T

r a n s p o rtation centers. Shopping

malls. Wildlife habitats. These are n ’t

the first things you think of when

you hear the word “Superfund,” but twenty

years after its enactment into law, Superfund is routinely turning abandoned haza rdous waste sites into soccer fields, golf

courses, shopping malls, and office buildings. By September 2000, construction and

cleanup had been completed at over 750

sites nationwide.

The pace of Superfund achievements

picked up in the mid-nineties after a series

of re f o rms in 1993, designed to make the

United States

Environmental Protection 

Agency

Office of Site Remediation 

Enforcement (2271A)

Washington, DC 20460

Winter 2001

EPA 300-N-01-002

Issue #6

inside

CEPPO:EPCRA Regulatory

Revisions Ahead 3

Hudson River Cleanup 

of PCBs Proposed 4

Pump and Treat 

Optimization 5

In the Courts: RCRA Preenforcement Reviews,

Retroactive Application 

of SREA 6

News and Notes 7

Calendar 8

Printed on recycled paper

c l e a n u pn e w s

S u p e rfund program “faster, faire r, and

m o re efficient.” Three times as many

S u p e rfund sites have been cleaned up in

the past seven years than in all the prior

years of the program combined. The

re f o rms aimed at expanding state and

public involvement in cleanup decisions,

reducing litigation and transaction costs,

encouraging the redevelopment of

cleanup sites, encouraging innovative

technologies, and addressing stakeholder

criticisms. Examples of these re f o rms are

described below.

S u p e rfund Celebrates 20th

Year of Achievement

Cleanup News is an occasional newsletter highlighting 

h a z a rdous waste cleanup

cases, policies, settlements,

and technologies. 

continued on page 3

Historic Settlement Reached

on Iron Mountain Mine

A g reement Will Clean Up One of Country ’s Most Toxic Superfund Sites

O

n October 19, 2000, the United

States and the State of Californ i a

announced a settlement with Av e ntis Crop Sciences USA, Inc. that could

a p p roach $1 billion for future cleanup of

the Iron Mountain Mine Superfund Site

located nine miles northwest of Redding,

C a l i f o rn i a .

The settlement, on behalf of the U.S.

E PA, the U.S. Department of the Interior,

the U.S. Department of Commerce, and

several state agencies, is one of the larg e s t

settlements with a single private party in the

h i s t o ry of the federal Superfund program. It

is also one of the biggest environmental settlements for state environmental agencies. 

The agreement, achieved after nine

years of litigation and negotiation, will

e n s u re long-term control of more than 95

p e rcent of the releases from Iron Mountain, historically the largest point source of

toxic metals in the country and the sourc e

of the most acidic mine drainage in the

world. Prior to remediation, the mine disc h a rged an average of a ton a day of toxic

metals into the Upper Sacramento River, a

critical salmon spawning habitat and a

central feature in the state’s water system. 

Aventis, formerly known as Rhone

Poulenc, Inc., has arranged for The IT

G roup to operate and maintain the site

continued on page 2
2 Cleanup News

• S u p e rfund Cleanups: To ensure

that cleanups are cost-effective and

re flect the latest technology, the

S u p e rfund Innovative Te c h n o l o g y

Evaluation (SITE) Program was

established. The SITE Pro g r a m ’s

demonstrations of new technologies have led to cost savings of

over 70 percent per site. The total

cost savings for innovative tre a tment as opposed to conventional

t reatment is estimated at $2.1 billion. To streamline the re m e d y

p rocess and make it consistent

a c ross sites, EPA now uses stand a rd or “presumptive” remedies at

four types of sites: municipal landfills, wood treater sites, contaminated gro u n d w a t e r, and volatile

o rganic chemicals in soils. 

• S u p e rfund Enforc e m e n t : F o r

e v e ry dollar spent on enforc e m e n t ,

E PA has achieved over $6 in private cleanup commitments and

cost re c o v e ry. With an “Enforc ement First” policy in effect, re s p o nsible parties have perf o rmed over

70 percent of the new cleanup work

at Superfund sites. Some of the

re f o rms EPA has implemented to

achieve more efficient and equitable settlements include: getting

the “little guys” out of Superf u n d

e n f o rcement by reaching settlements with de minimis p a rt i e s ,

removing legal barriers to economic development, and re d u c i n g

the need for litigation by using

mediated settlements and other

f o rms of alternative dispute re s o l ution. 

