Tony and I have been dealing with places of environmental risk and destruction over the past 30 years. The places we see the most long-term devastation and harm to humans and the environment are Superfund sites. These toxic waste sites are the absolute worst of the worst in the entire country. They have been hand-picked and selected for inclusion in this toxic fraternity because of how dangerous they are. Many times the pollution at the site is not under control and there is imminent danger to people and the environment in the area.
We have seen stories and met people who were totally unaware they were living near a Superfund site. We aren’t entirely surprised by this. It is in a town’s best interest not to advertise a Superfund site because communities with Superfund sites usually get a reputation as bad places to live, so they try to avoid negative press and publicity. Some states have disclosure laws regarding telling prospective buyers about certain hazards in the area, but many places do not require it. Despite this, residents living in a town with a Superfund site usually have some idea about its existence. It may be from a newspaper article of hearing talk about it from neighbors.
Even though they are immediate threats to the area, Superfund sites sit for a long time with nothing at all happening to clean them up. The government prefers a program of containment much more than actual remediation. Obviously, it is much less expensive and also allows the EPA to reclassify it. Once a Superfund site no longer poses an imminent threat, the EPA can technically move it off of the Superfund list and rename it a regular hazardous waste site. The name change doesn’t make things any safer for the people, but the EPA can say it has made progress.
Dealing with a Superfund site is not like dealing with other environmental hazards. A Superfund site is already known to be of extreme danger for any human or animal that would come in contact with it. A Superfund site is a location that has been determined to contain chemicals and/or materials that are classified as hazardous waste, a material that is known to have a highly detrimental effect on the human body and the environment. The effects of these materials range widely, depending on the toxicity of the waste compound. Almost all the waste contained in a Superfund site has the potential to cause damage. Nerve and liver damage, various types of cancers, abnormally high rates of miscarriage, intellectual disabilities, gene and chromosome mutations–all are possible. Cancers in communities nearby to Superfund sites are usually seen at much higher than normal rates. They also tend to have more of the rare types of cancers as well. These sites contain a potpourri of the most deadly compounds known to humanity.
Many of the places that became Superfund sites got their starts between the 1950s and 1970s. After the end of World War II and the rapid expansion of the petroleum, pharmaceutical, and chemical industries, the volume of toxic waste skyrocketed. In that era, at the end of the manufacturing process, whatever waste and useless by-products remained were usually just disposed of by the least expensive methods available. Disposal practices varied. Sometimes, thousands of drums containing gallons of waste were dumped into unlined landfills or even simply disposed of in a ditch or an empty, abandoned canal, such as occurred in Love Canal, New York. Sometimes, lagoons were created that were filled in with a witch’s brew of bubbling, oozing, toxic substances, such as the Stringfellow acid pits in California. Old mines were a favorite place to pull up a tanker truck, put the hose into the hole, and empty the truck out, just like they did in Ringwood, New Jersey.
At the time, there were almost no regulations as to what anyone was supposed to do with toxic waste. Most of the time, this toxic and hazardous material ended up in the town landfill along with the regular solid waste. People didn’t care because it was away from them. Many Superfund sites are old landfills used by towns to accept industrial waste in addition to residential garbage. We now know, too late, that there is no such place as “away.”
Disposal of this waste wasn’t even regulated by the government until the year 1976. The public outcry was getting too loud to ignore any longer, and Congress had to act. Congress was finally pushed and prodded into passing our first real laws controlling disposal of municipal, industrial, and hazardous waste. Love Canal was the first toxic waste site to receive Superfund status. The government likes to claim that they were responsible for enacting the Superfund legislation in 1980. Maybe they enacted it, but as Tony and I proudly state, it was driven by the environmental activism of two of our heroes: Lois Gibbs from Love Canal and Rachel Carson author of Silent Spring. The credit, according to us, goes to them because Lois and Rachel, started the modern environmental movement.
While this legislation addressed some of the problems moving forward, many communities had already sustained damage from hazardous waste at a monumental scale. Before the passing of the law, millions of gallons of waste was regularly disposed of simply by dumping it into rivers, sewers, landfills, and any other place it was economically feasible. Sadly, that practice is still happening in many places, often illegally . Sometimes it is being done in the middle of the night, other times it is being done openly with some participants looking the other way, such as at the Oregon landfill and radioactive waste disposal.
