CALIFORNIA PLAN TO RENEW CLEANUP PROGRAM MIRED IN CONFUSION

With the state's Superfund law set to expire Dec. 31, California state officials are scrambling to revise the state's Health & Safety Code so that the remaining authority can be used to conduct cleanups. State authorities are planning on transferring cleanup authority from Chapter 6.8 to Chapter 6.5 of the Health & Safety Code (HSC). But according to an internal document compiled by the Department of Toxic Substances Control (DTSC), the department's plan is fraught with complications and unanswered questions...

DISTRICT COURT DENIES GE INFORMATION REQUEST IN HOUSATONIC CASE

In a case related to the cleanup of the Housatonic River, a Massachusetts District Court has ruled in favor of EPA on a procedural question, denying the request of the General Electric Corporation (GE) under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) for documents related to water contamination in western Massachusetts. Sediment in the Housatonic is contaminated with large quantities of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs). EPA began an investigation to determine whether to list the river on the NPL. As the primary...

U.S. PETITIONS 9th CIRCUIT TO HEAR COEUR D'ALENE NRD APPEAL

Justice Department lawyers this month began their effort to have a federal appeals court overturn a district court ruling that had killed their natural resource damage (NRD) claim against four mining companies in the Coeur d'Alene basin, ID. In an Oct. 16 petition to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, Department of Justice lawyers argued that the district court erred in its interpretation of EPA's authority to define the boundaries of a Superfund "facility." At issue in...

IG FINDS MILITARY LEFT SOME CONTAMINATION NEAR NATIVE ALASKAN LAND

The Pentagon's inspector general (IG) has found that the Air Force and the Navy did not completely clean up northern Alaskan facilities located near native lands. The IG's report, however, found no evidence to substantiate numerous other claims by native Alaskans that former military bases in the area contained nuclear waste or caused higher cancer rates within the community. The Air Force and Navy plan to investigate and clean up the sites identified by the IG, the Sept. 28 report...

EPA DELAYS KEY MASSACHUSETTS CLEANUP DECISION TO PUSH NRD TALKS

EPA is withholding a final decision on a cleanup plan for one of the Air Force's most expensive cleanups, in an attempt to push forward negotiations over natural resource damages (NRD) at the base. Regulators, trustees and the military are wrestling with potential natural resource damages in the cleanup of Massachusetts Military Reservation (MMR), one of the first bases in which NRD issues have surfaced. EPA officials charge that the Air Force has not followed through on commitments to conduct...

GOODMAN VOWS TO CONSIDER REGULATORS' VIEWS ON INSTITUTIONAL CONTROLS

DOD's environment chief has told Western state and federal regulators that she is considering their suggestion to put installation commanders on notice of their responsibility to implement and enforce institutional controls used in cleanups. The regulators have sought such a directive from DOD, citing the critical need to have installations monitor and enforce institutional controls at a time when the military is increasingly using them in cleanup remedies. Commanding officers should be reminded that if they do not maintain or...

DOE AGREES TO INCLUDE STATES IN SOVEREIGN IMMUNITY STUDY

Department of Energy officials have agreed in principle to include state views in a report to Congress on the effects of waiving the federal government's immunity from Superfund law. Congress has pushed for state involvement to help ensure that the Clinton administration -- particularly the energy and defense departments -- does not skew the report against a sovereign immunity waiver, congressional sources say. Bipartisan staff from the House Commerce Committee called DOE Acting Assistant Secretary for Environmental Management Jim Owendoff...

EPA REGION X DEVELOPING INSTITUTIONAL CONTROLS GUIDANCE FOR BASES

After witnessing two minor breaches of institutional controls at contaminated military sites, EPA officials in Region X are in the midst of creating protocols to ensure maintenance of such controls at military facilities, a Region X source says. The policy will build on guidances developed by EPA Region IV and a multi-agency workgroup in Region IX. Region X hopes to have its guidance out by mid-November, but some military concerns must be worked through first, the source says. A military...

DOE SET TO BEGIN VITRIFICATION CLEANUP FOR PADUCAH, KY, FACILITY

Energy Department officials are set to begin operating vitrification cleanup technology at its Paducah, KY, facility to process 50,000 barrels of soil contaminated with low-level radioactive and hazardous waste into glass chips, according to the department's cleanup contractor. If tests prove successful, contractor officials say this will be the first use of their technology for the vitrification of radioactive waste. The effort may be significant because DOE officials have touted vitrification as a safe and stable way to store nuclear...

ARMY CORPS PURSUES PLAN TO DREDGE BIG SUNFLOWER RIVER

Sierra Club officials in Mississippi are planning to sue the Army Corps of Engineers in federal district court in Mississippi over the agency's plans to dredge contaminated sediments from the Big Sunflower River. Activists are also pursuing an appeal in state court of the permit issued to the Corps by the state Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ). EPA officials also objected to the dredge plan, recommending a non-structural approach during the National Environment Protection Act review process. Environmentalists say they...

