EPA completes cleanup reviews of 32 superfund sites

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) fulfilled its statutory obligation in completing required comprehensive site cleanup reviews for 32 superfund sites on the National Priorities List across New Jersey, New York and Puerto Rico during 2025.

As required by law, every five years EPA conducts reviews at superfund sites following the implementation of a cleanup. According to the EPA, this comprehensive review of previous work helps ensure the agency continues to evaluate the performance of cleanup efforts and determines whether any further action to protect human health and the environment is required.

The five-year review for each of the sites are available on the EPA website. These reviews concluded that the remedies continue to be effective in protecting human health and the environment and made recommendations for follow up actions where needed.

The superfund program was established by Congress in 1980 and investigates and cleans up the most complex, uncontrolled or abandoned hazardous waste sites in the country with the goal of facilitating 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 says its primary goal is to protect human health and the environment. EPA is required by statute to review the sites every five years after the cleanup is in place. According to the agency, these reviews confirm that the remedies put in place continue to be effective or identify any issues that may affect the protectiveness of the cleanup and recommend necessary actions to address them.