The Superfund is a program that allocates federal funds to clean up pollution that are too complex for states to handle by themselves. The National Priority List is a list of sites that will be given priority for the Superfund program. The Superfund program will help clean up potentially hazardous sites in St. Louis Park and by doing so will protect the land for future generations. It will only have a positive impact on St. Louis Park inhabitants.

According to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), after a request from the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency, they announced that it would publish a rule in the Federal Register that would propose to add the Minnesota site to its National Priorities List, which would make it eligible for the Superfund program. 

According to the Sun Sailor, contamination in the groundwater plume threatens approximately 48,000 people using water from the St. Louis Park municipal well.

The Highway 100 and County Road 3 groundwater plume sites deserve to be sites for the Superfund program, due to the range of people affected by the pollution. It would be unacceptable for so many St. Louis Park residents to be affected by this pollution.

Additionally, according to the Sun Sailor, “The state of Minnesota referred the site to the EPA due to the potential impacts, size, scope and complexity of the site and the need for further investigation and clean-up.”

This demonstrates the need for federal funding and the importance of the site being admitted to the National Priority List. If it is not admitted to the National Priority List, it could take a long time and could cost St. Louis Park residents a large amount of money. Additionally, if the situation is not handled by those who are experienced enough to deal with the chemicals, it could pollute other sources of water and threaten  residents.

Although it is unfortunate that the groundwater plume was allowed to be polluted by the city of St. Louis Park, being added to the National Priority List would benefit all of St. Louis Park, as it would use federal funds to remove and dispose of any hazardous waste that could pollute the city.

The sites along Highway 100 and County Road 3, deserve to be added to the National Priority List due to the scope, complexity, and because St. Louis Park lacks the resources to properly cleanup the sites.