of
to
Strategic Plan sets
goals to be achieved
by FY2008.
.......
-
Team wins Friends of
OSW Award for
developing training
modules.
„...„..„ 2
Available-
Six new ROSA training
modules are ready to
download.
for.............. 3
-
Region 6 has developed
a program for remedial
progress.
Completion............ 3
-
New guidance covers
two types of corrective
action completion.
„
-
New report outlines
lessons, challenges
of 5 pilots.
-
Corrective Action
Conference set for
May 11-12 in Orlando.
4
A OF
TO
The Office of Solid Waste and Emer-
gency Response rolled out five Govern-
ment Performance and Results Act
(GPRA) measures in the "Land Preser-
vation and Restoration" section of the
Agency's 2003 Strategic Plan that will
apply to RCRA and Superfund cleanup
sites. The Strategic Plan serves as the
Agency's road map for the next five
years, lays out EPA's long-term goals,
and will guide EPA in establishing the
annual goals needed along the way.
The five measures that apply to RCRA are:
• Site assessment;
• Human health exposures under control;
• Ground water migration under control;
• Remedy selection; and
• Construction completion.
The purpose of these measures is to
move the cleanup program forward
toward final remedies, in addition to
continuing to make progress with control-
ling unacceptable human health and
ground water exposures from site con-
taminants. Tracking progress toward
achievement of these five measures will
begin in FY2006. These measures will
need to be achieved by a new baseline
list of RCRA facilities that is currently
being compiled by the states and re-
gions, and will be finalized by the end of
FY2004. The goals that the new
baseline list of RCRA facilities must
meet for these measures by the end of
FY2008 are:
• Assess 100% of new RCRA baseline
facilities.
• Control all identified unacceptable
human exposures from site contami-
nation to at or below health-based
levels for current land and/or ground
water use conditions at 95% of new
RCRA baseline facilities.
• Control the migration of contaminated
ground water through engineered
remedies or natural processes at
80% of new RCRA baseline facilities.
• Select final remedies at 30% of new
RCRA baseline facilities.
• Complete construction of remedies at
20% of new RCRA baseline facilities.
Construction completion is a bench-
mark used to show that all significant
construction activity has been com-
pleted, even though cleanup goals
may not have been met.
The remedy selection and construction
completion measures are to be applied
to the entire site. In order to get credit for
having met the remedy selection or
construction completion measure for the
FY2008 goals, a facility must have
selected a site-wide remedy or com-
pleted construction of a site-wide rem-
edy. Partial site remedies will not count
toward meeting these two FY2008 goals.
The new baseline list of facilities being
assembled by the states and regions for
the FY2008 measures will contain all
high-ranked corrective action facilities
that have not been officially referred to
and accepted by the CERCLA program.
The Strategic Plan is available at
www. epa.gov/ocfo/plan/plan. htm.
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RCRA's Results-Oriented Streamlined Ap-
proaches (ROSA) Team received a "Friends of
OSW Award" in November 2003 for its work to
develop a new training initiative in partnership with
program implementers and stakeholders. The
two-year initiative resulted in six training modules
that can be downloaded from the Internet.
In January 2001, EPA announced several Correc-
tive Action Reforms, one of which was developing
a new training initiative as a follow-up to the
successful RCRA Corrective Action Workshop on
Result-Based Program Management. One of the
topics stakeholders have routinely requested
deals with "innovative administrative approaches"
— the mechanisms that promote action, such as
innovative orders, permits, use of existing orders
and permits, voluntary agreements, and ap-
proaches that have been responsible for improv-
ing a working relationship and the pace of correc-
tive action.
To tap into the wealth of expertise and experiences
in the Corrective Action community, the team sent
an e-mail in February 2002 requesting interested
individuals to participate at several levels. Initially,
they wanted a core group of 10 or so people to do
some initial brainstorm ing, help develop course
content, and possibly serve as instructors. They
then wanted a larger group to help the team review
the draft materials. They envisioned a series of
conference calls, followed by a formal working
meeting, and ultimately leading to a pilot offering of
the course, followed by implementation in the fall.
This workgroup, led by Karen Tomimatsu, Office of
Solid Waste/Corrective Action Programs Branch,
was called Results-Oriented Streamlined Ap-
proaches (ROSA).
