In a comprehensive effort to address

key impediments to effective RCRA

cleanups, enhance program flexibility,

and spur cleanup progress, EPA has set

ambitious national cleanup goals, known

as Environmental Indicators (EI), for

1,712 facilities on the RCRA Cleanup

Baseline.These facilities are the highest

priorities for cleanup under the RCRA

Corrective Action Program. By 2005, 95

percent of the 1,712 RCRA facilities will

have “current human exposures under

control,”and 70 percent will have “migration of contaminated groundwater under

control,”as verified and documented by

the states and EPA.

Measuring and recording progress

toward these goals will be a top priority

for EPA and the states over the next several years. EPA plans to measure the

near-term success of the program and

reforms against its goals and annual

cleanup targets (see chart on page 2) in

order to verify that both current human

exposures and migration of contaminated groundwater are under control.

To ensure that the ambitious national

cleanup goals are achieved, the RCRA

Cleanup Reforms will:

❖ Provide new results-oriented

cleanup guidance with clear 

objectives.

❖ Foster enhanced use of program

flexibility and practical approaches

through training, outreach, and new

uses of enforcement tools.

❖ Enhance community involvement,

including greater public access to

information on cleanup progress.

EPA also will provide periodic

updates on the RCRA Cleanup Reforms

and solicit input from stakeholders

through this newsletter,Federal Register

notices, focus group meetings, Internet

postings, and press releases. EPA seeks

continuous feedback from all stakeholders on the progress of these reforms or

the need for additional reforms beyond

those already under way. Based on stakeholder input and ongoing assessments of

the program, EPA will continue to refine

the RCRA Cleanup Reforms, add reforms

as needed, and communicate program

changes including those resulting from

stakeholder input. EPA is also in the

process of preparing a variety of guidance documents for stakeholders (see

box on page 2).

For more information, call the RCRA

Hotline at 800 424-9346 and request the

To achieve faster and more effective cleanups at sites that treat, store, or dispose of hazardous waste, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is

reforming the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) Corrective

Action Program. EPA has been coordinating with the states to implement these

reforms that are designed to ensure protection of human health and the environment by maximizing flexibility in RCRA and trying new approaches.

On July 8, 1999, Mr.Timothy Fields Jr.,Assistant Administrator for the Office

of Solid Waste and Emergency Response (OSWER), kicked off the RCRA

Cleanup Reforms Initiative at briefings for the trade press and stakeholders.At

the stakeholder briefing, representatives from industry, small business, environmental and community groups, states, the U.S. Department of Energy, local governments, and trade associations gathered to discuss the new direction of the

RCRA Corrective Action Program. Mr. Fields indicated that corrective action is

his highest priority for the RCRA program.

Issues were raised regarding public participation and defining the parameters of flexibility. In addressing these issues, Mr. Fields referred to the May 1, 1996

Advanced Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (ANPR) as the primary guidance

for the Corrective Action Program. Mr. Fields also highlighted the RCRA

Cleanup Baseline, stating that it should not be construed as a list of “bad

actors,”and that the Agency would provide opportunities for outside organizations to give input on upcoming guidance documents.

This issue features a range of exciting new RCRA

Corrective Action activities:

Cleanup Reforms—a flexible new approach to

meet national cleanup goals.

Brownfields Prevention Initiative—an Agencywide

effort to address RCRA issues at brownfield sites.

Winners of the 1999 RCRA Corrective Action

Awards—award winning projects from around the

country.

1999 National Meeting—highlights from this

year’s meeting.

New Workshop—a corrective action workshop on

results-based project management.

What’s Inside

United States 

Environmental Protection 

Agency

EPA530-N-99-006

November 1999

www.epa.gov/osw/cleanup.htm

1EPA

Office of Site 

Remediation

Enforcement (2271A)

RCRA CORRECTIVEACTION NEWS

A Record of Success

Continued on page 2

Office of 

Solid Waste 

(5306W)

EPA Announces RCRA Cleanup Reforms: 

Faster, Focused, More Flexible Approaches to Cleanups

What Are the RCRA Cleanup Reforms?
RCRA Cleanup Reform fact sheet

(Document Number EPA530-F-99-018).The

document can also be found on the

Corrective Action home page at

<www.epa.gov/osw/cleanup.htm>.

