EPA targeting multiple sites in state for cleanup

AROUND MISSISSIPPI — The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency says it has added two places in Mississippi to its National Priorities List for Superfund, the program for cleaning up uncontrolled or abandoned hazardous waste sites.

They are the Kerr-McGee Chemical Corp. site in Columbus, where pressure-treated railroad products were once manufactured, and the Red Panther Chemical Co. in Clarksdale, a former pesticides formulation plant.

EPA said in a news release that it also proposes adding a third place in Mississippi to the National Priorities List. It is Southeastern Wood Preserving in Canton, a former wood treating operation.

The sites in Columbus and Clarksdale were among 15 new Superfund sites the EPA announced this week. Six of the 15 are in the Southeast.