The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced that the Scorpio Recycling, Inc. Superfund site in Toa Baja, Puerto Rico is among the over 100 sites across the country getting more than $1 billion for cleanup projects.
Thousands of contaminated sites exist nationally due to hazardous waste being dumped, left out in the open, or otherwise improperly managed. These sites can include toxic chemicals from manufacturing facilities, processing plants, landfills and mining, and can harm the health and well-being of local communities in urban and rural areas. More than one in four Black and Hispanic Americans live within three miles of a Superfund site.
“People living in Puerto Rico have seen firsthand how transformative the Superfund program can be for communities,” said regional administrator Lisa F. Garcia. “This investment in America and in Puerto Rico builds on the historic progress we have already made in recent years to ensure that communities living near the most serious uncontrolled, or abandoned contaminated sites get the protections they deserve.”
Scorpio Recycling, Inc., which is part of the Superfunding program list, will be one of more than 100 places in the U.S. that will receive more than $1 billion for cleanup projects.
The Scorpio Recycling Inc. site in Toa Baja, Puerto Rico was a six acre metal recycling facility that bought all types of metal and sold it to foundries in the U.S., Brazil, Spain and Japan. The facility began operating in 1972. The site was poorly operated, and the soil became contaminated with acids, lead and other metals. EPA has addressed the immediate risks by excavating and removing battery casings, miscellaneous debris, and stabilized soil contamination on portions of the site by treating the soil with trisodium phosphate as a temporary mitigation measure to immobilize the lead.
EPA funding will be used to install a gravel cover in an industrial area and soil cover in a conservation area of the site. This work has an estimated value of $3.1 million and will be the last work planned to address contamination at this site. The work is expected to be fully completed in 2028.