a single year since FY 2001. Escambia Wood was one of 15 partial deletions. “Our renewed focus on the Superfund program is reaching directly into the heart of communities,” said EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler. “We celebrate this significant milestone that EPA and our partners are making to clean up contaminated property and return the land to productive use,” EPA Region 4 Administrator Mary S. Walker said. EPA deletes sites or parts of sites from the NPL when no further cleanup is required to protect human health or the environment. The agency’s FY-19 deletions include 12 full sites and parts of 15 more. Escambia Wood was the only site among Gulf Coast states. (Source: EPA 10/29/19) The Escambia Wood is a 31-acre site of the former Escambia Wood Treating Company, which manufactured treated wood products from 1942-82; and 70 additional acres of former neighborhoods nearby. Escambia County plans to redevelop the site as Midtown Commerce Park. EPA placed the site on the Superfund program’s National Priorities List (NPL) in 1994 because of contaminated groundwater and soil. Soil contamination has been addressed and does not currently threaten people living and working near the site. Groundwater contamination does not currently threaten people because drinking water is supplied by a public water supply. The groundwater cleanup will begin once funding is available, according to the EPA website. https://www.epa.gov/newsreleases/epa-announces-partial-deletion-escambia-wood-pensacola-superfund-site-pensacola-florida