The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has announced the second wave of approximately $1 billion in funding from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law to start new cleanup projects at 22 Superfund sites and accelerate more than 100 other ongoing cleanups across the country, including the Hidden Lane Landfill Superfund Site in Sterling, Virginia.
There are thousands of contaminated sites nationally due to hazardous waste being dumped, left out in the open, or improperly managed. Superfund cleanups help transform and repurpose contaminated properties into residences, retail and office space warehouses, solar power generation, and more. These include former manufacturing facilities, processing plants, landfills, and mining sites.
The Hidden Lane Landfill was a 25 acre privately owned and operated disposal facility north of Virginia Route 7 between the Broad Run Farms and Countryside communities. It lies immediately adjacent to the floodplain of the Potomac River. Starting in 1971, the facility accepted a variety of solid wastes including construction and demolition wastes, land clearing wastes and other items such as appliances, tires, paper and cardboard.
In February 2022, after seeking public comment, EPA announced the cleanup plan in a Record of Decision (ROD) for the Hidden Lane Landfill Superfund Site. The ROD documents the plans to address the landfill cap and the source area of site groundwater contamination. Cleanup plans include landfill cap repair and maintenance with land use controls, excavation with off-site disposal of principal threat source material, and bioremediation of the groundwater.
Published in the March 2023 Edition