In 1980, the Congress passed the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA), commonly known as Superfund, to clean up highly contaminated hazardous waste sites. The act gave EPA the authority to clean up contaminated sites or to compel the parties responsible for the contamination to perform or pay for the cleanups. As of November 6, 1996, there were 1,205 sites on the NPL: 1,054 nonfederal and 151 federal. Cleanup actions fall into two broad categories: removal actions and remedial actions. Removal actions are usually short-term actions designed to stabilize or clean up a hazardous waste site that poses an immediate threat to human health or the environment. Remedial actions are generally longer-term and usually costlier actions aimed at achieving a permanent remedy. To promote timely cleanups, the Superfund Amendments and Reauthorization Act (SARA) of 1986 set numerical cleanup goals for all NPL sites. SARA provided that, for facilities discovered after the act was passed, a facility shall be evaluated for placement on the NPL within 4 years of the site’s discovery if EPA determines on the basis of a site inspection or preliminary assessment that such an evaluation is warranted. For certain contaminated federal sites identified as of October 17, 1986 (the date of SARA’s enactment), the act required EPA to ensure the performance of a preliminary assessment of each such facility within 18 months (1.5 years) after October 17, 1986. In addition, the act required EPA to ensure the evaluation and placement of such sites on the NPL, if appropriate, within 30 months (2.5 years) after October 17, 1986. In 1992, EPA implemented the Superfund Accelerated Cleanup Model. This model introduced several initiatives designed to accomplish Superfund cleanups in less time and at less cost. The initiatives included (1) integrated site assessments—efforts to reduce redundancies in data collection, (2) non-time-critical removals—efforts to reduce risks sooner by accelerating some cleanup actions, and (3) presumptive remedies—efforts to reduce the costs and time to study various cleanup alternatives by identifying in advance the most effective cleanup remedy for a given situation. We reported last year that EPA’s regions were not effectively using one of the initiatives—the authority to use non-time-critical removals to save time and money. We found that although these removals show promise for expediting Superfund cleanups, budgetary and legal issues have constrained their wider use. EPA site managers estimate that using non-time-critical removals instead of the full remedial process can, on average, cut the time for similar cleanup actions by about 2 years and reduce the costs by about half a million dollars. Compared to the full remedial process, the removal process considerably shortens the evaluation (study and design) steps but may conduct similar cleanup actions. EPA, other federal agencies, and state governments all play roles in the Superfund process. EPA administers the program, evaluates nonfederal sites for placement on the NPL, oversees cleanups performed by the parties responsible for contaminating sites, and performs cleanups itself when these parties cannot be found. Federal agencies are responsible, under EPA’s supervision, for evaluating and cleaning up their own properties. States may enter into contracts or cooperative agreements with EPA to carry out certain Superfund actions, including site evaluation and cleanup oversight. For this report, we asked EPA to provide us with data on the length of time taken by EPA, authorized states, and federal agencies to evaluate sites for possible placement on the NPL, to complete cleanups of listed sites, and to accomplish the steps leading to listing and cleanup. The source of this information was EPA’s Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Information System (CERCLIS), which is the official repository of Superfund data. For more detailed information on the time taken to complete steps in the evaluation and cleanup phases of the Superfund process, see appendixes I and II, respectively. Appendix III presents the numbers of observations, by year, included in the average time for each processing step (e.g., date of placement on the NPL) depicted in the report’s figures. We used a “date of event” analysis (e.g., date of a site’s placement on the NPL, date of completing a cleanup) in presenting data on completion times because of its usefulness in showing the productivity and management of Superfund resources over time. (See app. IV.) This analysis considers the actual number of listings, cleanups completed, or intermediate steps completed in a given year regardless of when the sites were discovered or placed on the NPL. Our approach is consistent with a method used by EPA in its management reports to measure the program’s accomplishments. This “date of event” analysis contrasts with a “date of submission” analysis, which would track processing times by the year sites were discovered or listed. Both methods are accepted forms of analysis. The date of submission method can be useful for measuring the effects of policy changes. We did not use this method in our analysis because the changes EPA made to accelerate the Superfund process are too recent for their effects to be reflected in the available data. We also attempted to measure trends in the time taken to complete listings and cleanups, using SARA’s goals and EPA’s own standards as benchmarks. Because these standards set 4- and 5-year completion goals, our analysis was limited to sites discovered or listed not later than 1991. Because EPA’s initiatives to expedite cleanups were introduced after this time, their effect on achieving the standards cannot yet be determined using this approach. We are, however, currently reviewing the implementation and possible effects of these initiatives. The length of time between discovering a site and placing it on the NPL has increased significantly over the life of the Superfund program. (See fig. 1.) According to EPA, this increase is due largely to the backlog of sites referred to the agency for evaluation, additional processing requirements, and a reduction in the number of sites added annually to Superfund. No nonfederal sites were listed on the NPL in fiscal years 1988 and 1992. Data for fiscal year 1996 exclude three nonfederal sites that were added to the NPL without undergoing the usual evaluation because they posed imminent public health risks. No federal sites were listed on the NPL in fiscal years 1986, 1988, 1991-92, and 1996. Figure 1 shows a generally increasing trend in the time taken to place sites on the NPL following their discovery. In 1996, EPA took an average of 9.4 years to list nonfederal sites and, in 1995, 8.3 years to list federal sites. SARA’s goal was for EPA to evaluate nonfederal sites for listing, when warranted, within 4 years of their discovery. For federal sites, SARA’s goal was for EPA to evaluate certain sites identified as of October 17, 1986, within 2.5 years of that date. EPA established a policy goal to complete preliminary assessments and site inspections of federal sites discovered after October 17, 1986, within 1.5 years of their discovery. EPA made decisions about listing nonfederal sites within 4 years of their discovery for 43 percent of the 8,931 sites discovered from fiscal year 1987 through fiscal year 1991. However, as shown in figure 2, the percentage of sites for which decisions were made within 4 years of discovery decreased in each succeeding year, from 51 percent in fiscal year 1987 to 36 percent in fiscal year 1991. According to EPA officials, decisions not to list sites are now being made faster than during the period from 1987 through 1991, when many listing decisions were delayed pending a revision of the standards for evaluating hazardous waste sites. According to EPA, most sites are now excluded from further consideration for Superfund after an early assessment of their conditions. EPA has made some progress in reducing the time between discovering a site and completing certain steps required to place it on the NPL. Specifically, the average time from discovery to the completion of initial studies at nonfederal sites has declined from its peak in the late 1980s. (See app. I.) In addition, in 1996, the average time taken to list nonfederal sites fell to 9.4 years from 11.4 years in 1995. However, the time between discovery and listing for the seven sites placed on the NPL in the first quarter of fiscal year 1997 moved up again to an average of 11.2 years. These sites were discovered as recently as 1993 and as long ago as 1979. Although average processing times have lengthened, EPA can move quickly to list some sites if circumstances warrant. For example, in 1996, it listed three sites within about 9 to 12 months of their discovery, when the Public Health Service’s Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry issued a public health advisory concerning the sites. EPA used an expedited process that bypassed its normal evaluation process to list these sites. In addition, EPA may undertake removal actions at sites to deal with imminent threats regardless of whether the sites are listed. However, listing is necessary before the full range of problems presented by many sites can be addressed under Superfund. EPA officials gave a number of reasons why assessment times have grown. They said that the Superfund program started with a backlog of sites awaiting evaluation. They also cited changes in the program, such as revised evaluation standards requiring the reevaluation of sites and the need to seek a state’s concurrence for listing a site. In addition, the number of sites placed on the NPL in recent years has declined. The officials also said that the agency’s current priority is to finish cleaning up the sites that have already been listed. Accordingly, EPA reallocated its budget between 1994 and 1996, cutting the funds for assessing sites by some 50 percent.