2

0

20

40

60

80

100

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

100

1998

1999

2000

2001

2002

2003

2004

2005

EPA’s Brownfields Initiative is an organized commitment to help communities

revitalize brownfields properties, both

environmentally and economically; mitigate potential health risks; and restore

economic vitality.To date, the initiative has

focused primarily on the Superfund program, leading to the general perception in

both the regulated and regulatory communities that brownfields are only problems for Superfund.The Agency recognizes, however, that brownfields often

include multimedia issues spanning the

jurisdiction of several programs, including

RCRA.As a result, the Agency is undertaking efforts to involve programs other than

Superfund in its Brownfields Initiative.

Workgroup Formed

EPA created the RCRA Brownfields

Prevention Initiative work group to

involve the RCRA program in the

Brownfields Initiative and to address the

variety of RCRA issues that exist at many

brownfield sites.The work group is a collaborative effort by a number of EPA

Headquarters and Regional offices and

almost all 10 regions.The work group

aims to promote the use of flexibility to

address brownfields within the existing

framework of the RCRA program.The

group also aims to remove the perception

of RCRA barriers to brownfields redevelopment while continuing to ensure protection of human health and the environment.

To accomplish its goals, the work

group will identify and address perceived

impediments posed by RCRA to the beneficial reuse or redevelopment of abandoned or underutilized properties.The

ultimate goal of the initiative is to return

as many properties to productive reuse as

possible and to prevent properties from

becoming brownfields in the first place.

RCRA and Brownfields

Brownfields may be subject to RCRA

jurisdiction under a variety of circumstances. Depending on the type of waste

management activities that occurred at

these properties, there may or may not be

an associated RCRA permit or order.

Some brownfield properties, for example,

may already be permitted RCRA facilities.

By the same token, however, there are

many hazardous waste generators, both

active and inactive, not required to have

RCRA permits but that are associated with

brownfields redevelopment areas.The

types of activities that generate hazardous

waste that may end up at brownfields

sites range from small-scale operations,

such as metal finishing, auto body and

repair, and dry-cleaning, to large-scale

chemical manufacturing, foundries, locomotive and railcar maintenance, and

steelworks.

Under a RCRA permit, the facility and

all contiguous properties identified within

it remain subject to the permit conditions—including facility-wide corrective

RCRA Enters Brownfields Arena as Major Player

Environmental Indicator (EI) Goals

Fiscal Year *Note: 1999 figures are through August 1999.

Percentage

■ Groundwater EIs achieved

■ Human Exposure EIs achieved

■ Groundwater EI projection

■ Human Exposure EI projection

Continued from page 1

EIs are results-based measures of corrective action success that summarize

current conditions at a site and are the primary measures of EPA’s cleanup

goals.

What Are Brownfields? EPA

defines brownfields as abandoned,

idled, or underused industrial and

commercial facilities where expansion or redevelopment is complicated by real or perceived environmental contamination. Brownfields

can be located in urban, suburban, and rural areas. EPA believes

that environmental cleanup of

these sites is a building block

toward economic revitalization.

Upcoming EPA Guidance

Date Available

Summer 2000

Summer 2000

Summer 2000

Item

Results-Based

Approaches for RCRA

Corrective Action 

Corrective Action

Completion

Guidance

The Role of

Groundwater Use in

RCRA Corrective

Action
action until EPA (or the authorized state)

terminates the permit.The permits are

transferable to all subsequent owners as

well. Not surprisingly, many prospective

redevelopers of brownfield properties

are wary of acquiring title to a property

subject to a RCRA permit. Even sites not

required to obtain a RCRA permit may

potentially come under the jurisdiction

of RCRA during subsequent cleanup

activities. Sometimes, just the uncertainty

of possible RCRA regulation when managing contaminated media or other

remediation waste is sufficient to impede

a brownfields redevelopment project.

EPA Headquarters recently undertook a number of regulatory initiatives

intended to facilitate site remediation.

Several aspects of these new rules also

address the goals of the RCRA Brownfields Prevention Initiative and have

helped remove some of the obstacles to

redevelopment.

In the final Hazardous Remediation

Waste Management Requirements

(HWIR-Media) Rule (63 Federal Register

65874, November 30, 1998), EPA codified

a permitting provision that eliminates the

requirement for facility-wide corrective

action at cleanup-only sites that are not

otherwise subject to RCRA permit

requirements.This release from facilitywide corrective action obligations holds

even when waste management activities

take place on site during the cleanup. In

its Post-Closure Rule (63 Federal Register

56710, October 22, 1998), EPA has

allowed closing Treatment, Storage, or

Disposal Facilities to be cleaned up

under approved or alternative mechanisms without having to obtain a postclosure permit. In the LDR Phase IV regulation (63 Federal Register 28605, May 26,

1998), EPA has promulgated new treatment standards for contaminated soil

and given facilities the ability to request

a variance from LDRs based on riskbased cleanup levels.

The preambles of these Federal

Register notices, with the exception of

LDR Phase IV, include language that discusses the relationship of the Brownfields Initiative to the RCRA program. EPA

intends to continue building on existing

flexibility within the current RCRA regulations.

Training and Pilot Projects

Nonregulatory efforts planned by the

Agency include a possible informal “lessons learned”RCRA Brownfields training

program for the EPA Regions. Such training would help the implementors take

advantage of the

inherent flexibility

built into the RCRA

Corrective Action

Program.This flexibility will improve

responsiveness to

developers and communities and make

site cleanups more

timely and efficient.

In conjunction with

this training, the

RCRA Brownfields

Prevention Initiative

work group will continue to function as

an Agencywide clearinghouse for problem

solving on RCRA

brownfield issues

and to celebrate and

advertise success stories within EPA and

the states.

The work group

plans to develop criteria for the selection

of several RCRA

Brownfield Pilot

Projects.These pilots

will focus exclusively

on addressing RCRA

issues that allow for

brownfields redevelopment at RCRA

facilities within the

next year and

advancing application of brownfields

solutions to the RCRA arena. Specifically,

RCRA Brownfield Pilot Projects may

serve to evaluate streamlined, tailored, or

innovative cleanup and redevelopment

strategies to identify and remove redevelopment barriers.The pilots

will increase national visibility of specific sites and allow

regions and states to draw on

relevant experience from outside their regional and state

boundaries.

The RCRA Brownfields

Prevention Initiative work

group, which will include

state representatives, will continue to conduct stakeholder

outreach during the next fiscal year to promote the flexibility within RCRA to address

brownfields. By continuing to

stress that flexibility, the work

group anticipates meeting its

goal of returning as many properties as

possible to productive reuse.

For more information about the

RCRA Brownfields Prevention Initiative

work group contact the work group

chair, Marjorie Buckholtz, at 202 260-6153.

3

Bethlehem Works—A True RCRA

Brownfield Success

On June 18, 1999, EPA held a ceremony commemorating

progress in the remediation of the Bethlehem Steel Lehigh Plant

in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. This 2,000 acre facility has the

potential to be the largest brownfield redevelopment project in

the country. Progress to date includes a cleanup agreement that

concludes an environmental assessment for the site and ensures

that any contamination from historical industrial activities is

removed and remediated. The Pennsylvania Department of

Environmental Protection (DEP), Bethlehem Steel, and EPA collaborated on this agreement. At the ceremony, Timothy Fields Jr.,

Assistant Administrator of the Office of Solid Waste and

Emergency Response, said, “I’m proud to say that the cleanup

agreement reached by Bethlehem Steel, Pennsylvania DEP, and

EPA is a model for the RCRA program that we’d like to see duplicated across the country.” This collaboration resulted in a swift

agreement, with a minimum of red tape and procedural requirements and a focus on what matters most—cleanup standards

that ensure the full protection of public health and the environment.

EPA officials are enthusiastic about the Bethlehem Steel redevelopment project for a number of reasons. Outstanding site

remediation and redevelopment efforts for the Bethlehem facility

showcase how EPA’s national site cleanup program priorities are

being put to use. These priorities include facilitating the environmental assessment and redevelopment of the nation’s brownfields and reinventing how the cleanup process works for

facilities regulated under the RCRA Corrective Action Program.

Redevelopment of the site, when completed, will cost an

estimated $450 million. The redeveloped area will house the

National Museum of Industrial History, an affiliate of the Smithsonian Institute. Two ice skating rinks, an indoor swimming pool,

a 16-screen movie theater complex, a 3-D large-format theater, a

hotel conference center, a discovery center for science and technology, restaurants, retail stores, and an incubator for high-tech

startup companies will also be situated at the site.

June 18, 1999 ceremony celebrating progress in the cleanup of

Bethlehem Steel’s old Lehigh Plant.
In the spring of 1998,EPA began officially recognizing the outstanding

performance of regional EPA staff

with the National RCRA Corrective

Action Notable Achievement Awards.

