EPA names three Superfund sites in Texas

20 March 2008 20:07  [Source: ICIS news]

HOUSTON (ICIS news)--Three contaminated sites in Texas will receive clean-up money from the federal government now that they are included in the National Priorities List, regulators said on Thursday.

Projects included in the list are often referred to as Superfund sites because the contamination exceeds what can be handled by state agencies, said Dave Bary, spokesman for the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the regulator that oversees the programme.

The sites include the Donna Reservoir and Canal System in Donna, the Midessa Ground Water Plume in Odessa and the San Jacinto Waste Pits near Houston.

The site in Donna was added because the water and fish in the system had dangerous levels of polychlorinated biphenyls, the EPA said.

The water at the Odessa site was contaminated with trichloroethylene (TCE) and other chlorinated solvents, the agency said. The site in Harris county has high levels of dioxins in sediment, water, fish and crabs.

The EPA is considering adding sites in Greenville and Happy, to the list, the agency said.

The next step is to investigate the nature and extent of contamination, Bary said. The EPA will then draft a feasibility study, which would describe the best way to clean up the sites.

By: Al Greenwood
+1 713 525 2653

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