• Community Participation and

P a rt n e r s h i p s : T h rough Community Advisory Groups and Te c h n ical Assistance Grants of up to

$50,000 for expert advisors, EPA

o ffers communities meaningful

o p p o rtunities for involvement early

in the cleanup process and involvement throughout site cleanup. A

number of partnership pro g r a m s

have been developed with communities, local businesses, large corporations, and state, local, and

tribal governments. For example,

the Superfund Jobs Training Initiative creates local economic benefit s

f rom site cleanup in disadvantaged

a reas. 

• Encouraging Economic Redev e l o p m e n t : Successful reuse of

once-contaminated pro p e rties is

happening all over the country,

changing the perception that

“once a hazardous waste site, forever a wasteland.” The Bro w nfields Initiative, started in 1993,

has leveraged over $2.3 billion in

private investment and award e d

over 500 grants to communities

nationwide. The Superfund Redevelopment Initiative, announced in

1999, is a coordinated national program to ensure that communities

have the tools and inform a t i o n

needed to realize the potential of

reusing Superfund sites.

Because of Superfund, hundreds of

sites that were once dangerous have

now been made safe. Wastelands have

become productive — and sometimes

even beautiful — again. And, most

i m p o rtant of all, Superfund continues

to prevent new sites and new dangers

f rom occurring in the first place. 

For a special 20th anniversary

re p o rt on Superfund, go to

h t t p : / / w w w. e p a . g o v / s u p e rf u n d .

20 Years of Superfund 

continued from page 1 Superfund Successes on its 

20th Annive r s a r y

(as of 10/3/2000)

> Over 6,400 re m oval actions have been taken to reduce immediate thre a t s .

> 757 Superfund sites have had all cleanup construction completed.

> Of the 1,450 final National Priorities List (NPL) sites:

• 219 are deleted.

• 1,200 have all final cleanup plans approv e d .

• 1,330 are either undergoing cleanup construction or have been deleted.

> Of the 59 sites proposed for listing on the NPL, 28 have had or are underg o i n g

c l e a n u p.

> Since 1992, responsible parties have performed over 70 percent of all new

cleanups at NPL sites.

> Over the life of the Superfund progra m , the estimated value of private party settlements is $18 billion.

> Over 460 de minimis settlements have been re a ched – allowing 22,800 small wa s t e

contributors relief from the burdens of Superfund litigation.

> E PA and its state and tribal partners have assessed more than 41,000 sites. More

than 32,000 sites have been re m oved from the CERCLIS waste site list to help promote the economic redevelopment of these properties.
Cleanup News 3

F

acilities that re p o rt inform a t i o n

under the Emergency Planning

and Community Right-to-Know

Act (EPCRA) should expect to see

some changes for emergency planning,

accidental chemical release notific ations, and hazardous chemical invent o ry re p o rts by Fall 2001. The changes

a re expected to reduce re p o rting burdens for the small business community

by streamlining re p o rting re q u i rements, while still pre s e rving the publ i c ’s health and “right-to-know. ”

New regulations will addre s s

remaining issues from EPA’s pro p o s e d

rule of June 8, 1999. Reporting thre s holds for gasoline and diesel fuel at re t a i l

gas stations were included in a separate

final rule (64 F R 7031, Feb. 11, 1999).

Issues that remained following the

1999 final rule included: re p o rt i n g

t h resholds for rock salt, sand, gravel,

and other chemicals that pose a minimal risk; clarification of mixtures

re p o rting and changes to the interpretation of the existing hazardous chemical exemption for solids under EPCRA

§311; guidance on state flexibility; and

revision of re p o rting thresholds for

facilities with similarities to gas stations (motor pools, marinas, rental car

facilities, and van and bus lines).

Not all issues will necessarily be

a d d ressed via rulemaking. EPA wants

to give state and local govern m e n t s

m o re flexibility to implement the existing re q u i rements of EPCRA §311/312. 