During the course of the year, their strategy
changed. After some initial brainstorming, the
workgroup of EPA Regional, state, and industry
representatives came up with the following six
training modules: Tailored Oversight; Targeted
Data Collection; Streamlined Orders; Facility Lead
CA Approaches (presented in two perspectives by
Regions 3 and 6); Institutional Controls; and
Communications, Trust, and Mutual Respect.
During 2002-2003, self-directed workgroups on
each topic held a series of conference calls, and
developed and prepared PowerPoint presenta-
tions, several of which were relayed over confer-
ence calls for the entire ROSA workgroup.
TO
Members of the ROSA team were presented
with a "Friends of OSW Award" on November
12, 2003, for their achievement in developing
Results-Oriented Streamlined Approaches
training modules for stakeholders. Congratula-
tions to the members of each workgroup:
Tailored Oversight
Targeted Data
Collection
Streamlined Orders
Facility Lead
CA Approaches
Communications,
Trust and Mutual
Respect
Ernie Waterman, EPA Region 1
Catherine Smith, EPA Region 1
Deana Crumbling, TIO
Lael Butler, EPA Region 4
David Reisman, EPA/ORD
Rich Nussbaum, State of Missouri
Phil Page, EPA/OSRE
Debbie Goldblum, EPA Region 3
Robert Greaves, EPA Region 3
Tom Krueger, EPA Region 5
Rhett Nelson, EPA Region 5
Jennifer Shoemaker, EPA Region 3
Rick Ehrhart, EPA Region 6
Arnold Bierschenk, Region 6
Rich Nussbaum, State of Missouri
Jim Moore, State of Illinois
As a result of the team's hard work and dedica-
tion, all training modules were presented at the
RCRA National Meeting on August 12-15, 2003, in
Washington, DC.
AVAILABLE
Six new training modules for Results-Oriented
Streamlined Approaches (ROSA) are now avail-
able on the Internet and can be downloaded and/
or printed from under "Courses."
The training modules, all available in PowerPoint
and PDF files, are:
1. "Corrective Action Tailored Oversight"
2. "Targeted Data Collection"
3. "Corrective Action Streamlined Consent Orders"
4. "Facility Lead Corrective Action Approaches" and
"Facility Lead Corrective Action Approaches -
Flexible Risk-Based/Performance-Based
Cleanups Using the Region 6 Corrective Action
Strategy"
5. "The Use of Institutional Controls Under the
RCRA Corrective Action Program"
6. "The Need for Good/Frequent Communication,
Respect and Trust for Implementing a Success-
ful RCRA Corrective Action Project"
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6
EPA's Region 6 has developed the new "Ready
for Reuse" program, a measure of remedial
progress in the corrective action process that is
now part of EPA's National Land Revitalization
Initiative. The program recognizes when all or a
portion of a property has been characterized and
remediated to the extent that it will remain protec-
tive of human health and the environment for
specified types of uses. Rather than intending to
be a clean-closure approach, it encourages
cleanups that will quickly support protective
redevelopment opportunities.
Under this program, EPA and/or the states have
the discretion to provide a Ready for Reuse (RfR)
determination that the property can support
specified types of current and future uses and
remain protective, based upon the exposure
scenarios evaluated for the property. The RfR
determination is an environmental status report
that documents a technical determination about
protective types of uses for a property; thus RfR
determinations do not provide any legal rights or
legally enforceable commitments, and do not
include any statements about EPA's enforcement
intentions or any party's liability regarding a
specific property.
Depending on the intended future use of the
property, a RfR determination may indicate that
corrective action at the property is finished. If
characterization and remediation have been
performed to support an unrestricted land use,
then no additional investigation and remediation
would be anticipated. If the characterization and
remediation have been performed to support an
industrial land use, no additional cleanup would be
anticipated unless there is a change to a different
land use in the future.
In order to determine that a property is Ready for
Reuse, either EPA or the state regulatory authority
will evaluate the property's historical and current
data; determine if the investigation is adequate;
evaluate the remediation efforts to determine if
environmental conditions at the property are
protective for current and anticipated land use;
and ensure that there are mechanisms in place to
maintain and monitor necessary institutional
controls.
More information on Ready for Reuse is available
on the Internet at www.epa.gov/earth1r6/
ready4reuse.
EPA has issued a "Guidance on Completion of
Corrective Action Activities at RCRA Facilities,"
which describes two types of completion - Com-
plete without Controls, and Complete with Con-
trols - and provides guidance on when each type
of completion determination is appropriate. It also
provides guidance on procedures for EPA and
authorized states when making completion
determinations, and discusses completion deter-
minations for less than an entire facility.
