The Environmental Protection Agency  has added the Riverside Industrial Park in Newark, N.J. to the Superfund National Priorities List of the country’s most hazardous waste sites.  After a 2009 spill of oily materials from the industrial park into New Jersey’s Passaic River, the EPA discovered that chemicals, including benzene, mercury, chromium and arsenic, were improperly stored at the site.

The agency took emergency actions to prevent further release of these chemicals into the river, the additional investigation showed that soil, groundwater and tanks at the site are contaminated with volatile organic compounds and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs).

EPA proposed the site to the Superfund list in September 2012 and  held a 60-day public comment period.  After considering public comments and receiving the support of the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection for listing the site, the EPA is putting it on the Superfund list.

“The EPA has kept people out of immediate danger from this contaminated industrial park and can now develop long-term plans to protect the community,” said Judith A. Enck, EPA regional administrator. “By adding the site to the Superfund list, the EPA can do the extensive investigation needed to determine the best ways to clean up the contamination and protect public health.”

Read the entire press release here.