In the future, companies may fin d

that much of their EPCRA re p o rt i n g

could be handled electro n i c a l l y. The

p roposed rule discussed several fle x ible approaches to reduce the burd e n

of re p o rting and managing inform ation. Arizona and Florida already have

or are piloting programs that pro m o t e

s t reamlined submission of EPCRA

§311/312 re p o rts. 

But states must ensure that any

data management system complies

with the statutory re q u i rement that

the SERC, LEPC, and local fire department receive the re q u i red inform a t i o n

by March 1. The goal of stre a m l i n e d

submission must be to reduce the

re p o rting burden for facilities without

diminishing timely and full access to

re p o rted information. In addition, elect ronic data submission programs must

continue to collect, at a minimum, the

identical information re q u i red on Ti e r

1 or Tier 2 forms. 

Ti m e l i n e : Look for a ru l e m a k i n g

in Fall 2001. Guidance and Q&As will

be available in Spring 2001. Pro p o s e d

re g u l a t o ry changes will be posted on

E PA’s Chemical Emergency Pre p a re dness and Prevention Office website at

w w w. e p a . g o v / c e p p o / l r- re g s . h t m #

e p c r a .

EPCRA Regulatory Revisions Ahead

cleanup over the next 30 years, and for

payment to the federal and state gove rnments of $514 million in 2030 to fund

site costs for subsequent years. This

unique funding mechanism enables

Aventis — which is securing the funding through a financial assurance and

insurance vehicle specifically tailore d

for this settlement — to pay ro u g h l y

$160 million to fund the long-term operation and maintenance at the site (an

estimated cost of $200 to $300 million),

a payment to the U.S. EPA of appro x imately $8 million, and a payment to the

natural re s o u rce trustees to fund natural re s o u rce restoration projects ($10

million). The settlement also waives

$150 million in past costs, bringing the

total amount to close to $1 billion.

“This innovative settlement is good

news for people, fish, and animals

f rom the nort h e rn headwaters of the

Sacramento River all the way down to

San Francisco Bay,” said U.S. EPA

Regional Administrator Felicia Marcus. “The discharge from Iron Mountain is so toxic that when workers inadv e rtently left a shovel in the gre e n

liquid flowing from one of its port a l s ,

the next day half the shovel had been

eaten away completely. You can imagine what damage this type of drainage

could wreak on the local ecosystem.

N o w, thanks to a true team eff o rt on

the part of a myriad of federal and state

agencies, we have the funding and the

re s o u rces in place to dramatically curtail the damage this site has imposed

on our natural re s o u rces.” 

F rom the late nineteenth century

t h rough 1963, the Mountain Copper

C o m p a n y, Ltd. mined the site for various minerals - including iron, gold, silv e r, copper, zinc, and pyrite. The mining operations fractured the mountain,

changing the hydrology and exposing

the mineral deposit to oxygen, water,

and bacteria. According to scientists

f rom the U.S. Geological Surv e y,

waters in the abandoned copper and

zinc mines of Iron Mountain are the

most acidic ever measured — even

m o re concentrated than battery acid.

Additional information on Iro n

Mountain Mine is available on the 

web at http://www. e p a . g o v / re g i o n

0 9 / f e a t u re s / i ro n m o u n t a i n . h t m l .

I ron Mountain 

continued from page 1
4 Cleanup News

fish face an increased risk of cancer

and other serious medical conditions

including developmental, immune system, thyroid, and re p roductive pro blems. The chemicals pose a special

risk to the health of children. 

The cleanup would remove over

100,000 pounds of PCBs that could

contaminate people, fish, and wildlife

t h rough the food chain. It would

reduce risks to public health and fis h

by five times immediately following

the cleanup. New York State would be

able to relax fish consumption advisories two years

after cleanup is comp l e t e d .

The scientific

reassessment found

that without targeted dredging, concentrations of PCBs

a re not expected to

reach acceptable

health and safety

levels as a result of

natural bre a k d o w n .

