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*. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency	13-P-0176
£ U ro Office of Inspector General	March 11,2013

I W/ °
At a Glance
Why We Did This Review
We conducted this review to
determine the environmental
benefits and impact of the
U.S. Environmental Protection
Agency's (EPA's) Superfund
removal program, and the
Agency's plan to achieve its
future program goal. Superfund
removals are used to respond
to emergencies or accidental
releases of hazardous
substances and mitigate
damage to the public or the
environment from hazardous
substance releases. EPA has
established an annual
Superfund removal goal of 170
EPA-lead and 170 potentially
responsible party-lead
removals each fiscal year
through 2015.
This report addresses the
following EPA Goal or
Cross-Cutting Strategy:
• Cleaning up communities
and advancing sustainable
development.
Results and Benefits Information Is Needed to Support
Impacts of EPA's Superfund Removal Program
For further information, contact
our Office of Congressional and
Public Affairs at (202) 566-2391.
What We Found
EPA does not measure the environmental impact and benefits of the Superfund
removal program. The goals of the program are measured by determining the
number of removals completed rather than how removals protect human health and
the environment. This measurement limitation can diminish the perceived value of the
program and be an obstacle to a management focus on how removals contribute to
protection of human health and the environment. Information on removal program
impacts will allow EPA to better inform the public on the benefits of the program and
provide a strong foundation for budget requests. EPA's current numeric removal goal
appears to be attainable based on past performance, although reductions in funding
or changes in state needs or capabilities may impact EPA's ability to meet its goal.
EPA's information on removals—such as the type of removal, start and completion
dates, contaminant, and volume—is maintained in the Comprehensive Environmental
Response, Compensation, and Liability Information System (CERCLIS). However,
EPA's system controls do not adequately monitor the completion of required removal
actions in CERCLIS. For example, an action memo should be completed within
5 business days of each removal start, but these were missing or late for about half of
all removals completed in 2007-2011. Further, CERCLIS does not monitor approval
of the required exemptions to ensure EPA is in compliance with Superfund law. Much
of the missing or inaccurate CERCLIS data may be in pollution reports that track
removal actions. However, although EPA staff said they were working on a process
to ensure that pollution report data are accurately transferred to CERCLIS, no such
process currently exists. Accurate CERCLIS information is needed to ensure removal
actions are justified, completed on time, and address threats to human health and the
environment.
Recommendations and Planned Agency Corrective Actions
We recommend that EPA identify environmental results and benefits of the removal
program, communicate those results along with existing program results, and
implement system controls to ensure required CERCLIS data are entered and
completed. EPA agreed with the recommendations and provided acceptable
corrective actions to enhance communications of program accomplishments and to
control removals data integrity. CERCLIS is expected to be integrated into the
Superfund Enterprise Management System by September 2013.
The full report is at:
www.epa.aov/oia/reports/2013/
20130311-13-P-0176.pdf

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