United States Solid Waste and EPA530-F-01-020
Environmental Protection Emergency Response October 2001
Agency (5305W) www.epa.gov/osw
Office of Solid Waste
v>EPA Environmental
Fact Sheet
RCRA Corrective Action Showcase
Pilots Announced
RCRA Showcase Pilots
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is pleased to announce that thirty-one
innovative cleanup pilots, known as the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA)
Showcase Pilots, are underway in all ten EPA Regions and more than twenty states. The
pilots are intended to illustrate innovative, nationwide RCRA Corrective Action cleanup
efforts, and to stimulate others to explore similar efforts to speed up progress toward EPA's
cleanup goals. The scope of innovations is broad and includes:
Multi-regional and sector-based approaches;
New technologies or new applications of existing technologies;
Electronic information transfer and documentation;
Streamlined administrative process;
Brownfields redevelopment tools;
Risk-based performance standards; and
Enhanced stakeholder involvement.
The RCRA Showcase Pilots provide an excellent opportunity for program implementors,
regulated industry, and other stakeholders to field test innovative approaches to expediting
cleanup, to focus resources and expertise at one or multiple sites, and to showcase sites that
can transfer lessons learned to other similar situations across the country. The pilots also
provide an opportunity to establish unique and beneficial partnerships, and to maximize
public awareness of the innovations.
EPA worked with states, tribes, industry, and other constituents to develop the RCRA
Showcase Pilots. Application of appropriate innovative approaches across EPA regions is
encouraged. Examples of RCRA Showcase Pilots include the following:
• A multi-regional project involves cleanup of steel mini-mills under a federal consent
decree, which is the first comprehensive, multi-media settlement in the steel mini-mill
industry. The cleanup takes place sequently, in a prioritized, streamlined process and
is overseen by a coordinating committee.
• In Connecticut, remote control equipment will be used for the first time to investigate
large caliber unexploded ordnance (UXO) on a property that will be remediated and
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redeveloped, with a portion being donated to the local town for a road project.
• A Virginia project will use tree cores to define the groundwater plume and whether
migration of contaminated groundwater is under control. Plume delineation through
tree core analysis is a potentially cost-effective and simple approach, and offers EPA
an opportunity to test a new tool for site characterization.
• A South Carolinian facility has a core team to expedite the RCRA Corrective Action
process, replacing the traditional iterative process of exchanging papers and
comments. The team developed an aggressive Corrective Action Schedule for
investigation and remediation, and uses a site-wide geographical information system
(GIS). The GIS: (1) provides an electronic repository for quantitative and qualitative
data; (2) provides a means to analyze site chemical data; and (3) serves as a
communication tool for all stakeholders.
• Cleanups are being conducted at several facilities under the EPA Region 6 Corrective
Action Strategy (CAS), which uses of a combination of innovative approaches. CAS
activities at a facility in Texas include: (1) evaluation of previously collected data with
risk-based performance standards to prioritize Corrective Action efforts; (2)
development and use of conceptual site models in risk management decisions with
realistic evaluation of current and future site and resource use; (3) site-wide approach
in groundwater monitoring and management; and (4) informal, frequent
communication among the regulators and facility.
• In Oregon, new approaches to RCRA-Superfund program integration will be used to
complete cleanup at a bankrupt facility. The cleanup will include: joint work to
implement site characterization strategies; proposal of the site to the National
Priorities List so the full range of Superfund authorities will be available when the
facility does not have resources for cleanup; and involvement of the community in
plans for cleanup and reuse of the site.
Background
In January 2001, EPA announced a set of RCRA Cleanup Reforms called "Reforms II."
"Reforms II" encourages creative solutions that promote faster, focused, more flexible
cleanups. An important program goal is to verify and document, by 2005, that:
• 95 percent of the 1,714 RCRA cleanup facilities will have current human exposures
under control; and
• 70 percent of these facilities will have migration of contaminated groundwater under
control.
The long-term goal of the program is to achieve cleanup at all RCRA Corrective Action
facilities.
For More Information
Project descriptions, progress reports and other RCRA Showcase Pilots material is
available at: . For additional information, please call
the RCRA Call Center. Callers within the Washington Metropolitan Area please dial 703-
412-9810 or TDD 703-4123323 (hearing impaired). Long-distance callers please call 1-
800-424-9346 or TDD 1-800-553-7672. The RCRA Call Center operates weekdays, 9:00
a.m. to 5:00 p.m.
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