Superfund Site: What It Means and How to Check if a Home Is Near One
What a Superfund site is, what proposed, final and deleted NPL status mean, how many sites EPA lists, and how to check whether an address is near one.
Quick answer
A Superfund site is a contaminated property that EPA handles under CERCLA, the 1980 federal cleanup law informally called Superfund. The most serious sites go on the National Priorities List (NPL). On 2026-10-19 EPA listed 1,337 final, 37 proposed and 466 deleted NPL sites. You can check an address with a free Superfund lookup by address.
What is a Superfund site?
EPA explains the name in one line: "CERCLA is informally called Superfund. It allows EPA to clean up contaminated sites." The same law makes the parties responsible either do the cleanup or repay EPA for it, and when no viable responsible party exists, Superfund gives EPA the money and authority to do the work itself.
EPA lists the kinds of places involved: manufacturing facilities, processing plants, landfills and mining sites where hazardous waste was dumped, left in the open or otherwise mishandled.
Not every Superfund site is on the National Priorities List. EPA also tracks sites that were assessed and never listed, so a non-NPL Superfund site can sit near a property even when no NPL site does.
Definition
Superfund site — A site contaminated by hazardous substances that EPA investigates or cleans up under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act (CERCLA) of 1980.
What NPL status means, and how many sites there are
EPA describes the National Priorities List as "the list of sites of national priority among the known releases or threatened releases of hazardous substances, pollutants, or contaminants throughout the United States and its territories." It adds: "The NPL is intended primarily to guide the EPA in determining which sites warrant further investigation." EPA's cleanup process page calls it "a list of the worst hazardous waste sites identified by Superfund".
EPA's National Priorities List by status, as of 2026-10-19:
| NPL status | Sites on 2026-10-19 | What it means |
|---|---|---|
| NPL Site (final) | 1,337 | Listed on the NPL; investigation or cleanup is under way or finished but the site has not been deleted |
| Proposed NPL Site | 37 | Proposed for listing; EPA has not yet made it final |
| Deleted NPL Site | 466 | Removed from the list after EPA found cleanup goals were met |
| Total | 1,840 | Every site EPA has proposed, listed or deleted |
The Superfund cleanup process, step by step
A listing is the start of a long process. EPA describes the phases below. The phase a nearby site is in tells you more than the listing itself.
| Phase | What happens |
|---|---|
| Preliminary assessment and site inspection | EPA reviews history, visits the site and decides whether hazards need immediate action |
| NPL listing | The site is scored with the Hazard Ranking System and proposed, then listed |
| Remedial investigation and feasibility study | EPA measures the nature and extent of contamination and compares cleanup options |
| Record of Decision | After a public comment period on a proposed plan, EPA chooses the remedy |
| Remedial design and remedial action | Engineering plans are drawn up and the cleanup is built |
| Construction completion | All physical construction is done, even if a groundwater system must keep running for years |
| Post construction | Monitoring, periodic reviews and enforcement of long-term site restrictions |
| Deletion | Cleanup goals are met and the site is removed from the NPL |
Deleted does not mean nothing happened there
How to check if a property is near a Superfund site
Know the federal lists
EPA tracks the sites proposed to, on and deleted from the NPL in each state, with city, county, ZIP code and status, as well as non-NPL Superfund sites and other cleanup programs. A state list is a start, but it does not tell you how far a particular address is from a site.
Run the address through a distance lookup
The free Superfund sites near me lookup takes a US street address and lists nearby NPL sites with status and distance, along with other nearby Superfund sites and EPA-regulated facilities.
Open the site profile for anything close
For each nearby site, read EPA's site profile: what contaminated it, which media (soil, groundwater, sediment) are involved, the current cleanup phase and any land use restrictions.
Check the other federal lists
Superfund is one list among several. Leaking underground storage tanks, hazardous waste facilities and brownfields are tracked separately, and a property can sit near one without being near any NPL site.
Decide whether you need a professional
For a commercial purchase, a Phase 1 environmental site assessment by an environmental professional is the standard next step. For a home, the records search is usually the screen, and a site that is close and upgradient is a question for an environmental professional.
