Superfund / NPL site · EPA Superfund SEMS through latest publishNPL FinalFEDERAL FACILITY

Hanscom Field/Hanscom Air Force Base

This site is currently on the EPA Superfund National Priorities List and remains under federal cleanup oversight. Most-cited contaminant of concern: Chloroethene (Vinyl Chloride).

Hartwell Avenue, Bedford, Massachusetts · ZIP 01730 · EPA ID MA8570024424

CLEANUP TIMELINE

Listing-date and cleanup-phase enrichment from EPA's per-site SEMS profile is queued for a follow-up ingest pass. Until then, this section will populate from EPA's published timeline data.

Anomaly engine

Notable Signals

No notable signals at this Superfund site for the current ingest. Cleanup-phase and SEMS-action flags are deferred to a follow-up engineering pass.

Contaminants of concern · per EPA SEMS

What's In This Site

Each row pairs a contaminant with the medium it was found in (the exposure pathway). Hover any named contaminant for an agency-cited health-risk summary. Cited count = number of SEMS decision records (RODs and related) that name the pair.

ContaminantPathwayCited
Chloroethene (Vinyl Chloride)Health riskIARC Group 1 carcinogen — angiosarcoma of the liver. Final TCE/PCE biodegradation product; commonly found in groundwater plumes. EPA MCL 2 µg/L. (IARC, EPA)Groundwater4
TrichloroetheneHealth riskTCE. IARC Group 1 carcinogen — kidney cancer; suspected liver cancer and non-Hodgkin lymphoma. EPA MCL 5 µg/L; common DNAPL groundwater plume contaminant. (IARC, EPA, ATSDR)Groundwater4
BenzeneHealth riskIARC Group 1 carcinogen. Long-term inhalation causes leukemia and bone-marrow disorders. (IARC, EPA)Groundwater3
Cis-1,2-DichloroetheneHealth riskTCE biodegradation intermediate. EPA MCL 70 µg/L; lower toxicity than parent solvents but commonly co-occurs in groundwater plumes. (EPA)Groundwater3
CopperHealth riskInhaled copper fumes cause metal-fume fever; chronic ingestion above EPA's 1.3 mg/L action level damages the liver. (EPA)Sediment3
LeadHealth riskNeurotoxin. Even low childhood exposure impairs cognitive development; chronic adult exposure damages kidneys and the cardiovascular system. (EPA, ATSDR)Sediment3
1,1-DichloroethaneHealth riskSuspected carcinogen (EPA C/likely); CNS depressant. Common at solvent-contaminated sites as a degradation intermediate. (EPA, ATSDR)Groundwater2
1,1-DichloroetheneHealth riskVinylidene chloride; IARC Group 3 (inadequate evidence in humans) but liver toxic in animal studies; common TCE/PCE biodegradation product. (IARC, EPA)Groundwater2
1,2,4-TrimethylbenzeneHealth riskEye, skin, and respiratory irritant; high exposure causes nervous-system effects. (ATSDR)Groundwater2
1,2-DichlorobenzeneHealth riskLiver and kidney effects from chronic exposure. EPA MCL 600 µg/L. (EPA, ATSDR)Groundwater2
1,4-DichlorobenzeneHealth riskIARC Group 2B possible carcinogen; common in mothballs and air fresheners. EPA MCL 75 µg/L. (IARC, EPA)Groundwater2
CadmiumSurface Water2
CopperHealth riskInhaled copper fumes cause metal-fume fever; chronic ingestion above EPA's 1.3 mg/L action level damages the liver. (EPA)Surface Water2
LeadHealth riskNeurotoxin. Even low childhood exposure impairs cognitive development; chronic adult exposure damages kidneys and the cardiovascular system. (EPA, ATSDR)Surface Water2
NaphthaleneHealth riskIARC Group 2B possible carcinogen; causes hemolytic anemia, especially in infants. (IARC)Groundwater2
TetrachloroetheneHealth riskPCE / 'perc'. IARC Group 2A probable carcinogen; central-nervous-system effects; common dry-cleaning solvent and DNAPL plume contaminant. EPA MCL 5 µg/L. (IARC, EPA)Groundwater2
TolueneHealth riskCentral-nervous-system depressant. Chronic high exposure causes hearing loss and developmental effects. (EPA, ATSDR)Groundwater2
(E)-1,3-Dichloro-1-PropeneGroundwater1
1,1,1-TrichloroethaneHealth riskMethyl chloroform. CNS depressant; ozone-depleting substance phased out under Montreal Protocol. EPA MCL 200 µg/L. (EPA, ATSDR)Groundwater1
1,2,4-TrichlorobenzeneGroundwater1
1,2-DichloroethaneHealth riskIARC Group 2B possible carcinogen; liver and kidney toxic. EPA MCL 5 µg/L. (IARC, EPA)Groundwater1
1,2-DichloroethaneHealth riskIARC Group 2B possible carcinogen; liver and kidney toxic. EPA MCL 5 µg/L. (IARC, EPA)Soil1
1,2-DichloropropaneGroundwater1
1,3,5-TrimethylbenzeneGroundwater1
2,4-DichlorophenolGroundwater1
2-Methoxy-2-Methylpropane (Mtbe)Health riskMTBE. IARC Group 3 (inadequate evidence in humans); EPA classifies as a 'potential human carcinogen'; gasoline oxygenate widely detected in groundwater post-leaking USTs. (IARC, EPA)Groundwater1
4-Methylphenol (P-Cresol)Groundwater1
AcetoneHealth riskLow chronic toxicity; high acute exposure causes CNS depression and respiratory irritation. (EPA, NIOSH)Groundwater1
Aroclor 1248Health riskPCBs. IARC Group 1 carcinogen; immune, reproductive, and neurological effects; bioaccumulate in fish and breast milk. Banned in 1979; persist as legacy contamination. (IARC, EPA)Sediment1
ArsenicHealth riskIARC Group 1 carcinogen via inhalation and ingestion. EPA MCL 10 µg/L; chronic exposure causes skin, lung, bladder cancer and cardiovascular disease. (IARC, EPA, ATSDR)Groundwater1

Showing the top 30 pairs by SEMS citation count. 51 additional (contaminant, pathway) pairs are recorded for this site.

Drinking-water linkage · SDWIS

No Groundwater PWSes Serving Communities Within 3 Miles

No SDWIS public water systems drawing groundwater (or mixed sources) serve a community whose centroid sits within 3 miles of this site. Empty results are not a guarantee of non-impact — distance is computed to served-place centroids, and SDWIS does not expose individual wellhead locations.

Methodology: served-city centroid (TIGER 2020) is used as the PWS coordinate. Source-water classification from SDWIS primary_source_code; only groundwater and mixed-source systems are queried. Click any system above for its full SDWIS profile.

Equity context · ACS 2018-2022 block-group demographics

Who Lives Near This Site

Within 1 mile of this site (4 Census block groups, population-weighted demographics): a population of 1,347. Why we surface this →

POPULATION SHARE
20.0%

Low-income

POPULATION SHARE
42.6%

People of color

POPULATION SHARE
4.2%

Under age 5

POPULATION SHARE
4.3%

Over age 64

Source: Census ACS 2018-2022 block-group demographics, population-weighted across the 1-mile buffer around this site (from USEPA-clone/EJAM-open blockgroupstats). NPL site proximity contributes to the national EJ pattern; indicator-level percentile and disparity scores are surfaced on the county page and the state page.

Source. EPA Superfund Enterprise Management System (SEMS) · retrieved 2026-05-07. SEMS is a federal public-domain dataset under 17 USC §105.

What this is not. We report EPA's published Superfund record — site listing, status, and contaminants of concern as named in EPA's decision documents. We do not perform site visits, independent air or water sampling, or current-state health-risk assessment. NPL listing reflects EPA's Hazard Ranking Score at a point in time; it does not by itself describe present-day exposure.