EPA Marks Major Milestone with Partial Deletion of NASA Marshall Space Flight Center from Superfund National Priorities List
Huntsville, Ala. (March 6, 2025) – Today, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is celebrating a major step forward in environmental restoration of the USARMY/NASA Redstone Arsenal Superfund site in Huntsville, Alabama. Cleanup has been completed for 5.3 acres of the NASA Marshall Space Flight Center portion of the site and deleted from the National Priorities List. This area no longer poses a threat to human health or the environment and makes the land available for infrastructure to support future NASA missions at the facility which employs 7,000 people.
“Superfund NPL sites encompass the nation’s most contaminated land that threaten human health and the environment, and cleaning them up yields real health, environmental and economic results,” said EPA Southeast Regional Administrator Kevin J. McOmber. “The successful cleanup and deletion of this portion of the Marshall Flight Space Center from the NPL will help NASA to continue to support future space flight missions – work that employs thousands and will benefit the Huntsville community for generations to come.”
Cleanup work included the excavation and disposal of 9,366 cubic yards of contaminated soil and sediment across approximately five acres. Contaminants that were cleaned up included polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), pesticides (including DDT and toxaphene) and metals. The unacceptable risks at the site were eliminated by removing soils and implementing land use controls. The EPA will continue to monitor the site every five years to ensure the ongoing protection of public health and the environment.
Background
The National Priorities List (NPL) includes the nation’s most contaminated hazardous waste sites and pose the most risk to human health and the environment. EPA deletes sites or parts of sites from the NPL when no further cleanup is required to protect human health or the environment. Years, and sometimes decades, of complex investigation and cleanup work have gone into getting these sites to where they are today.
Visit the NASA Marshall Space Flight Center Redstone Arsenal (USARMY/NASA) Superfund Site for additional background and site information.
More information about EPA’s NPL deletions: www.epa.gov/superfund/deleted-national-priorities-list-npl-sites-state
To search for information about these and other NPL sites, visit: www.epa.gov/superfund/search-superfund-sites-where-you-live
Follow EPA Region 4 on Facebook, X (formerly known as Twitter), Instagram, or visit our homepage.
###