The EPA announced yesterday that the Clinch River Corporation site in Harriman has been added to the National Priorities List making it eligible for Superfund cleanup.

The EPA listing says the site of the former pulp and paper mill is approx. 30 acres on the banks of the Emory River/Watts Bar Reservoir in Harriman. An EPA investigation found that "off-site migration from contaminated source areas of dioxins, furans, PAHs and several metals into Watts Barr Reservoir may have affected the fishery." The EPA conducted an emergency toxic waste removal at the site in 2011.

According to the announcement, "EPA works first to identify companies or people responsible for the contamination at a site, and requires them to conduct or pay for the cleanup. For the newly listed sites without viable potentially responsible parties, EPA will investigate the full extent of the contamination before starting significant cleanup at the site. Therefore, it may be several years before significant EPA clean up funding is required for these sites."