West Virginia
Superfund Section
West Virginia Superfund Section
The Superfund Section is the part of the Office of Environmental Remediation, at the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection (WVDEP), that works under the federal Superfund law, the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act. It has four programs: Pre-Remedial, Remedial (NPL), Removal, and Federal Facilities Restoration.
In a Phase I ESA
The lists themselves are federal. They are described on the NPL page and the SEMS page. ASTM E1527-21 also lists state equivalents of the federal Superfund lists among its standard sources, and the pages read name no separate West Virginia list of that kind. What WVDEP adds is a state view of the federal work, in four parts.
- Pre-Remedial Program. These are sites that were evaluated with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Pre-CERCLA screening process and judged candidates for further assessment. WVDEP says it has a cooperative agreement to fund and manage site assessment work in West Virginia, which means a preliminary assessment, a site inspection, or both. Each assessment gathers the data needed to score the site under the Hazard Ranking System, and WVDEP says a score of 28.5 or above is eligible for listing on the National Priorities List (NPL) if all other requirements are met. The assessment comes before any listing, so ask whether WVDEP assessed a site even where the site was never listed.
- Remedial (NPL) Program. WVDEP says a site is listed after the Pre-Remedial assessment, public comment on the proposed site, and state support for the listing. States must pay at least 10 percent of the cleanup costs and take over operations and maintenance once the site is remediated, or once the remedy is stable and has been shown effective for ten years. For an NPL site at that stage, WVDEP is an office to ask about the remedy's operation and maintenance.
- Removal Program. Removal site evaluations and removal actions are managed by the federal agency's On-Scene Coordinators, and WVDEP supports them where requested. WVDEP says removals are classed as emergency, time-critical or non-time-critical, and typically occur at sites that are not on the NPL. Do not expect an NPL search to show a removal.
- Federal Facilities Restoration Program. WVDEP works with the federal agency to oversee and assist the U.S. Department of Defense in investigating and cleaning up active, closing and formerly used military installations, and munitions response sites. WVDEP notes that the law reaches these sites even when a release is not eligible for the NPL.
What the record shows
WVDEP's Remedial (NPL) Program page carries a table headed West Virginia NPL Sites. It gives the county, city, site name and NPL status of each, shown as Final or Deleted, and links each name to the federal agency's page for the site.
Its Federal Facilities Restoration Program page carries a table headed West Virginia DOD DERP Sites, DERP being the Defense Environmental Restoration Program. It gives the county, installation, service branch, facility status (In Use or Closed) and remediation status. The remediation status reads Active, or one of two codes that WVDEP defines:
| Code | WVDEP's definition |
|---|---|
| NFA | No Further Action Required |
| O&M | Operations and Maintenance |
Where to look a site up
- The Remedial (NPL) Program page, for the table of West Virginia NPL sites.
- The Federal Facilities Restoration Program page, for the table of defense sites.
- The pages read post no list of Pre-Remedial or Removal sites.
Getting the file
The Superfund Section's pages name no records route of their own. The Office of Environmental Remediation's main page links the agency's Request Information page for a Freedom of Information Act request, which can also be emailed to depfoia@wv.gov. Ask for the preliminary assessment or site inspection report by site name and county. See the Application Enhancer page.
Sources
West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection pages, read October 7, 2026, no modified date shown: