A typical on-site investigation involves sampling, surveying, monitoring, reconnaissance, and other field activities. Ranking - A score of 28.5 or greater on the EPA Hazard Ranking System is required to designate the site on the National Priority List Site for funding by the EPA Superfund. Ranking of a site occurs after each site inspection. If a site does not make the EPA minimum point cut-off for the list, the state must do something in terms of cleanup. Direct contact by a population and potential for fire and explosions are used as determining factors in the desirability of an emergency removal action.
Suggestions are made to clean up the site and the cost of further action is assessed.
Expanded Site Inspection - The additional investigation of concerns and questions about the site is completed here. It serves as a reinforcement for step 6. State and federal governments must agree on cleanup procedure and on a schedule for the cleanup. Remediation Services, a division the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality's Office of Environmental Assessment, has the task of administering the state hazardous waste cleanup fund and projects funded through the U.S. EPA's Superfund program. To that end the Remediation Services Division ranks potentially hazardous waste sites to be included on the National Priority List maintained by the EPA for cleanup action.