EPA Begins Reviews of Three Rhode Island Superfund Site Cleanups This Year
BOSTON – The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) will conduct comprehensive reviews of previously-completed cleanup work at three National Priorities List (NPL) Superfund sites in Rhode Island this year. The sites, Rose Hill Regional Landfill in South Kingstown; Stamina Mills in Smithfield; and West Kingston Town Dump/URI Disposal Area in South Kingstown, will undergo a legally-required Five-Year Review to ensure that previous remediation efforts at the site continue to protect public health and the environment.
"It is a major EPA priority to make continued progress cleaning up Superfund sites across New England. Once cleanup work at all or a portion of a site is completed, EPA conducts regular periodic reviews of our previous work to ensure that it is continuing to protect human health and the environment," said EPA New England Regional Administrator Dennis Deziel.
"Rhode Islanders benefit when formerly unsafe areas like the former Rose Hill Landfill and the West Kingston Town Dump/URI Disposal Area in South Kingstown are cleaned up and repurposed to support clean energy," said Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management Director Janet Coit. "Today, across these two Superfund sites, 28 acres of solar panels are generating enough electrical power to power all the municipal and school buildings in South Kingstown while promoting climate resilience and a healthier environment."
Background
The Superfund program, a federal program established by Congress in 1980, investigates and cleans up the most complex, uncontrolled or abandoned hazardous waste sites in the country and works to facilitate activities to return them to productive use. Under the Trump Administration, the Superfund program has reemerged as a priority to fulfill EPA's core mission of protecting human health and the environment.
EPA is actively involved in Superfund studies and cleanups at 13 sites in Rhode Island, including two federal facilities. There are many phases of the Superfund cleanup process including considering future use and redevelopment and conducting post-cleanup monitoring of sites. EPA must ensure completed remedies continue to be protective of public health and the environment. The NPL Superfund sites where EPA will begin work on Five-Year Reviews in 2020 are listed below, and the web links provide detailed information on site status and past assessment and cleanup activity. Once the Five-Year Review is complete, its findings will be posted to the website in a final report.
Five-Year Reviews of Superfund sites in Rhode Island to be completed in 2020
Rose Hill Regional Landfill, South Kingstown, R.I. https://www.epa.gov/superfund/rosehill
Stamina Mills, North Smithfield, R.I. www.epa.gov/superfund/stamina
West Kingston Town Dump/URI Disposal Area, West Kingston, R.I. www.epa.gov/superfund/wkingston
More information on Superfund and other cleanup sites in New England: https://www.epa.gov/cleanups/cleaning-new-england