Beginning in fiscal year 2010, EPA has initiated a three-year strategy, called the Integrated Cleanup Initiative, to identify and implement improvements to the Agency’s land cleanup programs. The Initiative will identify and implement opportunities to integrate and leverage the Agency’s land cleanup authorities to accelerate cleanups, address a greater number of contaminated sites, and put these sites back into productive use while protecting human health and the environment. The Initiative will seek to provide affected communities with the transparency of information they need to understand the progress of cleanup activities at local sites and to hold those responsible for cleanup accountable. EPA will be working closely with state and tribal partners and affected local partners as the Initiative is further developed.
The challenges to the nation’s land cleanup programs have changed since they began in the 1980s. Communities today are not only focused on getting sites cleaned up, but also want to have an active role in putting sites back to productive use. Communities today want to better understand and engage with EPA on cleanup decisions; they want greater transparency and accountability in the cleanup of sites that affect their lives. Communities are also interested in a range of contaminated sites, including Superfund, brownfields, Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) corrective action, federal facility and underground storage tank sites. Large, complex sites demand a much larger portion of EPA’s Superfund resources today than was the case in earlier years. Some large, complex sites take decades to cleanup.
EPA is soliciting public comment on the Integrated Cleanup Initiative Draft Implementation Plan through January 10, 2011. While many actions identified in this plan are underway, EPA will use the comments received to further evaluate and refine the draft plan.
Integrated Cleanup Initiative Draft Implementation Plan (PDF) (28 pp., 289 K, About PDF)
Becky Brooks
(brooks.becky@epa.gov)
USEPA
1200 Pennsylvania Ave., NW
(MC 5101T)
Washington, DC 20004