SEPA
United States
Environmental Protection
Agency
Office of Solid Waste and
Emergency Response (5102G)
EPA 542-F-12-023
March 2012
Green Remediation Best Management Practices:
Overview of EPA's Methodology to Address the
Environmental Footprint of Site Cleanup
Office of Superfund Remediation and Technology Innovation
Quick Reference Fact Sheet
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Principles for
Greener Cleanups outline the Agency's policy for evaluating
and minimizing the environmental "footprint" of activities
undertaken when cleaning up a contaminated site.1 Use of
the best management practices (BMPs) recommended in
EPA's series of green remediation fact sheets can help project
managers and other stakeholders apply the principles on a
routine basis while maintaining the cleanup objectives,
ensuring protectiveness of a remedy, and improving its
environmental outcome.
Remediation is underway or planned at thousands of sites
across the United States under cleanup programs
administered by government agencies and through
voluntary efforts of site owners or operators. The activities
needed to treat, contain, or otherwise address
contaminated soil, water, and other environmental media
and restore a site to productive use can collectively leave
an environmental footprint. Cleanups involving complex
activities may benefit from a detailed footprint analysis to
inform decision-making about application of suitable
BMPs for greener cleanups. EPA's Methodology for
Understanding and Reducing a Project's
Environmental Footprint identifies metrics associated
with this footprint and a specific process to quantify or
qualify those metrics.
The methodology adheres to EPA's Principles for Greener
Cleanups, which involve five core elements:
• Reducing total energy use and increasing the
percentage of renewable energy
• Reducing air pollutants and greenhouse gas (GHG)
emissions
• Reducing water use and
negative impacts on
water resources
• Improving materials
management and waste
reduction efforts, and
Protecting ecosystem
Materials
& Waste
Energy
Land&
Ecosystems
Airf
&
Atmosphere
Water
EPA developed the methodology (as documented in EPA
report 542-R-l 2-002) as a means to encourage
environmentally friendly behaviors on the part of decision-
makers and day-to-day staff involved with site cleanup. It
is designed to identify the most significant contributors to
a project's environmental footprint and help integrate
associated reduction parameters into conceptual design,
construction, and operation of the project. EPA does not
require environmental footprint analysis of cleanup
activities but prefers use of the methodology when an
analysis is conducted. Voluntary use of the methodology
to varying degrees during any stage of cleanup may
improve the project's environmental outcome.
EPA began developing the methodology in 2009 in order
to identify a single, comprehensive set of metrics that
could apply to most sites. Establishment of the
methodology was also a strategic action outlined in the
Agency's 2010 Superfund Green Remediation Strategy.2
To test and refine proposed metrics and processes, the
Agency conducted multiple pilot studies for RCRA
corrective actions and Superfund remedial actions.
Detailed information on three studies overseen by EPA
Region 9 is available online.3 In September 2011, the
draft methodology also was made available to the public
for review and feedback.
The methodology provides a roadmap to quantify the
project's environmental footprint. The quantified
information can then be used to identify opportunities
for adjusting the project's operating parameters and
applying BMPs in ways that reduce the footprint.
The process for conducting a footprint analysis following
the methodology involves seven general steps:
1) Determining the goals and scope of the analysis, which
vary with the remedial stage and site-specific factors
2) Gathering information about design, construction, and
operation of the site's existing or anticipated remedy
3) Quantifying the onsite materials and waste metrics,
which account for the materials used, the recycled
content of those materials, various wastes generated,
and portions of the waste that are recycled or reused
4) Quantifying the onsite water metrics, which consider
the source and amount of water used on site as well as
the fate of water after use
5) Using the combined information to quantify energy
metrics and air metrics, which jointly consider the total
amount of energy used (including the portion from
renewable resources) and the air emissions associated
with energy usage, onsite activities, and offsite support
6) Qualitatively describing ecosystem services that are
affected during remedy implementation, and
7) Presenting results of each previous step and the overall
results of analysis.
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Access EPA's in-depth methodology report online at:
http://www.clu-in.org/greenremediation/methodology
EPA's methodology report includes sample approaches to
reducing environmental footprints of projects involving
pump-and-treat, in situ chemical oxidation, and
bioremediation technologies or excavation. In addition, its
appendices provide:
• Seventeen exhibits containing planning checklists
along with user-friendly reference tables on aspects
such as common conversion factors, contents of
materials frequently used for cleanup, and typical
energy demands of equipment deployed in the field
• A series of detailed tables illustrating potential formats
for organizing raw data and quantified estimates and
for presenting overall results of footprint analysis, and
• Several scenarios illustrating use of the methodology to
quantify the environmental footprint of a cleanup.
Based on the results of the pilot projects and input from
cleanup project managers, EPA selected a set of 15
primary metrics and 7 secondary metrics for estimating
the project footprint (as summarized below). Users may
wish to supplement this set with additional metrics meeting
project or organizational needs and to tailor the
presentation of footprint analysis results accordingly. The
Agency's rationale for selecting each of these metrics is
provided in the methodology report.
Summary of Primary and Secondary Metrics
Core Element
Materials & Waste
(M&W)
Water
(W)
Energy
(E)
Air
(A)
Land & Ecosystems
Metric
M&W-l . Refined materials used on site
M&W-2. % of refined materials from recycled or waste material
M&W-3. Unrefined materials used on site
M&W-4. % of unrefined materials from recycled or waste material
M&W-5. Onsite hazardous waste disposed of off site
M&W-6. Onsite non-hazardous waste disposed of off site
M&W-7. % of total potential waste recycled or reused
Onsite water used (by source)
• W-l . Source, use, fate combination #1
• W-2. Source, use, fate combination #2
• W-3. Source, use, fate combination #3
• W-4. Source, use, fate combination #4
E-2. Total energy voluntarily derived from renewable resources
• E-2A. Onsite generation or use and biodiesel use
• E-2B. Renewable electricity purchase
• E-2C. Purchase of renewable energy certificates (RECs)
A-l . Onsite NOx, SOx, and PM emissions
A-2. Onsite HAP emissions
A-3. Total NOx, SOx, and PM emissions
A-4. Total HAP emissions
Unit of Measure
%
%
%
Millions of gallons
Millions of gallons
Millions of gallons
Millions of gallons
MMBtu
MMBtu
MWh
MWh
Pounds
Pounds
Pounds
Pounds
Tons CO2e
Qualitative descriptioi
The series of technical tables appending the
methodology report provides potential formats for data
management. Use of these formats can help decision-
makers understand the relationships among activity-
specific data, identify activities with the largest
footprints, and map various opportunities to reduce the
overall project footprint.
1 U.S. EPA; Principles for Greener Cleanups; August 27, 2009;
http://www.epa.gov/oswer/greenercleanups
2 U.S. EPA; Superfund & Green Remediation;
http://www.epa.gov/superfund/greenremediation/
3 U.S. EPA; CLU-IN Green Remediation Focus; Footprint
Assessment;
http://www.cluin.org/greenremediation/subtab bS.cfm
Considerations when interpreting
footprint analysis include:
• Goals of the analysis
• Data quality
• Tradeoffs between metrics, and
• Magnitude of the footprint.
final results of
Visit Green Remediation Focus online
to learn more about the BMPs:
http://www.cluin.org/greenremediation
For more information, contact:
Carlos Pachon (pachon.carlos@epa.gov)
OSWER Office of Superfund Remediation and Technology Innovation
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
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