These continued, illegal practices are generating new Superfund sites. For instance, in Chicago, a 67 acre site reached Superfund status when large piles of slag and waste were illegally dumped over years. Federal and state officials have found the site is contaminated with cyanide, mercury, manganese, lead, and other contaminants. The site was added to the Superfund list in 2019, and although the toxic chemicals threaten the health of the 10,000 people living near it, the site remains uncovered and protected.
It’s not just new Superfund sites that are a threat, though. Our landfills, deep wells, lagoons, and pits have been coming back to haunt us for decades now. In Plumstead Township, New Jersey, there are several Superfund sites in the middle of this predominantly farming area. Years ago, unethical waste disposers paid farmers to allow them to dump their industrial waste on the farmers’ property. With the rapid expansion of the suburbs, we are starting to realize the great extent to which farmland dumping has occurred over the years.
At the time we wrote this chapter, there were 1,344 sites listed on the Superfund list. The sites that get placed here are considered as the National Priorities List. Superfund sites can affect those living nearby through all three primary exposure routes.
Most of these sites sit open and exposed to the rain and the winds. Particles from the piles of hazardous materials blow off the waste site and are carried into the nearby areas. Neighborhoods are exposed to these toxic chemicals, and the residents breathe them. Over time, the continued small exposures begin to take a toll on the health of people living nearby, especially children and women who are pregnant.
Way back in 1983, the EPA listed 21 square miles in the Silver Valley in Northern Idaho as a Superfund site. The area was used for mining by the Bunker Hill Mining Company. The area was contaminated by significant amounts of mine waste from lead, silver, and zinc mining. Tailings, or mine waste, were simply dumped into rivers and streams for disposal, or stacked in enormous piles for the wind and weather to blow and wash away. Lead levels were so high that the residents in the area said they could taste the metal in their mouth. Hundreds of residential yards needed decontamination, as well as roads and other surfaces. There was a coating of lead everywhere.
In 2002 the EPA expanded the size of the Superfund site from 21 square miles to 1,500. It was one of the largest, most polluted places in the country. Over 35 years since it was first listed as a Superfund site, clean up is still ongoing, and the long-term effects of the contamination have been handed down for several generations. At one time a quarter of all the children had dangerously high lead levels in their blood. Even now, the dust still blows lead all around the communities in the region, contaminating the air they breathe and the soil the children play on and gardeners grow food in. The EPA estimates a minimum of 30 years just to partially clean up a portion of the Superfund site. The entirety may not be cleaned up for deaconess more, leaving the entire area a continued risk to all.
Water is a resource that everyone depends on. Whether public water systems or private wells, a safe, dependable water supply is needed for everyday existence. There are quite a few communities where the groundwater has been contaminated beyond the point of remediation, at least for the present time. Truckloads of water are being brought in to fill large tanks to supply the homes with safe water. In many of these places, this has been life for years. Other sites are using water that the city or government tells the people is safe now until up pops another toxic chemical to add to the poison list.
In Tucson, Arizona, the Tucson International Airport had a 10 square mile area declared a Superfund site back in 1983. The contamination came from electronics manufacturing, toxic fire suppression foam used at many airports and military bases, and unlined landfills where hazardous materials were disposed of. The groundwater in the area was contaminated with toxic chemicals. In 1994, 11 years after being listed as a Superfund, a water treatment plant was finally installed to handle some of the contamination.
In 2019, new toxic chemicals, PFOA and PFOSs, were discovered in the supposedly safe water. While the water treatment plant is adding equipment to deal with the newly found toxin, the presence of a previously undetected chemical adds to the concerns Tony and I have about what else has been in the water that went untested or may yet be waiting for discovery. 1983 to 2019 is 36 years, and counting. The groundwater remains an issue.
In Santa Clara County, California, semiconductor chip manufacturing has been a major industry since the 1980s. This area, better known to us as Silicon Valley, was at the heart of the U.S. computer industry’s explosive growth. While the business of most Silicon Valley companies may have shifted away from manufacturing semiconductors and microprocessors to developing software, the legacy of its manufacturing days lives on. Santa Clara County boasts 23 Superfund sites within its boundaries. That puts them at number one in the county.
