Superfund Sites & Climate Change

Superfund sites are locations in the United State polluted by hazardous contaminated material. There are 40,000 federal Superfund sites across the whole USA. Currently over 1,300 of those Superfund sites are on the National Priorities List. This list includes sites which are so contaminated that they require significant cleanup.

Last week the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) announced that many Superfund sites are at threat from climate change and that the EPA needs to take additional action to manage the risks associated with global heating. The GAO report is accompanied by an interactive map, Superfund Sites and Climate Change, which shows the locations of Superfund sites which could be exposed to significant risk from wildfires and/or flooding. These are sites where wildfire or flooding could lead to the release of hazardous contaminated material into the environment.

Superfund sites are color-coded on the map by the major environmental risk at that location. Those risks include wildfire, flooding, storm surge and sea level rise. If you click on a site's marker on the map you can view details on the name of the site and the natural hazards that it is most at risk from.

You can view the GAO's full report into the threat of climate change to Superfund sites at
Superfund - EPA Should Take Additional Actions to Manage Risks from Climate Change.