United States Environmental Protection Agency Office of Solid Waste and Emergency Response Publication 9203.1-021 August 1992 Superfund Accelerated Cleanup Bulletin Presumptive Remedies Superfund Revitalization Activity Office of Emergency and Remedial Response Hazardous Site Control Division OS-220W Intermittent Bulletin Volume 1 Number 3 Since Superfund's inception in 1980, the removal and remedial programs have found that certain site categories have similar characteristics, such as types of contaminants present, past industrial use, or environmental media affected. Based on a wealth of information acquired from evaluating and cleaning up these sites, Superfund is undertaking an initiative to develop presumptive remedies that are appropriate for specific site types and/or contaminants. This initiative is part of a larger program, known as the Superfund Accelerated Cleanup Model (SACM), which is designed to speed all aspects of the Superfund clean-up process. The objective of the presumptive remedies initiative is to use clean-up techniques shown to be effective in the past at similar sites in the future. The use of presumptive remedies will streamline removal actions, site studies, ar.d clean-up actions, thereby improving consistency, reducing costs, and increasing the speed with which hazardous waste sites are remediated. This bulletin outlines the Superfund efforts underway for developing presumptive remedies for various types of sites. Presumptive Remedy Selection Initiatives Superfund has selected four site type catego- ries to test the presumptive remedy se- lection approach. Each category was selected based on the number of potential sites, the amount of his- torical information available, the type of contaminants, and the technologies selected in the past for remediating these types of sites. Several approaches are being evaluated for determining the most effective method(s) for implementing the presumptive remedy selection pro- cess. The approaches consist of Regional training on the implementation of a streamlining guidance document for landfill sites, developing new guidance or policy to streamline remedy selection at other categories of sites, and establishing expert teams to help evaluate sites and make decisions on appropriate clean-up methods. Municipal Landfill, Wood Treater, Solvent, and Con- taminated Ground Water Sites will be the first types of sites where the presumptive remedy approach is tried at a national level. Additional pilot efforts are being tried at the Regional level on PCB, Coal Gasification, and Grain Storage sites. It is anticipated that the number of site types that lend themselves to the presumptive rem- edy selection process will be expanded as more infor- Faster... C/eaner...Safer mation becomes available and more experience is gained on the approach. The following is a brief description of the efforts to be carried out under each site-type category. Municipal Landfill Sites The goal of this initiative is to assist the Regions in imple- menting the recently developed guidance on Conducting Reme- dial Investigations/Feasibility Studies for CERCLA Municipal Landfill Sites. The focus of the guidance is to streamline site characterization, baseline risk assessment, and selection of remedial alternatives for Municipal Landfill (MLF) sites. A team of experienced Remedial Project Managers (RPMs) and experts on landfill construction have worked with RPMs for municipal landfill sites in Regions 1, 4, and 5. The team provided assistance in scoping a stream- lined Remedial Investigation and Feasibility Study (RI / FS). These RPMs will become a resource for their Re- gions, and will assist other RPMs in streamlining their MLF sites. Two additional pilots are planned for this summer. The purpose of these pilots is to bring the remaining Regions into the pilot project, so that every Region will have at. Printed on Recycled Paper ------- least one individual who is knowledgeable about the streamlining methods identified in the manual. It is in- tended that RPMs who participate in the pilot projects will become members of an "Expert Team" for Municipal Land- fills and will be available to assist other RPMs in designing streamlined processes for their sites. (Contact: Andrea McLaughlin 703-603-8793) Wood Treatment Sites The goal of this initiative is to speed up response actions at wood treatment sites. This acceleration will be accom- plished by narrowing the list of potential technologies from which to choose a remedy, early in the remedy selection process. Program experience, guidance and an expert team will be used in concert to identify technologies that may be applied to specific situations. This approach will provide the flexibility required to accommodate site- specific characteristics, while shortening the time required to identify, select, and implement a remedy. This initiative includes establishment of an expert team; development of a presumptive remedy selection process, using a selection outline and matrix; development of a series of fact sheets; and performance of pilot studies and ad hoc site support to implement the presumptive remedy initiative at wood treatment sites. The expert team consists of representatives from the Environmental Response Team (ERT), the Office of Research and Development (ORD), On-Scene Coordinators (OSCs) and Remedial Project Man- agers (RPMs) with extensive experience at wood treatment sites. The presumptive remedy selection process will fol- low a generic outline of site activities and rely upon a technology selection matrix to determine appropriate rem- edies according to technical criteria. The fact sheets will be used to report on the progress of this initiative and to distribute information on the presumptive remedy pro- cess. Pilot studies and ad hoc site support will be used to implement the initiative in the field as it is refined by the expert team. (Contact: David Ouderkirk 202-260-5614) Solvent Sites The goal of this initiative is to expedite response actions at sites contaminated with solvents by focusing on a limited number of effective technologies early in the remedial process. This initiative will develop guidance on standard- izing remedy selection and will issue a series of fact sheets on technology selection and site characterization strate- gies, and clean-up criteria for solvent-contaminated soils and sediments. As with the other site types, this initiative will include the establishment of an expert team of representatives from ERT, ORD, and experienced OSCs and RPMs to help evaluate sites and streamline the remedy selection process. The initiative will involve conducting pilot studies to test implementation of the presumptive remedy approaches at sites contaminated with solvents. Finally, the initiative will develop a technical and policy directive on streamlining the RI/FS process at these types of sites. (Contact: Shahid Mahmud 703-630-8789) Ground Water Sites This initiative will consist of developing a Quick Reference Fact Sheet that discusses the selection of a presumptive remedy for sites with contaminated ground water. This is especially relevant in light of the fact that over 75 percent of sites currently listed on the National Priorities List (NPL) exhibit ground-water contamination. The develop ment of presumptive remedies for ground-water contami- nation sites will include the Agency's most recent policies pertaining to sites that contain non-aqueous phase liquids (NAPLs), both dense phase (DNAPLs) and light phase (LNAPLs). In addition, EPA will evaluate publishing a notice in the Federal Register that will contain a generic evaluation of six of the nine evaluation criteria set forth for the selection of remedial alternatives in the National Con- tingency Plan (NCP) (excluding ARARs, and community and state acceptance). The Federal Register Notice would allow for public review and comment on the application of the six generic analysis criteria for ground-water contami- nated sites. (Contact Ken Lovelace 703-630-8787). ------- |