The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced a $1 billion investment to initiate cleanup and clear the backlog of 49 Superfund sites. The funds come from the bipartisan infrastructure law passed last year by Congress.
The Kil-Tone Superfund site in Vineland in the 500 block of E. Chestnut Avenue is one of the projects. The company made arsenic-based pesticides from the late 1910s to the late 1930s. The EPA began investigating the site in 2014.
A cleanup effort in 2016 had already targeted 18 residential properties with soil contamination around the site. The new funding will be used to excavate soil contaminated with arsenic and lead from the remaining properties.
Mayor Anthony Fanucci pointed out that the city has been pushing the EPA to complete remediation at these properties for the last six years and now the efforts have paid off. The Kil-Tone company property itself will be cleared and cleaned along with the nearby Tarklin Branch.
