Missouri
Superfund Investigation and Cleanup
The Missouri Department of Natural Resources investigates and oversees cleanup of abandoned or uncontrolled hazardous waste disposal sites. The department says the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) authorized it to carry out the federal Superfund law, the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act (CERCLA), for many of the sites in Missouri. The department's Superfund Section is part of its Environmental Remediation Program.
In a Phase I ESA
ASTM E1527-21 lists the federal National Priorities List and state hazardous waste site lists as standard sources, and the handbook pairs the state record type with Missouri's Registry of Abandoned or Uncontrolled Hazardous Waste Sites. This page covers the department's wider Superfund work: site investigation, cleanup, and the National Priorities List and non-National Priorities List sites.
How a site moves
The department's pages describe these steps.
- Site Investigation. A Superfund Site Assessment Unit investigates a possible new site. The steps are a Pre-CERCLA Site Screening, a Preliminary Assessment, a Site Inspection and a site ranking with the Hazard Ranking System. Sites that score at or above an established number of points qualify for cleanup under Superfund and are proposed for EPA's National Priorities List.
- Who pays. The department and EPA try first to identify the potentially responsible parties. If they are found, they are required to conduct and pay for the investigation and cleanup. A party can choose to enter the department's State Superfund Cooperative Program and clean up under state authority with department oversight. If it does not, the site is referred to EPA for enforcement.
- Cleanup. The department describes removal actions as immediate, short-term responses and remedial actions as long-term. A remedial investigation and feasibility study, a proposed plan open to public comment, a record of decision, remedial design and remedial action follow. Some sites then need long-term operation and monitoring, and some have waste left behind.
After the initial investigation, and once the department determines cleanup is needed, the department says a site is placed on the National Priorities List, considered for cleanup under the State Superfund Cooperative Program, or referred to EPA for a removal action. It says information about EPA lead non-National Priorities List sites can be found in several publicly accessible databases.
Where to look a site up
- The department's E-Start map, which the department says gives basic information on all Missouri hazardous waste site investigations and cleanups, including Superfund sites.
- The department's Superfund Sites page, which has separate pages for the National Priorities List sites in Missouri and for the non-National Priorities List sites, plus pages on the Registry and on lead sites.
- For EPA lead non-National Priorities List sites, the department points to EPA Region 7's On-Scene Coordinator Response website, which it says lists current and archived Superfund removal action sites, and to EPA's Superfund Enterprise Management System.
- The Superfund Section is at 573-751-4187 and erp@dnr.mo.gov.
Getting the file
The pages read do not give a Superfund-specific records route. The department's general route is the Sunshine Law request. Public notices for open comment periods on cleanup plans are on the department's Waste and Recycling Public Notices page.
Sources
Missouri Department of Natural Resources pages, read October 8, 2026, no modified date shown: