This map supplements a National Geographic Magazine feature story "Wasteland" (December 2014). The EPA includes 1,700 waste sites on its National Priorities List as Superfund sites whereby tax dollars foot the bill for environmental remediation when the polluters can't be made to pay. 370 of these hazardous wastelands have been cleaned up, but hundreds continue to leak and have been on the list for decades.

An interactive map illustrates nearly 1 in 6 Americans live near a Superfund site. How close are you?

Credit: Jason Treat, NGM Staff; Meg Roosevelt and Jamie Hawk. Sources: EPA; GAO