The groundwater beneath the area is contaminated with volatile organic compounds and thousands of gallons of trichloroethylene, toxic chemicals used in the semiconductor manufacturing process among others. Trichloroethylene levels were found as high as 130,000 parts per billion (PPB), and the EPA safe level is only 5 PPB. For the past 30 years, efforts have been made just to get the spread of the contamination in the groundwater under control. These efforts don’t appear to be successful as, at last count, there are 518 individual plumes of contaminated water spreading through the groundwater like little fingers. Efforts to clean up these waste sites may never be completed. Homes in the area have vapors intruding upward from the soil, bringing high levels of toxic gases into their homes.
In Ringwood, New Jersey, a site known as the Ringwood Mines/Landfill Site was listed for Superfund status and cleanup in 1983. The property was used as a dumping ground for paint sludge from a Ford plant operating nearby in Mahwah, New Jersey. The sludge and other materials were dumped in the forests and old mine shafts from closed mines in the area.
Many homes in the area were on private wells, and in the 1980s were exposed to the chemicals by using on-site spring water for household use. According to an EPA report, public water was not available to all residents until the early ‘80s. Locals used to collect water from streams and brooks for drinking and cooking. The EPA estimated 20 years of exposure to these chemicals was from water they used. Children rode bicycles through the woods and in an area nicknamed Sludge Hill. Streams and ponds in the area also register toxic chemicals in the waters. Lead, beryllium, and chloroethane are other toxic chemicals found with levels potentially able to cause serious health effects in people such as kidney and liver damage and nervous system disorders.
The cleanup is still ongoing after 50 years with more areas of additional toxic chemicals such as 1,4 Dioxane, benzene, and arsenic first being discovered in 2016. Exposure to the chemical 1,4 dioxane is likely to cause cancer, the EPA said, adding to the health risks already present from prior contamination.
Much of the toxic material still left to clean up will simply be covered with asphalt and left. Unfortunately, the site will continue to contaminate the groundwater much of the region depends on. Ford Motor Company is saving millions of dollars by covering up the waste instead of removing and disposing of it. There will be 166,000 tons of this hazardous waste left onsite forever.
The government of the Town of Ringwood isn’t blameless in this situation. They allowed the dumping to occur, giving Ford’s contractors permission to use the land and mines for disposal. They are also on the hook for liability and the arrangement to cover the remaining waste saves the town millions of dollars as well despite the persistent hazards to the locals.
In Phoenix, Arizona, sits an underground plume of contamination that has 120,000 houses on top of it. Known as the Motorola 52nd Street Superfund Site, it stretches for eight miles from the factory Motorola used for manufacturing for years. The groundwater is contaminated with the chemical TCE, which is known to cause cancer and raises the risks in babies having heart defects. The worst part about this contamination is that TCE is known to change into a vapor and rises from the groundwater through the soil and into the buildings on top. Vapor intrusion as it is known is threatening the health of many people in the 120,000 homes affected. The EPA has known about the problem for years, but many of the people say they are dragging their feet when it comes to taking any sort of action. For now, as in many other contaminated places, the people wait and hope they are not getting sick by the toxic contamination the government knows is there.
Many times contamination is carried away from the polluted area by various methods including physically moving contaminants to other areas, winds blowing old tailings and other materials away from one site and settling in another area. The contamination is deposited into nearby neighborhoods. The soil in these areas many times will have hazardous levels of materials that could affect the health of the people and animals living there. In the years previous to a site being declared a Superfund, toxic materials have been accumulating in the soil. Discovery of the problems comes well after the damage may have been done.
In Chattanooga, Tennessee, a group of neighborhoods sits within what is known as the Southside Lead Superfund Site. This is an area which is plagued with lead poisoning from industrial activities. The EPA is slowly testing people’s yards in the area, and out of the first 1,100 yards tested for lead contamination, 450 are needing to have the top two feet of soil removed due to high lead levels. Lead is toxic, especially to children, causing brain and nervous system damage in addition to causing learning disabilities. In adults lead can cause kidney damage and cancer. The EPA is especially concerned about the hundreds of children living in the area who are exposed to lead when they play outside. Parents have been urged to test their children for lead as it is going to take years to test and remediate all the properties that need it. In the meantime, hundreds of people live in conditions that expose them to toxic levels of lead.
