WASHINGTON, Oct. 19 (UPI) -- The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency says it has proposed adding nine "Superfund" hazardous waste sites to the National Priorities List.
The proposed sites are located in Georgia, Maryland, Missouri, North Carolina, New Jersey, Ohio, Texas and two in Puerto Rico, the EPA said in a release.
Contaminants found at the nine proposed sites include arsenic, asbestos, barium, cadmium, chromium, copper, dichloroethene (DCE), lead, mercury, polynuclear aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), tetrachloroethene (PCE), trichloroethane (TCA), trichloroethene (TCE), vinyl chloride, and zinc, the EPA said.
Superfund is the federal program that investigates and cleans up the most complex, uncontrolled or abandoned hazardous waste sites in the country. Currently, there are 1,343 final and proposed sites on the list.
With all Superfund sites, EPA tries to identify and locate parties potentially responsible for the contamination.
For sites without potentially responsible parties, the EPA says, it will investigate the full extent of the contamination before beginning significant cleanup.