The awards are designed to encourage EPA’s commitment to “faster,

focused,and more flexible cleanups.”

Individuals and teams within the

regions that make this commitment a

reality are recognized with a ceremony at EPA’s headquarters.The following summaries describe the outstanding achievements of the 1999 award

recipients.

OUTSTANDING

ENVIRONMENTAL

INDICATOR AWARD

Lael Butler, Region 4

Lael Butler, project manager at Akzo

Nobel Chemicals, Inc., in Alabama and

DuPont in Mississippi, was awarded the

Outstanding Environmental Indicator

Award for filtering through 18 years

worth of work plans, reports, and other

documentation. Her efforts culminated

in the EI determination forms, which

were transmitted to the Alabama

Department of Environmental

Management (ADEM), accepted without

alteration, and finalized by the state.

To prepare the EI determination

forms for the DuPont facility, Lael compiled and culled through more than 20

feet of reports, work plans, Records of

Decision, and other documents contained in three different program offices

in two different states.The EI determination forms serve as a leading example of

how to write and document technically

defensible EI determinations in the

future.

Lael is an outstanding example of

how to coordinate information from multiple sources, use peer review within EPA

and within an authorized state, and work

with an authorized state to achieve the

desired results.

OUTSTANDING

TECHNICAL

INNOVATION AWARD

Carol Ann Witt-Smith, 

Region 5

Carol Ann Witt-Smith was awarded

the Outstanding Technical Innovation

Award for promoting innovative technical approaches in her management of

the Naval Surface Warfare Center

Bioremediation Interim Measure (IM).

Based on the U.S. Department of

Defense’s success with similar technology, Carol selected bioremediation as an

IM cleanup for soil. She coordinated with

a Region 10 Remedial Project Manager

who had used a similar technology to

ensure consistency on the use of bioremediation.The remedy allowed for treatment and disposal on site, reducing the

cost and liability of offsite treatment.

Carol evaluated and approved

increasing process soil loadings from 25

to 30 percent, which decreased the overall treatment period. Reduction of toxicity will meet the 90 to 99 percent reduction requirements for innovative technologies under Superfund.As of

December 1998, approximately 85 percent of the contaminated soil from Mine

Fill A, the first excavation site, had been

removed and screened, and 66 percent

had been treated and was placed back

on the site as soil meeting residential

cleanup standards.

The IM has allowed the Navy to proceed to the remedy phase for soil, saving

time and money on characterization

studies and allowing for quicker risk

reduction at the facility. Carol’s partnership with the Navy has allowed her to

expedite reviews in order to meet Navy

contracting deadlines so that obligated

money would not be lost.

Carol has truly demonstrated her

ability to further innovative and costsaving technologies at RCRA corrective

action facilities. Her outstanding leadership and ability to work with many stakeholders on controversial projects is what

made this project a success.

OUTSTANDING

FRIEND OF THE

STATE AWARD

Ray Saracino, Region 9

Ray Saracino was awarded the

Outstanding Friend of the State Award

for his work with California’s Department

of Toxic Substance Control (DTSC) to

implement and manage the RCRA

Corrective Action Analogous Project.This

project is a joint EPA/state partnership to

evaluate the equivalency of cleanup

work performed at RCRA regulated facilities under the authority and oversight of

non-RCRA state agencies.

As EPA’s project leader for the

Analogous Project, Ray provided outstanding technical and policy support to

the states in Region 9. Ray and his DTSC

counterpart worked diligently to establish guidelines to consistently apply fed4

1999 RCRACorrect

Award winner Carol Ann Witt-Smith from Region 5 is cong

OSWER), Tim Fields (AA for OSWER), and Peter Roberts
eral and state technical and policy directives to cleanup programs that were not

modeled on RCRA requirements.

Throughout the project, Ray worked

to promote the state’s use of the

Corrective Action Program’s two Els. He

and his DTSC counterpart piloted and

then applied the EIs for each of the more

than 130 sites under review.The EI evaluations and determinations resulted in

enough positive verifications that

“human exposures are controlled”and

“groundwater releases are controlled”to

allow the region to meet its corrective

action GPRA goals for fiscal year (FY)

1998 and FY 1999.