As described in the guidance, a Complete without
Controls determination means that the areas
subject to the determination do not require any
additional remedial activity to ensure that the
remedy remains protective of human health and
the environment. Under the guidance, it would be
appropriate to make a Complete without Controls
determination where:
• A full set of corrective measures has been
defined;
• The facility has completed construction and
installation of all required remedial actions; and
• Site-specific media cleanup objectives have
been met.
As described in the guidance, a Complete with
Controls determination would be appropriate
where all of the above criteria are satisfied, and all
that remains to ensure that the remedy remains
protective of human health and the environment is
performance of required operation, maintenance,
and monitoring actions, and/or compliance with
and maintenance of any institutional controls.
The Federal Register notice, which includes the
final guidance, can be found at www.epa.gov/
epaoswer/hazwaste/ca/resource/guidance/
gen_ca/compfedr. pdf.
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IN
The major challenges and lessons learned in five
RCRA Brownfields Prevention Pilot projects are
described in a new report, RCRA Brownfields
Prevention Initiative Pilot Programs 2001: Sum-
mary Report. A potential RCRA Brownfield is a
RCRA facility or portion of a RCRA facility that is
not in full use, where there is reuse potential, and
where reuse of that site is slowed due to real or
perceived concerns about actualy or potential
contamination, liability, and RCRA requirements.
The RCRA Brownfields Prevention Initiative links
the EPA's Brownfields Program with the RCRA
Corrective Action Program and other Agency
cleanup programs, as well as state cleanup
programs, to help communities address contami-
nated, often blighted properties that may stand in
the way of economic vitality.
The report includes a Site Description, Pilot Goals,
Current Status, Challenges, and Lessons Learned
for these sites: Pharmacia & Upjohn Company in
North Haven, Connecticut; Union Carbide Caribe,
LLC, in Punta Guayanilla, Puerto Rico; BP Wood
River, in Wood River, Illinois; City of Muskegon
Heights, Michigan; and Approved Oil Services/Milt
Adams, Inc., in Commerce City, Colorado.
The lessons learned from these pilots have
affected both the RCRA program and broader
revitalization efforts across EPA programs. The
pilot projects have served as a testing ground for
innovative tools and approaches to encourage
cleanup and reuse. They have also served as a
laboratory where EPA, states, local municipalities,
and other stakeholders have developed new
revitalization strategies.
RCRA Brownfields Prevention Initiative Pilot
Projects 2001 is available on the Internet at
www.epa.gov/swerosps/rcrabf/pdf/rcra2001.pdf.
Office of Solid Waste and
Emergency Response (5303W)
EPA530-N-04-001
www. epa.gov/epaoswer/hazwaste/ca/
March 2004
Here are some examples of lessons learned
from RCRA Brownfields Pilots, described in
RCRA Brownfields Prevention Initiative Pilot
Projects 2001:
• Early engagement of stakeholders has led to a
positive attitude toward working with the owners and
EPA. (Pharmacia & Upjohn Company)
• An advocate to champion and shepherd the larger
reuse project, beyond RCRA cleanup concerns, is
needed. (Union Carbide Caribe)
• Parceling large RCRA sites can greatly accelerate
cleanup and reuse. (BP Wood River)
• Creative approaches can be found to address liability
concerns. (City of Muskegon Heights)
• Leadership is needed from both the regulators and the
regulated community. (Approved Oil Services/Milt
Adams, Inc.)
The 2004 National Corrective Action Conference
will be held on May 11-12 at the Sheraton Safari
Hotel in Orlando, Florida/Region 4 — the Heart of
the South!
One of the primary purposes of the National
Corrective Action Conference is to encourage
RCRA-regulated industries, consultants, state
regulators, individuals in the community, and EPA
regional project managers to discuss frankly the
issues and actions that affect corrective action
progress.
Conference sessions will focus on the 2005 and
2008 GPRA goals, streamlining RCRA reforms,
state cleanup programs, EPA Regional success
stories and strategies, industry partnerships, and
other topics.
This year's conference will also include a recep-
tion where EPA Assistant Administrator Marianne
Horinko will recognize several companies that
recently took the Environmental Indicator Pledge.
Information and registration forms will soon be
available at http://www.nationalcaconf.com.
Registration for the conference is FREE!
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