EPA SEEKS TO SELECT BROWNFIELDS SITES FOR ENVIRONMENTAL EQUITY STUDY

EPA officials are currently working to select as many as five sites from the agency's 226 brownfields pilot sites to examine the potential impacts of environmental justice complaints on redevelopment projects. At press time, the agency had already selected a group of 20 possible sites for examination in the study, and sources say EPA waste chief Tim Fields will soon make the final cut of up to five sites. The preliminary list of 20 brownfields sites will also be used...

EPA EYEING PLAN TO BROADEN DEFINITION OF ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE

EPA headquarters and regional officials are eyeing a plan to broaden the definition of environmental justice to capture more populations that could be harmed by certain practices and to include additional actions which could be considered discriminatory, sources familiar with the effort say. One source says the proposal was spurred by the concerns of regional environmental equity officials, who argue that the agency's current definition is too limited and does not address critical areas where state actions may prove discriminatory...

Text: Excerpts of New Region VI Environmental Justice Policy

Draft Environmental Justice Implementation Strategy Multimedia Planning and Permitting Division, 6PD Objectives: 1] To ensure that delegated and non-delegated and non-delegated Federal environmental programs are implemented in a consistent and appropriate manner, without regard to race, color, creed, economic status, etc. 2] To ensure that neither individuals or groups of individuals are exposed to unacceptable levels concentrations/mixtures/combinations of environmental pollutants. RCRA: 1] will evaluate data bases (RCRIS, BRS, TRI, GIS, etc) to ascertain Program implementation status in the Region, between...

REGION VI DRAFTS TARGETED ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE ENFORCEMENT POLICY

EPA Region VI is drafting a new environmental equity policy that will be used to target hazardous waste cleanup enforcement and compliance activities in potential environmental justice areas, according to a draft of the guidance. Excerpts of the policy are reprinted below. Sources in Region VI refused to comment on the effort, but a source familiar with the issue says regional officials began working on the policy in an effort to ensure that low-income and minority communities are not unfairly...

Text: Superfunds Listing Supported By States

MOST STATES SUPPORT EPA EFFORTS TO LIST SITES ON SUPERFUND LIST

EPA officials say that Wisconsin Gov. Tommy Thompson's objection to the agency's effort to propose the site for listing on the National Priorities List (NPL) is an aberration, and should not be considered the rule. Recently-compiled EPA statistics show state support for almost 80 percent of the proposed or final NPL listings, since 1995. In that year, the newly-elected Republican majority in Congress barred EPA from using its funds to list sites on the NPL unless they won consent from...

EPA REGION X DEVELOPING INSTITUTIONAL CONTROLS GUIDE FOR MILITARY BASES

After witnessing two minor breaches of institutional controls at contaminated military sites, EPA officials in Region X are in the midst of creating protocols to ensure maintenance of such controls at military facilities, a Region X source says. The policy will build on guidances developed by EPA Region IV and a multi-agency workgroup in Region IX. Region X hopes to have its guidance out by mid-November, but some military concerns must be worked through first, the source says. A military...

UNDER EPA PRESSURE, DOD ORDERS WITHDRAWAL OF ARMY LEAD GUIDANCE

The Department of Defense (DOD) last week ordered the Army to withdraw a controversial guidance on cleanup of lead-based paint in soil, following EPA's rejection of the Army guidance and an agreement that EPA and DOD will hammer out a joint guidance. EPA had rejected the Army guidance because of the lead clean-up levels referenced by the Army in their guide, as well as disagreements over legal authority. Army officials confirmed that they received a written request from DOD Oct...

GAO REPORT RECOMMENDS CHANGES TO DOD'S CLEANUP SITE EVALUATION PROCESS

In a recent report on the Defense Department's relative risk site evaluation process, the General Accounting Office (GAO) says that the process works as intended to help the military prioritize cleanups. But GAO recommends that the Pentagon modify two of its site classification categories to aid in priority setting. DOD, in detailed written comments, objected to the recommendation, saying that GAO misunderstands the purpose of relative risk site evaluation and that providing more specific categories would make the program less...

EPA READIES FOR HUGE GAO REPORT THAT COULD SHAPE POLICY, PUBLIC OPINION

EPA officials are preparing for the release of a massive GAO report on the status of toxic waste sites in the U.S. that could include the most detailed information on the risk and clean-up status of non-Superfund sites ever assembled in one place. Agency sources say they may develop potential plans to handle media interest in the issue because GAO will also release on the Internet, along with the report, all of the data assembled on the toxic waste sites...

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