Notable case, Palmerton, Pennsylvania, United States
Palmerton Zinc Pile
For nearly seventy years the New Jersey Zinc smelter released heavy metals over the Lehigh valley, stripping about 2,000 acres of mountainside bare. It is one of the best-known cases of revegetating soil made barren by metals.
At a glance
- Status
- Remediation under way
- Area
- 809 ha on land1
- Media
- soil, surface water, groundwater, air
- Kind of site
- smelter
- National list
- Listed 1983National Priorities List
- Area. About 2,000 acres (809 ha) of Blue Mountain left without vegetation; in addition, the Cinder Bank slag pile is 2.5 miles long.
Contaminants
National list
On the list (final)United States
Superfund National Priorities List (NPL)
- Listed
- 1983
- Official id
- PAD002395887 ↗
About this list
The list of contaminated sites that are national priorities for federal clean-up under CERCLA (Superfund, 1980), kept by EPA (40 CFR Part 300, Appendix B). Listing makes a site eligible for long-term remedial action paid by the Superfund; sites are proposed and then listed through Federal Register notices, and deleted when no further response is needed.
Includes federal facilities (Defense, Energy). Dates are the years of the Federal Register notices (final listing, deletion); 'listed' is empty for proposed sites. Some sites still on the list have had partial deletions. Contaminants and media: contaminants of concern from decision documents (RODs, ROD amendments, ESDs; EPA, fiscal years 1981-2024, SEMS document HQ/406315); for sites with no decision document (mostly proposed or recently listed) the contaminants are those EPA records for the site (FOIA-015, document HQ/406366), with no medium. 'Deleted' means EPA found no further response needed, which can include land-use controls still in force.
Status
Remediation under way
The 2022 five-year review found that the remedy remains protective of health and the environment. Revegetation of Blue Mountain and management of the slag pile continue, with CBS Corporation as the responsible party.
Story
The New Jersey Zinc Company ran a primary zinc smelter at Palmerton for nearly seventy years. Emissions of zinc, cadmium, lead and copper killed the vegetation on about 2,000 acres of Blue Mountain, leaving a barren landscape. The slag formed the Cinder Bank: more than 30 million tons of residue in a pile 2.5 miles long, up to 200 feet high and 500 to 1,000 feet wide.
The site went on the National Priorities List in 1983 and was split into four operable units. Of 2,400 properties sampled, about 180 needed soil replacement, finished in autumn 2004. On the mountain the remedy consists of rebuilding a plant cover.
Timeline
- 1983Placed on the National Priorities List.
- 2004Soil cleanup at about 180 residential properties completed.
- 2006Seeding by farm tractor on more than 200 acres of Blue Mountain.
- 2012Aerial application of lime, fertiliser and seed on 1,628 acres completed (2011–2012).
- 201313,000 trees planted in resource islands.
Remediation
- 2004soil replacementSoil replaced at about 180 properties and indoor dust cleaned in 20 homes (by summer 2005).
Plants and fungi at this site
PhytoremediationField scale, 2006–2013
Phytostabilisation of Blue Mountain: warm-season grasses sown with lime and fertiliser, first by farm tractor on more than 200 acres (2006), then from the air on 1,628 acres (2011–2012), and 13,000 trees planted in resource islands (2013). The EPA page consulted does not list the species.
- Palmerton Zinc Pile – Cleanup Activities, cumulis.epa.gov, 2026
From the literature
Species that acted on one of this site's contaminants in at least one study. The list is automatic and takes no account of this site's soil, concentrations or climate.
Plants
- Agrostis capillarisCommon bentEvidence: field
- Arabidopsis halleriHaller's rockcressEvidence: field
- Cannabis sativaIndustrial hempEvidence: field
- Festuca rubraRed fescueEvidence: field
- Noccaea caerulescensAlpine pennycressEvidence: field
- Populus albaWhite poplarEvidence: field
Fungi
- Rhizophagus irregularisEvidence: greenhouse
- Paxillus involutusBrown roll-rimEvidence: greenhouse
- Aspergillus nigerBlack mouldEvidence: laboratory
- Suillus luteusSlippery jackEvidence: laboratory
- Agaricus bisporusButton mushroomEvidence: laboratory
- Mucor circinelloidesEvidence: laboratory
The rest are on the contaminant pages.
Nearby
Trial, New Jersey, United States
Magic Marker site, Trenton
97 km
Phytoremediation
Notable case, Brooklyn, New York City, United States
Gowanus Canal
136 km
- Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons
- Coal tar
- Polychlorinated biphenyls
Notable case, Edgewood, United States
Aberdeen Proving Ground, J-Field
154 km
- Chlorinated solvents (TCE, PCE, chloroform)
- Chemical warfare agents (mustard, arsenicals)
Phytoremediation
Notable case, Hudson Falls e Fort Edward, United States
Hudson River PCBs
321 km
- Polychlorinated biphenyls
Sources
- Palmerton Zinc Pile, Palmerton, PA – Cleanup Activities, US EPA, 2026
- Palmerton, Pennsylvania (coordinates), Wikipedia, 2026
Draft compiled from public sources, not yet reviewed.