PCBs now buried in the river’s sediments are not remaining in place, the

assessment found, and instead are

moving downstream. Limited burial

has not stopped the sediments fro m

contaminating Hudson River fis h ,

which still have PCBs far in excess of

safe levels.

E PA has extensive experience with

successful dredging projects. The proposed cleanup plan targets for dre d ging the most contaminated portion of

the river — about 12 percent of the 40-

mile stretch of the upper Hudson fro m

F o rt Edward downstream to the Federal Dam at Tro y. The plan calls for the

removal of over 2.6 million cubic yard s

of contaminated sediment, backfil l i n g

with clean material, then disposal and

ongoing monitoring. After tre a t m e n t ,

the dredged material would be transp o rted away from river communities

by rail for disposal. The plan re c o gnizes the need for stepped-up containment of PCBs still entering the river

t h rough fractures in the bedro c k

beneath the GE Hudson Falls Plant.

E PA will consider public comment on

this plan and expects to finalize an

a p p roach to the Hudson River cleanup

in August 2001.

E PA evaluated a capping altern a t i v e

for the river as a whole to contain PCB

sediments, but found it would be unreliable. Another alternative of bank-tobank dredging was also rejected, in

favor of targeted dredging of the contaminated areas. The dredging pro j e c t ,

which would re q u i re GE re s p o n s i b i l i t y

for cleanup under the Superfund law,

would take an estimated five years to

complete and is estimated to cost

about $460 million.

To address public participation for a

p roject of this magnitude, EPA has

implemented a unique Community

Interaction Program (CIP), a tiere d

p rocess composed of six working

g roups at three levels. To ensure that

cleanup eff o rts are sensitive to the

needs of local communities, EPA has

a l ready held several open houses and

public meetings to present the cleanup

p roposals, and has opened a website

( w w w.epa.gov/hudson) to make information continually available. 

The public comment period on the

cleanup proposals runs until April 17,

2001; comments should be sent to: Alison Hess/Doug Tomchuk, Hudson

River PCBs Public Comment, U.S.

E PA, 290 Bro a d w a y, 19th Floor, New

York, NY 10007.

After a ten-year, exhaustive scie n t i fic study of the contamination of the Hudson River fro m

polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), on

December 6, 2000, U.S. EPA Administrator Carol Browner announced a

$460 million proposed plan to dre d g e

p o rtions of the river and protect public

health. 

“The Hudson River is among

A m e r i c a ’s great natural tre a s u re s , ”

said Bro w n e r, calling the pro p o s e d

plan “one of the most aggressive environmental eff o rts ever proposed to

re s t o re a contaminated river and protect the public’s health.” The pro p o s a l

t a rgets the worst PCB hot spots for

cleanup and recognizes the need for

stepped-up containment of new PCB

contamination from active sources.

PCB contamination of the Hudson

dates back to the thirty years before

1977 during which the General Electric Company (GE) discharged as

much as 1.3 million pounds of PCBs

d i rectly into the river from its facilities

in Hudson Falls and Fort Edward, NY.

Abatement and removal actions

d i rected by state and federal authorities related to Hudson River PCBs

date back to 1976-77.

People who eat PCB-contaminated

Hudson River PCB Cleanup Proposed

E PA Proposal Based on 10-Year Study of PCB Risks to People and Wi l d l i f e

The proposal targets the worst

PCB hot spots for cleanup and 

recognizes the need for stepped-up

containment of new PCB

contamination from active sourc e s .
Cleanup News 5

S

u p e rfund managers have

made use of over 700 pump

and treat (P&T) systems at

various stages of site work. P&T systems can be extremely costly to ru n

and many will need to stay in operation for decades. Until recently much

of EPA’s focus has been on re m e d y

selection, design, and construction; as

S u p e rfund moves into its third

decade, it is appropriate to re v i e w

l o n g - t e rm operation, maintenance,

and monitoring issues across all sites. 