Does living near a Superfund site mean the property is contaminated?
No. A listing shows where EPA has found or is investigating contamination. Whether it reaches a particular parcel depends on what was released, which way groundwater flows, how far the plume or the soil contamination extends, and how far the cleanup has gone. Distance is a starting point, not a finding.
The legal side matters more for commercial buyers than for homeowners. Under CERCLA, EPA notes, "liability for environmental contamination may be assigned based solely on property ownership." The landowner protections in the 2002 Brownfields Amendments are available to buyers who complete All Appropriate Inquiries before acquiring the property, and EPA lists commercial and government buyers and individuals buying for non-residential use as the parties subject to that rule.
What the Environmental Records Report adds
The free lookup answers the Superfund question. The Environmental Records Report lists every site on the federal lists within the search distances of ASTM E1527-21, measured to mapped site boundaries where they exist: Superfund and other federal cleanup sites, hazardous waste facilities, registered and leaking underground storage tanks and brownfields, with a site map, flood zone, wetlands and radon zone. It works for any US address and is for $29.
It is a records search, not a Phase I environmental site assessment. It does not satisfy All Appropriate Inquiries (40 CFR Part 312) or ASTM E1527-21, and no site visit or interviews are performed. It is also separate from a title search, which reads the land records for the owner, mortgages and liens.
Key takeaways
Key takeaways
- A Superfund site is a contaminated site handled under CERCLA; the most serious are on the National Priorities List.
- On 2026-10-19 EPA listed 1,337 final, 37 proposed and 466 deleted NPL sites, 1,840 in all.
- EPA tracks NPL and non-NPL sites by state, and a distance lookup answers the question for one address.
- Being near a site is not proof of contamination; the cleanup phase, the contaminant and groundwater direction matter.
- Commercial buyers who want CERCLA liability protections need All Appropriate Inquiries, usually a Phase 1, not just a records search.
Frequently asked questions
- What does Superfund site mean?
- It means a site contaminated by hazardous substances that EPA addresses under CERCLA, the 1980 law informally called Superfund. The law lets EPA clean up the site and makes the responsible parties do the cleanup or repay the government.
- How many Superfund sites are there?
- EPA listed 1,840 NPL sites on 2026-10-19: 1,337 final NPL sites, 37 proposed and 466 deleted. EPA also tracks many non-NPL Superfund sites that were assessed but never listed.
- How do I find Superfund sites near me?
- EPA lists Superfund sites by state, but the simplest way to answer the question for one address is a distance lookup that measures the nearest NPL sites from that point, such as our [Superfund sites near me lookup](/tools/superfund-sites-near-me). Then read EPA's profile for any site that is close.
- How close is too close to a Superfund site?
- There is no single safe distance. Environmental site assessments search NPL sites within 1 mile under ASTM E1527-21, but whether contamination reaches a property depends on the contaminant, groundwater flow and the cleanup stage.
- Can you buy a house near a Superfund site?
- Yes. Nothing prohibits it. Read the site's cleanup status and any land use restrictions, check whether the property is inside a mapped site boundary, and ask an environmental professional if the site is close and contamination is in groundwater.
- Does a title search show Superfund sites?
- Only indirectly. A title search can show a recorded environmental lien or restriction against the parcel itself, but nearby sites live in federal environmental records, not the county land records, so a separate environmental records search is needed.
Cite this guide
APA
HeritageDeed. (2026, October 19). Superfund Site: What It Means and How to Check if a Home Is Near One. https://heritagedeed.com/blog/superfund-site
MLA
“Superfund Site: What It Means and How to Check if a Home Is Near One.” HeritageDeed, October 19, 2026, heritagedeed.com/blog/superfund-site.
Link (HTML)
<a href="https://heritagedeed.com/blog/superfund-site">Superfund Site: What It Means and How to Check if a Home Is Near One</a> (HeritageDeed)HeritageDeed provides public-record search reports only. Reports do not constitute title insurance, an attorney opinion of title, or a title insurance commitment.
