EPA to Review Cleanup at Saco, Maine Superfund Site this Year

BOSTON (Feb. 1, 2024) – The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) will conduct a comprehensive review of completed cleanup work at the Saco Tannery Waste Pits National Priorities List (NPL) Superfund site in Saco, Maine this year.

Each individual site will undergo a legally required Five-Year Review to ensure that previous remediation efforts at the sites continue to protect public health and the environment. Once the Five-Year Review is complete, its findings will be posted to EPA’s website in a final report. 

“Every step of the process at a Superfund site is critical and reflects a commitment we make with local communities to be as thorough as possible. Cleaning up hazardous waste sites takes extensive time and effort, and these Five-Year Reviews allow EPA to ensure our cleanup efforts continue to protect public health and the environment, while keeping everyone informed and accountable, especially in those communities that have been overburdened by industrial pollution.” said EPA New England Regional Administrator David W. Cash. “EPA continues to evaluate these cleanups, with the overarching mission to protect public health and the environment and ensuring that Maine communities will continue to be protected.”

In 2024 EPA will conduct Five-Year Reviews at the below listed sites. The included web links provide detailed information on site status as well as past assessment and cleanup activity.

Five-Year Reviews of Superfund site in Maine to be completed in 2024:

Saco Tannery Waste Pits, Saco

More information:

The Superfund program, a federal program established by Congress in 1980, investigates and cleans up the most complex, uncontrolled, or abandoned hazardous waste sites in the country and EPA endeavors to facilitate activities to return them to productive use. In total, there are 123 Superfund sites across New England.


Superfund and other cleanup sites in New England (pdf)

(91.4 KB)

EPA’s Superfund program