EPA Fulfills Statutory Obligation, Completes Reviews at Ten Massachusetts Superfund Sites
BOSTON (November 19, 2025) - U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has fulfilled its statutory obligation and completed required comprehensive site cleanup reviews, known as "five-year reviews," for ten Superfund sites on the National Priorities List across Massachusetts during the 2025 Fiscal Year.
As required by law, EPA conducts reviews at Superfund sites after cleanup remedies have been implemented every five years. This comprehensive review of previous work helps ensure that EPA continues to evaluate the performance of cleanup efforts and determines whether any further action to protect human health or the environment is required.
The five-year review of each of these sites, which are available on EPA's website, concluded that the remedies continue to effectively protect human health and the environment and made recommendations for follow up actions where needed.
Completed Massachusetts Five Year Reviews in Fiscal Year 2025:
Atlas Tack Corp., Fairhaven, Massachusetts
Blackburn & Union Privileges, Walpole, Massachusetts
Cannon Engineering Corp., Bridgewater, Massachusetts
Charles George Reclamation Trust Landfill, Tyngsborough, Massachusetts
Fort Devens, Fort Devens, Massachusetts
Groveland Wells, Groveland, Massachusetts
New Bedford Harbor, New Bedford, Massachusetts
Norwood PCBs, Norwood, Massachusetts
PSC Resources, Palmer, Massachusetts
Additionally in Fiscal Year 2025, EPA issued an addendum to a Fiscal Year 2023 Five Year Review report: The addendum details the actions taken to ensure the cleanup remains protective, including additional monitoring after the groundwater treatment system was restarted to capture contaminants on-site and control migration.
Sullivan's Ledge, New Bedford, Massachusetts
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 endeavors to facilitate activities to return them to productive use. There are many phases of the Superfund cleanup process including considering future use and redevelopment at sites and conducting post cleanup monitoring of sites.
Throughout the process of designing and constructing a cleanup at a hazardous waste site, EPA's primary goal is to protect human health and the environment, the agency's core mission. At many sites, EPA continues to ensure it remains true to EPA's core mission, by requiring cleanup reviews every five years. It is important for EPA to regularly check on these sites to ensure the cleanup remedy is working properly. These reviews identify issues (if any) that may affect the protectiveness of the completed remedy and, if necessary, recommend action(s) necessary to address them.
For more information about EPA's Superfund program, visit www.epa.gov/superfund