OUTSTANDING TEAM

OF THE YEAR AWARD

Safety Kleen, Chester 

Remediation Team

Sherman Latchaw, Joel Hennessy,

Samuel Rotenberg, Dianne Sims,

Region 3

The Safety Kleen, Chester

Remediation Team was awarded the

Outstanding Team of the Year Award for

developing a remedy strategy that expedited action, innovation, consensus, and

stakeholder involvement at the company’s Chester,Virginia site. Because Safety

Kleen was a high-priority corrective

action facility in its early stages, the team

implemented a practical approach that

focused on protecting the drinking water

of nearby residents.The team developed

a strategy where EPA took samples at offsite residential wells and split samples

with Safety Kleen at onsite facility monitoring wells.

Groundwater sample results indicated there was a health risk at one of the

four residential wells.At the time, however, there was no sampling protocol for

residential wells.The team’s geologist

developed a field sampling protocol that

allowed the U.S.Army Corps of Engineers

(USACE) to take samples from the residential well in a relatively short period of

time.

After meetings with Region 3, the

facility indicated it was amenable to pursuing the team’s recommended course

of action.As a result of a mutual commitment, an additional groundwater well

was installed at the facility within 4

months of receiving final sample results

from USACE.Within 7 months, the

impacted homeowner was drinking from

a public water supply.

In addition, the team’s approach

resulted in reduced costs for facility

work plan development and review.

Moreover, because EPA resolved the technical issues with Safety Kleen, minimal

legal resources were necessary.The team

is to be commended for their efforts to

clean up the site and meet the needs of

citizens in the vicinity.

OUTSTANDING

ADMINISTRATIVE

INNOVATION AWARD

Estena McGhee, 

Region 3

Estena McGhee was awarded the

Outstanding Administrative Innovation

Award for the successful transfer of property owned by the Bayer Corporation to

the citizens of Damascus,Virginia. In

1995, the Bayer Corporation expressed its

desire to expedite cleanup at an old

wood processing plant given its intention

to donate the land to the City of

Damascus. Estena suggested an innovative solution to the problem. Under EPA’s

direction, Bayer agreed to use the IMs

provisions of the 3008(h) corrective

action consent order to expedite

cleanup of polyaromatic hydrocarbons

(PAH) and lead contamination at the

facility.

The use of IMs for the soil excavation

resulted in a remarkable reduction in

time for site cleanup—taking approximately 24 months. In addition, Estena

eliminated the need for a followup corrective action order under RCRA 3008(h)

for remedy implementation. Significant

cost savings were achieved for Bayer as a

result of using soil coloration as a field

screening technique in lieu of extensive

sampling.Also, a Lead Sampling Field

Protocol was developed to ensure that

95 percent of the “upper confined limit”

of lead concentrations in soils remaining

at the facility were less than 400 ppm.At

the completion of the IM, the site met

soil residential cleanup levels allowing

maximum flexibility for redevelopment.

Estena worked extensively with stakeholders in the community. By attending

public meetings and answering citizens’

questions and concerns, Estena gave the

community comfort about the land

transfer. She was recognized by all parties as the driving and leveling force that

produced a win-win situation for EPA,

Bayer, and the community of Damascus.

5

Continued on page 6

ive Action Awards

ated by (from left to right) Cliff Rothenstein (DAA,

Acting Deputy Administrator).
OUTSTANDING

STAKEHOLDER

INVOLVEMENT AWARD

Stephanie Carr, Region 1

Stephanie Carr was awarded the

Outstanding Stakeholder Involvement

Award for her success with the cleanup

of residential and public properties contaminated by two RCRA corrective

action facilities—Sporting Goods

Properties, Inc., in Bridgeport,

Connecticut, and General Electric

Company, in Pittsfield, Massachusetts.

Stephanie played a critical role in overseeing the removal and offsite disposal

of PCB-contaminated fill from 61 residential properties, one park, and two school

yards in Pittsfield and seven residential

properties impacted by lead in

Bridgeport.While much of the work was

a collaborative effort between Stephanie

and the Massachusetts Department of

Environmental Protection staff, Stephanie

served as the primary point of contact

for 14 residential properties in three

neighborhoods throughout the remediation process.

At critical stages throughout the

remediation of these properties,

Stephanie scheduled individual meetings

and maintained close contact with each

of the affected families to discuss the

sample results, plans for remediating the

properties, potential health effects of the

contaminants of concern (primarily

PCBs or lead), and precautions to prevent exposure to the contaminants in

soil prior to initiation of remediation.At

one point, she intervened to help a facility and neighboring family secure a mediator to resolve a sticky situation. Later,

she worked with regional and state staff

to explain the sampling process to

Pittsfield residents wanting to have their

properties sampled.