In July 2000, the Office of Solid

Waste and Emergency Response outlined a commitment to optimize Fundlead P&T systems (OSWER Dire c t i v e

No. 9200.0-33). The Optimization Initiative is intended to encourage systematic review and modification of

existing P&T systems to enhance

overall remedy effectiveness and cost

e ffectiveness, without compro m i s i n g

p rotectiveness or other objectives of

the Superfund program. It pro v i d e s

E PA an opportunity to demonstrate its

commitment to effective management

of long-term remedies. This eff o rt re cognizes that remedial appro a c h e s

should not remain static, that site conditions change over time, and that better tools and strategies have evolved

which allow for improved perf o rmance. 

B a c k g ro u n d

Over the past year, the Office of

E m e rgency and Remedial Response

(OERR) and the Technology Innovation Office (TIO) worked together to

develop, pilot, and implement a

p rocess to optimize ground water

P&T systems. Conducted in cooperation with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the pilot included identific a t i o n

of all Fund-lead P&T sites in the EPA

Regions and subsequent optimization

analysis of four sites in Regions 4 and

5. Results from the pilot indicated that

t h e re is a potential to improve our

operating Fund-lead P&T systems and

a definite need for continuous evaluation of system operation and maintenance. 

Recommendations for the pilot

sites included changes in P&T system

operation and maintenance, re m e d i ation technology modifications, aboveg round treatment technology modifications, and changed or re d u c e d

monitoring data needs. Implementation of some of the re c o m m e n d a t i o n s

will re q u i re additional capital expendit u res; others are relatively low-cost

adjustments. Overall, the pilots

demonstrated that optimization can

reduce long-term remedial action

costs, accelerate cleanup times, and

enhance protectiveness of human

health and the enviro n m e n t .

Initiative Goal and

S c h e d u l e

The primary goal of the initiative is to

assist the EPA Regions in optimizing

Fund-lead P&T systems by expanding

the pilot project to all ten Regions. An

additional goal of this eff o rt is to

i n c rease awareness of the benefits and

the need for routine optimization

analysis as a part of the ongoing management responsibilities for long-term

S u p e rfund remedies. In year one,

H e a d q u a rters, in collaboration with

the Regions, will identify all Fund-lead

P&T systems, collect baseline cost

and perf o rmance data on those systems, prioritize sites based on optimization potential, and further evaluate the optimization opportunities for

up to two high-priority sites in each

Region. The eff o rt will use an

a p p roach called Remedial Systems

Evaluation (RSE), in which an independent expert team works collaboratively with the regional project manager (RPM) and site contractor to

evaluate the perf o rmance of all major

components of the operating system.

The RSE team will consist of senior

technical staff from EPA, technical

e x p e rts from the U.S. Army Corps of

Engineers, and selected support contractors. 

The site RPMs will have the essential role of determining which optimization recommendations are appropriate, and working with Headq u a rters to secure any funding and

technical assistance needed for implementation. Headquarters is committed

to providing technical, administrative,

and monetary support for this pro j e c t

in FY 2001. A system will be set up to

document any cost savings or changes

in remediation time frame associated

with optimization re c o m m e n d a t i o n s .

The anticipated schedule for the

initiative is as follows:

December 2000 - March 2001:

Identify all Fund-lead P&T sites.

F e b ru a ry - September 2001:

Complete one or two RSEs per Region.

November 2001: 

P re p a re re p o rt summarizing pro j e c t

fin d i n g s .

For more information on this project, please contact Kathy Yager (TIO),

732-321-6738, or Paul Nadeau (OERR),

7 0 3 - 6 0 3 - 8 7 9 4 .

Pump and Treat Optimization
6 Cleanup News

E PA Upheld in Tw o

RCRA Pre - e n f o rc ement Review Cases:

Mohave County, AZ,

and Amoco Oil Co.,

C a s p e r, WY 

O

n September 26, 2000, the U.S.

District Court for the District

of Arizona granted the governm e n t ’s Motion to Dismiss Mohave

C o u n t y ’s complaint seeking pre -

e n f o rcement review of a unilateral

administrative order (UAO), issued by

Region 9 under §7003 of RCRA. The

C o u rt held that “both the statutory

s t ru c t u re and legislative history of

RCRA compel the conclusion that the

statute precludes judicial review of the

p re e n f o rcement order in this case.” 

