United States
Environmental Protection
Agency
Off ice of
Solid Waste and
Emergency Response
Publication 9200.5-0081
November 1990
oEPA
Superfund Blueprint
?l ISglttly knit set of policies and principles guides Superfund's decision-making and measures its
progress. These are embodied in the National Contingency Plan (NCP), the Hazard Ranking System
(HRS), and the 90-Day Study.
The National Contingency Plan
The NCP is the regulation that implements the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensa-
tion, and Liability Act (CERCLA). Revised in February 1990, the NCP outlines EPA's national
program of response to releases of hazardous substances. The NCP defines the roles and responsibili-
ties of EPA, other Federal agencies, the States, private parties, and communities. It also maps out the
entire cleanup process, from site discovery and evaluation to cleanup, long-term monitoring, and
eventual deletion from the National Priorities List.
Goals
The NCPs goal is to select remedies that protect human health and the environment, that maintain
protection over time, and that minimize untreated waste. EPA believes that treating waste is the
best method for achieving long-term protection. The NCP promotes use of innovative technolo-
gies in order to bolster development of new methods to ensure long-term protection.
Selection of Cleanup Actions
A cornerstone of the NCP is a set of nine ground rules for selecting Superfund cleanup actions.
The four most important are:
• Overall protection of human health and the environment;
• Compliance with other Federal and State environmental laws;
• Long-term effectiveness and permanence; and
• Reduction of waste toxicity, mobility, or volume through treatment.
Potential cleanup actions are also evaluated according to five additional criteria: short-term
effectiveness, feasibility of implementation, cost, State acceptance, and community acceptance.
Public Participation
Congress expanded the role of communities in the Superfund Amendments and Reauthorization Act
(SARA) of 1986. Consistent with this, the NCP requires EPA to consult with the public throughout
cleanup. EPA must interview community groups at the start of a cleanup study to identify their
concerns and must prepare a Community Relations Plan that addresses those concerns. The public
must have ample opportunity to comment on all proposed remedies, and EPA must consider those
comments in selecting the final remedy.
Enforcement
CERCLA holds potentially responsible parties legally and financially responsible for cleanup. The
NCP spells out how EPA will use the powerful authorities CERCLA gives the Agency and the
Department of Justice to compel private parties and Federal facilities to meet their cleanup obliga-
tions.
State Participation
States have a major role in all cleanup actions. Under the NCP, qualified States may lead cleanups
under a cost-sharing agreement with EPA. Even when States support rather than lead the cleanup,
they have a crucial role in identifying cleanup standards and reviewing proposed remedies.
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Hazard Ranking System
CERCLA directs the establishment of a National Priorities List (NPL) of sites eligible for Federal
funding of long-term cleanup. EPA developed the Hazard Ranking System to select sites for the NPL.
The HRS is a method for:
• Identifying the risks at each site,
• Assigning numerical scores to those risks, and
• Comparing the relative severity of risks among sites.
Sites that score at least 28.50, on a 100-point scale, are eligible for the NPL.
The HRS was revised in November 1990 to improve scoring accuracy.
90-Day Study
Responding to public criticism of the slow pace of cleanup, EPA Administrator William K. Reilly
initiated a 90-Day Study of Superfund in mid-1989. The study formulated a strategy which was
incorporated into the NCP. This strategy has eight major elements. Four elements constitute
Superfund's environmental goals:
• Make polluters pay by stressing enforcement first;
• Make sites safer by addressing acute threats;
• Make sites cleaner by cleaning up the worst threats at the worst sites first; and
• Develop and use innovative technologies for more effective permanent cleanup.
The remaining four elements comprise EPA's approach to achieving these goals: increase efficiency
within the program; expand public participation; increase cooperation with States and other groups;
and monitor and maintain sites to ensure they remain safe after cleanup.
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