At a Glance

Three sites – one in Minnesota, one in Massachusetts and another in Alabama – were completely removed from the list.Four sites were partially deleted from the list. The deletions come on the heels of a weather.com report that found that the EPA was using a controversial process to help expedite cleanups and removal of the toxic sites from the EPA's Superfund list.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) seven sites from its Superfund list – in the United States – in 2017.

Three sites – , and – were completely removed from the list, signaling that the cleanup process was complete. This allows for potential redevelopment at the sites.

The four remaining sites –, and – were partially deleted from the list, meaning that cleanup efforts within specific areas of the toxic sites had been completed but that further cleanup work was needed in other areas.

Sites are deleted or partially deleted after the EPA, in tandem with state authorities, and that parties responsible for cleanup at the site have "implemented all appropriate response action required." Seventy-eight sites from the Superfund site list in the last decade.

EPA head Scott Pruitt has made the cleanup of Superfund sites a priority under his adminsitration. At Pruitt's request, the EPA formed a Superfund Task Force which produced a in July 2017 outlining 21 sites where the agency wanted to expedite cleanup.

"We have made it a priority to get these sites cleaned up faster and in the right way," saidPruitt in the .

The agency's 2017 deletion announcementcomes on the heels of a weather.com report that found that the EPA was using to help expedite the cleanup and removal of the toxic sites from the EPA's Superfund list. Some EPA insidersbelieve the new process, known as "lean," could expedite the cleanup process at the expense ofthe full cleanup of the sites.

There are other concerns, too. An Associated Press investigation found thatand 2 million peoplewere at risk of flood-relatedimpacts of climate change.

For example, the San Jacinto River Waste Pits Superfund site outside of Houston flooded during Hurricane Harvey, .

The EPA Task Force report makes no mention of climate change's threats to the sites it aims to expedite cleanup at, despite the AP finding that eight of the 21 sites were at risk of flooding.

None of the sites deleted or partially deleted from the EPA's list in 2017 were a part of the 327 sites at risk in the Associated Press investigation.