Mohave County, along with 12 other

Arizona counties, had entered into an

a g reement in which Maricopa County

would arrange for the disposal of tire s

f rom the 13 counties. Maricopa County

then contracted with Colinas Ti re

R e c o v e ry, Inc. to dispose of the tire s .

Colinas contracted with Blackwater

Industrial Corporation to temporarily

s t o re the tires on the Gila River Indian

Community Reservation. However,

Colinas’ successor breached its contract with Maricopa County and abandoned the tires on the re s e rvation. 

In August 1997, about two million

t i res caught fire, and it took thre e

months to bring the fire under contro l .

Because of air quality concerns, the

Gila River Indian Community Reserv ation, Pinal County, and the State of Arizona declared a state of emerg e n c y

and evacuated more than 300 people.

Using the statutory authority under

RCRA §7003, the EPA Gila River team

successfully negotiated a settlement

with all of the potentially re s p o n s i b l e

counties except Mohave County.

Under the settlement, the counties

have removed and properly disposed

of all of the unburnt tires and are now

prior to November 29, 1999, and pending at the time of enactment. The appellant PRPs had earlier been held liable

for contribution of costs in connection

with contamination at a battery re c ycling site. 

This decision finding that the SREA

applies re t roactively to pending judicial

actions between private parties (and

not initiated by the United States) falls

in line with two other court decisions

on the re t roactive application of the

SREA, Department of Toxic Substances Control v. Interstate Non-Ferrous Corporation, 99 F. Supp. 2d 1123

(E.D. Cal. 2000) (addressing pending

litigation initiated by a state) and Morton International v. A.E. Staley Manufacturing Co., 106 F. Supp. 2d 737

(D.N.J. 2000) (addressing pending litigation initiated by a private party). In

the case at hand, Gould, which re m e d iated the battery recycling site, lost its

a rgument that its lawsuit was part of a

judicial action initiated by the United

States because it was an EPA administrative action that caused Gould to

incur response costs necessitating its

cost re c o v e ry action.

This ruling also addressed other

issues re g a rding interpretation and

implementation of the SREA, whether or

not application of the SREA violates due

p rocess guaranteed by the Fifth Amendment for lack of rational basis, and the

d e finition of “recyclable material.” Having found the SREA to apply, the Third

C i rcuit remanded the case to the District

C o u rt for it to determine whether appellants satisfy the Act’s re q u i rements for

exemption from liability. The decision

upon remand may be the first to addre s s

substantive issues pertaining to what

materials are or are not covered by the

exemption (e.g., whole batteries vs. batt e ry components, etc.).

Contact: Meredith McLean, 202-

564-4216 [No. 99-3294, 2000 WL

1635392 (3rd Cir. 2000)].

evaluating, under EPA oversight, how

best to address the burnt tire piles. 

In May 1999, EPA issued a unilateral order under RCRA §7003 to

Mohave County, directing the County

to participate in the remediation plan

being developed by the other counties.

Mohave County did not comply with

the Order and commenced the District

C o u rt action challenging the issuance

of the Ord e r.

In the second case involving RCRA

p re - e n f o rcement re v i e w, the 10th Circuit, in Amoco Oil Co. v. USEPA ,

a ffirmed a decision of the District Court

for the District of Colorado not to vacate

its earlier order holding that RCRA

§3008(h) is not subject to pre - e n f o rc ement re v i e w. In 1996, EPA issued a

UAO to Amoco under §3008(h) of

RCRA related to Amoco’s Casper,

Wyoming, re fin e ry and associated facilities. Amoco challenged the UAO, and

the District Court dismissed the challenge, holding that there is no pre -

e n f o rcement review of UAOs issued by

E PA under §3008(h) of RCRA. Amoco

appealed to the 10th Circ u i t .

Contacts: Lewis Maldonado,

Region 9 (Mohave), 415-744-1342;

Chuck Figur, Region 8 (Amoco), 303-

312-6915; Tracy Gipson, Headquart e r s

RSD, 202-564-4236.

R e t roactive Application of SREA: Gould,

Inc. v. A & M Battery

& Ti re Service, et al.

On October 31, 2000, the Third Circuit, ruling on an appeal from the U.S.

