EPA performed a cleanup of the former landfill to mitigate releases of lead-contaminated soils and sediment into the Delaware River.

Posted by Adam Redling, Recycling Today

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced Dec. 16 that the U.S. Department of Defense and the state of Delaware have agreed to reimburse EPA $3,590,985 for its cleanup of a former landfill near the Governor Bacon Health Center and the Fort DuPont State Park in Delaware City.

The U.S. Army owned and operated the Fort DuPont military base from the 1860s to 1947. Fort DuPont served as a Civil War gun battery; a World War I era field training, proving ground and target practice site; and a World War II artillery base and prisoner of war camp. Operators began dumping waste at the site as early as 1937. The Army also operated an incinerator adjacent to the landfill.

In 1947, the site was transferred to the state, which opened the Governor Bacon Health Center in 1948. The state is the current owner of the 380-acre property.

EPA performed a cleanup of the former landfill from April 2014 to March 2015 to mitigate releases of lead-contaminated soils and sediment into the Delaware River.

The proposed consent decree filed in federal district court in Wilmington on Dec. 16 requires Delaware to pay $1,889,992 and the U.S. Department of Defense to pay $1,700,993 to reimburse EPA for its cleanup costs.

The agreement was reached under the federal Superfund law—formally known as the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA)—which requires landowners, waste generators and waste transporters responsible for contaminating a Superfund site to clean up the site or to reimburse the government or other parties for cleanup activities.

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