OSWER 9365.0-30
MEMORANDUM

SUBJECT:  Reuse Considerations During CERCLA Response Actions

FROM:      Michael B. Cook, Director
             Office of Emergency and Remedial Response

TO:         Superfund National Program Managers Regions 1-10
             OERR Center Directors and Process Managers

Purpose:

       With this memorandum I want to emphasize again to managers, both at Headquarters and
in the Regions, the importance of early and continuing consideration of anticipated future use
during Superfund remedial and removal site activities. Assistant Administrator Marianne Lament
Horinko places a high priority on making land revitalization an integral part of our cleanup
programs. What we have learned over the past few years is that we can select and implement
remedies that are protective, while also accommodating appropriate reuse of the land once the
remedy is complete, hi our daily operations both at Headquarters and in the Regions, we should
reflect this awareness that cleanup and reuse are mutually supporting goals and we must make
positioning a site for reuse a normal part of the way we do business.

Background:

       Superfund policies over the past decade have increasingly addressed land reuse issues.
The "Land Use Directive in the CERCLA Remedy Selection Process" (OSWER Directive
No. 9355.7-04, May 1995) explains how to consider land use when making remedy selection
decisions.  In July 1999, EPA launched its Superfund Redevelopment Initiative, a coordinated
national effort to develop policies, procedures and practices to integrate reuse into the Superfund
assessment and cleanup process. On June 4, 2001, The Agency issued a Directive (OSWER
9355.7-06P) to give Regional managers a tool for making reuse assessments  to implement the
Land Use Directive. Other Agency guidance and policy has also incorporated reuse-oriented
elements (e.g. EPA's policy for conducting partial deletions at NPL sites). To help Superfund
explore practical implementation of these ideas, EPA has announced the selection of pilot sites
where communities receive financing and services that help them assess future uses of Superfund
sites; this reuse planning is helping us to shape remedies.

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                                                      OSWER 9365.0-30

Implementation;

       As Super-fund's land revitalization initiatives have matured, we in OERR are at a stage at
which we can expect reuse considerations to be fully integrated into operations. This full
integration means consideration of reuse throughout the response cycle, from investigation and
listing through close-out and deletion and long-term stewardship.  Over the next several months, I
have asked John Harris, the National Program Coordinator for Superfund Redevelopment, to
work with staff in all aspects of cleanup to ensure that we all gam a more detailed understanding
of how this reuse consideration should work. OERR is preparing a Directive, to be circulated in
draft for comment in the coming weeks, that will present in considerable detail procedures for
achieving our goals in this area. If you have questions or concerns about how integration of reuse
affects your activities, please contact John at (703) 603-9075.

       We will also develop and incorporate into our program new measures of our effectiveness
in reaching Superfund's revitalization goals. Earlier this month Regions were asked to participate
in developing these performance measures that will help us establish performance baselines and
assess our progress.

       Finally, as we meet the challenge of integrating land use expectations into site cleanup
decisions, and as we learn how to effectively measure our success, we will look for opportunities
to offer our experience to other federal and State remediation programs through the Agency's
One Cleanup Program Initiative.

Action;

       I urge you to give your full attention to the consideration of reuse at sites and to the
forthcoming Directive on Reuse Considerations During CERCLA Response Actions. Please
make sure that your staffs are fully aware of the priority of the Agency's revitalization agenda that
underlies this effort. I also invite your support in developing the new GPRA measures announced
in my memorandum of September 6,2002.

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