District Court for the Middle District

of Pennsylvania, held that the postjudgment enactment of the Superf u n d

Recycling Equity Act (SREA) re q u i re d

the reversal of the judgments entere d

against the appellant PRPs in lower

c o u rt contribution actions, finding that

the SREA applies re t roactively to judicial actions initiated by private part i e s
Cleanup News 7

I m p roving Superf u n d

Fiscal Management

I

m p rovements in fiscal management of the Superfund pro g r a m

w e re the subject of a memo to the

E PA Regional Administrators issued in

September 2000 by OECA Assistant

Administrator Steve Herman. The fiv e

key areas in the cost re c o v e ry and

accounting process to re c e i v e

renewed focus are :

• implementing revised indirect cost

rates (see Cleanup News #5),

• maintaining timely billing of PRPs

for oversight,

• i m p roving the data in inform a t i o n

s y s t e m s ,

• managing and collecting overd u e

accounts receivables, and

• i m p roving site-specific charg i n g .

Regional Offices were asked to update

their plans for addressing overd u e

accounts receivable, including designating a single point of contact for

S u p e rfund accounts receivable management, instituting pro c e d u res for

timely re c o rding, tracking, re v i e w, and

follow-up on accounts receivables, and

conducting an initial case by case

review of all overdue re c e i v a b l e s .

Also announced in the memo is a

new award to be added to the Notable

Achievement Aw a rds, for Superf u n d

Financial Manager of the Ye a r. The criteria for the award will focus on developing, implementing, and sharing best

practices to ensure accurate site-spec i fic charg i n g .

For more information on these fis c a l

m e a s u res, contact Bruce Pumphre y,

OSRE, 202-564-6076.

U S T fields Pilots 

A n n o u n c e d

E PA has announced grants for ten

communities in a new initiative to

clean up abandoned underg ro u n d

p e t roleum tanks. The new pro g r a m

places special emphasis on communities with environmental pro b l e m s

caused by the fuel additive MTBE.

Like the successful Bro w n fields program, the new program, called USTfields, will provide grants to states for

community pilot projects to plan

cleanups, stop contamination of

g ro u n d w a t e r, protect public health,

and allow for future economic development of the sites. 

Communities in ten states are targeted to receive $100,000 each for

assessment and cleanup of these

abandoned tanks. The ten communities include: Nashua, NH; Trenton,

NJ; Wilmington, DE; Anderson, SC;

Chicago, IL; Kansas City, MO; Albuquerque, NM; Salt Lake City, UT;

Oakland, CA; and Portland, OR. EPA

plans to select forty more USTfields

pilot projects in 2001. These USTfields pilots are intended to be a supplement or attachment to an existing

E PA cleanup and re d e v e l o p m e n t

pilot such as a Brownfields assessment .

Like a Bro w n field, an USTfield is a

site or a portion of a site that has actual

or perceived contamination, as well as

an active potential for re d e v e l o p m e n t

or reuse. Petroleum contamination is

generally excluded from cleanup

under EPA’s Superfund and Bro w nfields programs due to the petro l e u m

exemption under the Superfund law.

As a result, the cleanup and re d e v e lopment of pro p e rties containing abandoned underg round storage tanks are

either not occurring or are delayed.

Under the new USTfields Initiative,

local communities can use federal

grant money to interest developers

and citizens in helping to plan

cleanups of these tanks, as well as to

leverage new funds to complete the

job. In addition to protecting public

health and the environment, such

actions will create new commerc e ,

new jobs, and local neighborh o o d

i m p rovements. 

Special consideration is given in the

a w a rding of grants to cities experiencing problems from MTBE contamination. MTBE is a fuel additive that fulfills a provision re q u i red by Congre s s

under the Clean Air Act. A Blue Ribbon Panel assembled by EPA has

d e t e rmined that MTBE poses special

risks to gro u n d w a t e r. EPA has subsequently called on Congress to eliminate MTBE from re f o rmulated gasoline and, as a backstop measure, is also

beginning re g u l a t o ry action aimed at

eliminating MTBE under the To x i c

Substances Control Act. 

