There are many types of controls, each of which can be designed to meet specific site needs.
Institutional controls can also provide flexibility by lengthening the time frame for site cleanup.
If, as seems likely, Congress amends the Superfund program to take future land use into account in selecting the type and level of cleanup at a site, institutional controls will become an important and integral element of many remedial actions. This report anticipates amendments to Superfund and describes in concrete terms how institutional controls have been used at Superfund sites and in similar situations in the past. Experience with past use of institutional controls provides Superfund policymakers with valuable examples and knowledge about how best to use these tools to protect humans for as long as risk remains at a site. Definitions and Methodology As used in this report, institutional controls are legal or institutional mechanisms employed at industrial or similar sites to ensure that such sites will continue to be used for industrial or other purposes that are compatible with the cleanup, while triggering a review of the need for further cleanup if the user proposes to put the site to residential use or to another use for which the residual contamination might present unacceptable risks. The report, Institutional Controls in Use, highlights the various ways in which institutional controls can be used in the context of Superfund site cleanups to protect human and environmental health and safety.