By encouraging the involvement of

different agencies and companies, she

provided families with access to experts

at the local, state, federal, and corporate

level for questions.As a result of these

efforts, a foundation of trust was established that was pivotal to the success of

the cleanup process.

OUTSTANDING

ADMINISTRATIVE

INNOVATION AWARD

Carl Warren, Region 9

Carl Warren received the Outstanding

Administrative Innovation Award for turning a complex and challenging cleanup

assignment at a Chevron refinery site in

Hawaii into a successful and unprecedented voluntary corrective action

partnership. EPA, Hawaii, and Chevron

reached an agreement that focused on

achieving protective environmental

results and streamlining corrective

action.As a result, Chevron agreed to

upgrade all of its storage tanks by 2005

to prevent future leaks. In addition, the

parties agreed that the corrective action

would include full public involvement in

accordance with procedures under an

order or permit.

Project results include the 

following:

❖ Time savings. The problem went from

diagnosis to remedy implementation

in just 3 years—several years faster

than at comparable sites.

❖ A higher standard of environmental

protection. IMs were immediately

instituted that prevented contamination from entering the Pacific Ocean.

❖ Cost savings.By speeding up the

process and focusing on results,

Chevron estimates it saved between

$7 and $10 million dollars.EPA saved

resources by avoiding legal battles

and streamlining corrective action.

❖ Public support. By being open with

the public,Chevron found that even

its neighbors with property affected

by the contamination from the facility ended up trusting the company.

Because of Carl’s assistance, a major

corporation came to appreciate the benefits of working in partnership with environmental regulators.Word of the partnership’s collaborative efforts has spread

through the regional industry. In fact,

another Hawaii refinery has inquired

about doing a similar voluntary corrective action, setting a positive precedent.

OUTSTANDING

LEADER/MENTOR

AWARD

Maureen Essenthier, Region 3

Maureen Essenthier was awarded the

Outstanding Leader/Mentor Award for

her voluntary mentoring activities with

two new RCRA engineers. Maureen

taught them the advantage of being flexible in order to get the job done. Her

strength is her ability to recognize true

environmental threats without overly

dramatizing them. Maureen is teaching

her protégés, through her own projects,

that real environmental progress comes

from action and not endless study.

Her willingness to share her experiences or to act as a consultant to other

RCRA project managers on corrective

action issues is well known. She has the

patience to help those who ask, and her

help is the best kind—real experience

on successful projects. Maureen is also a

strong believer in public involvement

with her projects. More importantly, she

identifies the people who are most

affected by her projects and makes personal contact with them to make sure

they understand what is happening. She

has a sense of personal ownership and

responsibility to her sites and has passed

this knowledge on to new employees.

These new project managers are

already assuming leadership roles on

new projects.Their poise, knowledge, and

confidence are impressive, comparable

to project managers with much more

experience.Thanks to Maureen, they are

well on their way to becoming successful project managers.

6

Continued from page 5
OUTSTANDING

TEAM OF THE YEAR

AWARD

RCRA Amoco-Casper Corrective

Action Team

Felix Flechas, Randal Breeden, and

Charles Figur, Region 8

The RCRA Amoco-Casper Corrective

Action Team was awarded the

Outstanding Team of the Year Award for

successfully navigating a singularly complex technical, legal, and political situation that resulted in Amoco agreeing to

conduct a corrective action at its Casper,

Wyoming site.

The team tried since 1991 to negotiate a corrective action order with

Amoco; however, no agreement could be

reached on the degree of remedial investigation or remedial action.

A team member was subpoenaed to

appear at an injunction hearing against

Amoco.The team used this as an opportunity to explain to the court the evolving approach of the Agency with regard

to the achievement of EIs.The court

found this testimony and supporting

information particularly effective and

instructive. Subsequently, the court

entered two orders, including one that

required Amoco to prepare work plans

for thorough and expedited site characterizations.

The team, in an effort to get stakeholders involved, initiated an open

access policy with local television, radio,

and newsprint media.This policy

allowed stakeholders to voice their concerns and find answers.The team, for

example, conducted extensive groundwater modeling and informed the public

about potential flooding issues related to

groundwater mounding. In development

of the Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality and Amoco consent

decree, the team insisted that the collaborative decision-making process be conducted in public meetings and account

for the needs of citizens. Before these

public sessions were allowed to close,

any member of the public had the right

to provide input.