For more information about the

U S T fields Initiative, go to www. e p a .

gov/oust and look under “What’s

N e w. ”

B ro w n fields 

Showcases Selected

Twelve new Bro w n fields Showcase

Communities were selected in October 2000 to demonstrate the benefit s

of collaborative activity on Bro w nfields. The 15 federal agencies part i c ipating in the Bro w n fields National

P a rtnership will offer coord i n a t e d

technical, financial, and other assistance to the selected communities.

The showcase communities include

nine federally designated Empowerment Zones/Enterprise Communities,

four small/rural communities, two

tribes, and one Base Realignment and

C l o s u re Community (BRAC). 

The first round of 16 Showcase

Communities, announced in Marc h

1998, has leveraged more than $900

million in economic re d e v e l o p m e n t

funds. For more information, call 202-

260-4039 or visit the EPA Bro w n fie l d s

website at: http://www. e p a . g o v /

b ro w n fie l d s / s h o w c a s e . h tm.
Cleanup News is a publication of EPA’s Office 

of Site Remediation Enforcement, in cooperat i o n

with the Office of Emergency Response and 

R e m e d i at i o n ,O f fice of Underground Storage Ta n k s ,

Chemical Emergency Preparedness and Prevention

O f fic e , and the Te c h n o l o gy and Innovation Offic e .

Rick Popino,Ph.D., editor

EPA Review Board : Rick Popino, Ph.D., Paul

C o n n o r, Karen Ellenberger, Ken Patterson,

Helen DuTe a u , Jeff Heimerman, Carole Macko

C a m e r o n

Gilah Langner, writer

Robin Foster, SciComm Inc., designer

To comment on the newsletter, contact Rick Popino, Ph.D. (MC-2271A), U.S. EPA,401 M

Street SW, Washington, DC 20460, e-mail: popino.rick@epa.gov.

For mailing list inquiries,contact Robert France, SciComm Inc.,7735 Old Georgetown Rd,

5th Floor, Bethesda, MD 20814, fax: 301-652-7001, e-mail: rfrance@scicomm.com.

c l e a n u pn e w s w w w. e p a . g o v / o e c a / o s r e

June 10-13, 2001 

2001 International Containment &

Remediation Technology 

C o n f e rence and Exhibition 

Orlando, FL 

S t ate-of-the-art and innovative technologies for containm e n t , r e m e d i at i o n , and long-term monitoring of contam i n ated sites, with a particular focus on issues of importance DOE and other federal agencies conducting

defensible assessments of the present and post-closure

c u m u l ative effects of radioactive and chemical contami n ation at hazardous waste sites.

C o n t a c t :h t t p : / / w w w. c o n t a i n m e n t . f s u . e d u

C E P P O Chemical Emerg e n cy Pre p a redness and

P revention Offic e

C E R C L A C o m p rehensive Emerg e n cy 

R e s p o n s e, C o m p e n s a t i o n , and Liability

Act (Superfund law) 

E P C R A E m e rg e n cy Planning and Community

R i g h t - To - K n ow Act 

L E P C Local Emerg e n cy Planning Committee

M T B E M e t hyl-tert-butyl ether

N P L National Priorities List (Superfund) 

O E R R O f fice of Emerg e n cy and Remedial

Reponse (EPA )

P C B P o l y chorinated biphenyls

P R P Potentially Responsible Party 

R C R A R e s o u rce Conservation and Recov e ry

Act (hazardous waste) 

R P M Regional Project Manager

R S D Regional Support Division (OSRE/EPA )

S E R C State Emerg e n cy Response 

C o m m i s s i o n

S R E A Superfund Recycling Equity Act 

UA O U n i l a t e ral A d m i n i s t rative Ord e r

U S T U n d e rground Storage Ta n k

G l o s s a r y

SWITCH TO E-MAIL!!!

Cleanup News is trying to move to an electronic format. If you send us your e-mail

a d d re s s , we will notify you when each issue of

Cleanup News is available on the web, and you

can read it or download it at your convenience.

Please send your name and e-mail address to

Robert France at rfrance@scicomm.com or fax

to 301-652-7001. Cleanup News is ava i l a b l e

on the web at www. e p a . g ov / o e c a / o s re.