Delisted NPL

Sites removed from the National Priorities List, most commonly because response actions were completed and cleanup objectives were met. Deletion follows a formal rulemaking with public comment.

In a Phase I ESA

ASTM E1527-21 requires review of delisted NPL sites within 0.5 mile of the subject property.

Delisted does not mean clean. Many deleted sites carry residual contamination managed through engineering controls (caps, treatment systems) or institutional controls (deed restrictions, groundwater use prohibitions), and remain subject to CERCLA five-year reviews. If the subject property is itself a delisted site, the controls in place are the subject of the controlled recognized environmental condition (CREC) analysis: contamination addressed to regulatory satisfaction but left in place subject to controls.

For nearby delisted sites, the questions are the same as for active NPL sites: what was released, where it went, and what the remedy left behind. The difference is that a regulator has signed off on the endpoint.

Where the data lives

EPA's Superfund site search flags deleted sites and links deletion dockets and five-year review reports.