The team has implemented four

EIs—human exposures, groundwater

releases, sources, and ecological risk.

Moreover, it was the team’s insistence on

the use of evolving environmental science—saturated zone NAPL preferential

flow-path science—to achieve the

groundwater releases EI that resulted in

the enormously improved design and an

improved approach for meeting this indicator.

A focus on and implementation of

EIs gave the corrective action process

momentum and direction, resulting in

more comprehensive data interpretation

and holistic remedies.

7

This year’s National RCRA Program meeting was held in Washington, DC, on

January 12 through 15 at the historic Willard Hotel.The meeting drew more

than 600 attendees and provided more than 70 breakout sessions to help

attendees deal with the new complexities facing the RCRA Program.

The large attendance was due to the ever growing importance of

RCRA among the regions, states, and tribes.

Plenary sessions at the International Trade Center were the

highlight of the meeting. During the sessions, Peter Robertson,

Acting Deputy Administrator, and Timothy Fields,Assistant

Administrator of OSWER, discussed the future of EPA and RCRA.

Mr. Fields emphasized the focus being put on the Corrective

Action Program and stressed that RCRA Corrective Action is

being made a top priority for OSWER.The plenary sessions also

allowed some RCRA stakeholder groups (e.g., tribes, environmental

groups, industry, states) to express their views on the current and

future issues facing the program.The meeting spurred many discussions and new ideas concerning the RCRA Program, and laid the

groundwork for continued success with RCRA.

The next national meeting will be held in August 2000, in Washington, DC.

With an increasing focus on the RCRA Program by EPA, all participants can expect great

things at the next meeting. More information will be made available in upcoming newsletters.

1999 National RCRA Program Meeting: Partnerships for a Cleaner Environment
1EPA

United States 

Environmental Protection Agency

(5306W)

Washington, DC 20460

Official Business

Penalty for Private Use $300

RCRACorrective Action Workshop on Results-Based Project Managementus workshts

EPA recently launched a new 4-day

workshop designed to promote a resultsbased approach for implementing RCRA

Corrective Action.The first 3 days of the

workshop are offered only to EPA and

state regulators. Day four of the workshop,

however, is available to any interested

stakeholder on a first-come, first-served

preregistration basis.

The workshop focuses on results

(rather than a prescriptive process); effective communication; risk, as well as uncertainty management; and administrative

flexibility. The workshop is a major component of a broader reform initiative

announced by EPA on July 8, 1999, aimed

at producing a “faster, focused, and more

flexible”Corrective Action Program (see

article on page 1).The workshop allows

participants to accomplish the following:

❖ Learn about interim and final

“results”for corrective action facilities

and how to apply a “results-based

approach”to improve the pace of corrective action.

❖ Learn to use a Conceptual Site

Model (CSM) to help “visualize”facilities and focus resources on specific

problems.

❖ Learn about risk management and

how to identify and manage uncertainties inherent with environmental

investigation and remediation.

❖ Learn to improve communication

between all stakeholders to foster

cooperation and manage conflicts.

❖ Learn to use the new EI guidance to

evaluate and document whether

migration of contaminated groundwater and current human exposures are

under control.

❖ Learn about new regulations, policies, and guidance to tailor the

requirements for managing remediation wastes and streamline remedy

selection and completion.

❖ Recognize and take advantage of the

“menu”of state and/or federal

approaches capable of fulfilling corrective action requirements.

The tentative schedule for bringing the

workshop to the EPA regions is included

in the box below.The workshop has

already been held in Seattle, Chicago, and

New York. For more information, refer to

<www.epa.gov/osw/cleanup.htm> where

you will find an electronic registration

form, exact dates and locations, and plans

for adapting the workshop to an interactive version on the Internet.

2Printed on paper that contains at least 30 percent postconsumer fiber.

“...excellent, high-energy delivery; good interaction; references are great; useful for my day-to-day activities; I would recommend it”

—Previous Workshop Participants

*exact dates to be determined

Upcoming Workshops

Atlanta

Denver

Dallas

Kansas City

Boston 

Jan. 11 to 14, 2000

Feb. 8 to 11, 2000

April 2000*

June 13 to 16, 2000

July 2000*