In Dewey Humboldt, Arizona, the Iron King Mine/Humboldt Smelter (IKHS) Superfund site sits nearby. Designated as a Superfund site in 2008, the area was home to mining operations for gold, silver, lead, and zinc. Mine tailings totaled four million cubic yards of waste piles. For years, tailings with high levels of arsenic and lead have been blown about the area.
For over 40 years, until 1937, there was also a smelting operation located there that crushed and melted copper and lead ore in furnaces. The smelter spewed out huge amounts of lead and other metals from its smokestacks that were carried away by the winds. The lead and other contaminants settled all over the town. Lead does not go away. It stays in the soil, and over the years continuously exposes people to it.
Finally, the EPA decided to test some properties for lead. The area does have naturally occurring levels of lead and arsenic in the soils, but after all these years since the smelter and the mines closed, dozens of yards showed high levels of lead. They lived like this for generations. The children played in the yards and the dirt. People grew vegetables in gardens using lead-contaminated soil and ate them.
The EPA is going to dig up a foot of contaminated soil and replace it with clean fill. As for the other properties that did not test high enough for remediation, the EPA will do nothing. The lead is still there, but activity on the properties over the years simply mixes the lead into a greater amount of soil. The additional amounts from decades of industrial pollution are just being washed under the soil.
The lead remains. The gigantic piles of lead-contaminated mine tailings still remain to blow about in the wind and wash away during storms. The problem has only had a band aid solution for now.
In Charlevoix, Michigan, residents there learned the hard way that just because the government and EPA says the site is cleaned up does not necessarily mean it is. In downtown Charlevoix, there was a Superfund site back in the 1990s where dry cleaning operations and a couple of industries had contaminated the groundwater of a substantial portion of downtown. The city moved the wells, which were the main source for public drinking water, and banned any wells from being drilled in the area. The EPA thought the contamination in the water would clean itself after a period of time. Residents thought the Superfund had been cleaned up and went about their lives. Unfortunately, the EPA was wrong, and toxic fumes from the saturated soils underneath their building had penetrated them and vapors of toxic chemicals were seeping in and mixing with their air. Meanwhile, the health effects from the chemical contamination in the homes is being downplayed. The EPA is installing venting systems in the affected homes to clean the air. There are also plans to demolish several buildings and remove the highly contaminated soil beneath. How much exposure to the chemicals were the residents of these homes subjected to because the EPA closed the clean up way too early? Nobody knows yet at this time, but, as expected, the residents are frightened.
It is fairly easy to learn if you are currently near a Superfund site or there may be one in the area you are considering moving to. The advantage to being on the Superfund list is it makes it easy to see where these waste sites are. It has been estimated, according to EPA figures, as of 2016, approximately 15 million people live within one mile of Superfund sites (roughly 5% of the U.S. population). Many of these sites the EPA lists as “Not Under Control.” This means that human exposure, contamination of the groundwater, or both are still a sizable risk.
There are quite a few websites, including the EPA’s itself, with a comprehensive list of current Superfund sites. In addition to telling you the location, there are also profile information about the known and suspected wastes at the site, descriptions of clean-up measures to date, and planned future ones. Using this information and the internet, you can easily find a large number of news stories and people connected with these sites. In the past, Tony and I have spoken to dozens of people to help us in gathering information on how the cleanup was progressing and discussed health issues the Superfund site caused to people.
The category of Superfund sites demands using extreme caution and alertness if you live near one or are considering a move close to one. The potential risks from exposure to the chemicals and hazardous substances in these sites can’t be stated too strongly. Do not in any way think living near a Superfund site is safe now or will be in the future. Nobody, not even scientists or government experts, can ever guarantee the area is totally clean and safe.
There truly is no safe distance to be from a Superfund site. There always is the prospect of chemicals that were never discovered to still be present and working their way out through the air or infiltrating the water underneath. Fumes still may permeate buildings and homes in the area for many years to come. We suggest four miles away from the Superfund site as a safer place to be.