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Caney, WEIR to National Superfund List
Kansas Ag Connection - 09/17/2020

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced that it is adding six sites, including the Caney Residential Yards Site in Caney, Kan., to the Superfund National Priorities List (NPL), where releases of contamination pose human health and environmental risks.

EPA is also proposing to add another four sites to the NPL, including the Cherokee Zinc-Weir Smelter Site in Weir, Kan., while removing one previously proposed site that was never finalized.

Under the Trump administration, the Superfund program has re-emerged as a priority to fulfill the Agency's mission. EPA's renewed focus has spurred action to clean up some of the nation's most contaminated sites, protect the health of communities, and return contaminated land to safe and productive reuse for future generations.

"Communities with sites on the National Priorities List are a true national priority under the Trump administration," said EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler. "Many of the sites we are adding today are in vulnerable, low-income, and minority communities that deserve our attention. EPA is demonstrating our commitment to assist overburdened communities in becoming cleaner, healthier, and more prosperous places to live, work, and go to school.

"Lead contamination in the small town of Caney, Kansas is a result of a local smelting operation that dates back about a century. Adding the Caney Residential Yards Site to the NPL will help us protect this rural community by replacing soil in yards where families gather, and children play," said EPA Region 7 Administrator Jim Gulliford. "Protecting children and families from lead exposure is one of Region 7's highest priorities."

The Caney Residential Yards Site and the NPL-proposed Cherokee Zinc-Weir Smelter Site are comprised of lead contaminated residential yards, as a result of local smelting operations that date back about a century. In recent years, sampling by EPA and the Kansas Department of Health and Environment has identified residential properties where soils contain more than 400 parts per million (ppm) of lead, which is considered EPA's action level for removal.


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