EPA announces new Albuquerque superfund site

The federal government will lead the clean up of pollution left by a dry cleaner in southeast Albuquerque.

The former location of Carlisle Village Cleaners was added to the Environmental Protection Agency’s Superfund National Priorities List, the agency announced Monday. The listing makes the polluted area eligible for federal dollars and marks it as a priority for clean up. The pollution potentially affects 257 people.

“Cleaning up our nation’s Superfund sites provides tremendous health and economic benefits to local communities,” EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin said in a statement.

The dry cleaner operated from 1953 to 1975 and left behind chlorinated solvent gas in the soil, concentrated below the South Carlisle Shopping Village strip mall, according to the National Priorities List site narrative. The gas plume extends beyond the strip mall to commercial and residential properties. Nearby are more than 100 occupied residences, 16 commercial structures and two religious institutions potentially affected by the pollution.

In 2022, New Mexico asked the EPA to assess the site.

“Other federal and state cleanup programs were evaluated but are not viable at this time because of the complexity of the site,” the site narrative reads.

The EPA has already sampled air quality in and below potentially affected buildings and installed air purifiers in five commercial and one residential property affected by the pollution.

The gas plume includes perchloroethylene (PCE) and trichloroethylene (TCE). TCE was often used to remove grease or in spot removers, while PCE was frequently used in dry cleaning to remove grease, according to a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guide.

Not everyone exposed to the pollutants will develop a health problem, but TCE exposure has been linked to kidney cancer, non-Hodgkin lymphoma and cardiac defects, while PCE has been linked to bladder cancer, according to the guide.

PCE is still used by some dry cleaners. In 2024, the EPA banned many of its uses and set a 10-year phaseout for using the chemical in dry cleaning.

The next step in the superfund process is investigating what needs to be done to remediate the pollution. That should start this fall.

The EPA announced two other new superfund sites Monday: a former pottery manufacturer in New Jersey and a former wood treatment company in Oregon.