EPA proposes adding former Puerto Rico battery recycling plant to Superfund list

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has proposed adding a former battery recycling facility in Arecibo, Puerto Rico, to its Superfund National Priorities List. The site is contaminated with lead, arsenic and other heavy metals. Before it stopped operating in 2014, The Battery Recycling Co. Inc. took in tons of used batteries each month and smelted them into lead ingots.

“Lead from The Battery Recycling Co. Inc. facility has polluted the air and land in this Arecibo community and even spread to the homes of workers," EPA’s Caribbean Environmental Division’s Director Carmen Guerrero Pérez says. "This is why we have worked extensively to address the lead contamination in this site. Now, by adding the site to our federal Superfund list, the EPA will make cleaning up the Battery Recycling site a national priority."

The Battery Recycling Co. took in used batteries, smelted the lead, and in the process generated large quantities of waste, including lead slag and lead-contaminated dust. Workers also carried lead dust on their clothes and equipment into their cars and homes, putting their families and others at risk. 

In 2010 and 2011, the EPA conducted a series of inspections of the facility to determine its compliance with federal laws and regulations. Various enforcement actions were taken against the company, including issuance of an EPA administrative order in June 2011 under which the company agreed to, among other things, clean up and prevent sources of lead dust at the facility. EPA also assessed homes and vehicles of former company employees that had become contaminated with lead dust from the facility. The EPA evaluated 202 homes and 282 vehicles, and the company then cleaned up 149 residential properties and 145 vehicles under the order with EPA oversight.

Following the shutdown of the facility in 2014, the company stopped complying with the order, and EPA took over the work. EPA then worked to stabilize lead slag piles and contaminated waste water to minimize the most immediate releases at the site. That work is ongoing.

After receiving a letter from the Puerto Rico Environmental Quality Board supporting the inclusion of the Arecibo site on the federal Superfund list, the EPA has determined that a listing offers the best course of action to protect human health and clean up the contamination. The Superfund final designation makes sites eligible for funds to conduct long-term cleanups.

The Superfund program operates on the principle that polluters should pay for the cleanups rather than passing the costs on to taxpayers. The EPA searches for parties legally responsible for contaminating a site, and holds those parties accountable for cleanup costs.