Removal Actions at Long-Term Cleanup Sites

Prior to EPA's regulation of hazardous wastes, much of our country's hazardous wastes were often stored or disposed of improperly -- either in landfills not designed to protect the environment or simply abandoned in open fields or dumped along roadways. In addition, abandoned industrial facilities that used chemicals and other hazardous substances may not have stored or disposed of them properly prior to closing operations. Today, these sites are undergoing long-term cleanup actions which may take several years to fully study the problem, develop the right remedy, and clean up the hazardous waste. These are the sites most people think of when they hear about the Superfund program. As of August 1996, there are over 1200 Superfund sites undergoing some form of long- term cleanup.

EPA does not ignore the possibility that serious immediate threats to the environment or to the people who live or work around these sites may need to be taken care of before the long-term action is complete, or even underway. If there are any immediate threats present at these sites, EPA performs an emergency response action. Within 3 months of identifying one of these long-term clean-up sites, EPA evaluates whether there are any immediate threats. If so, an emergency response action is taken. EPA then re-evaluates each of these long-term cleanup sites at least once every other year until cleanup is complete to make sure no new immediate threats arise. In this review, EPA pays particular attention to sites that may be susceptible to damage from events occurring at the site, such as harsh weather conditions, facility deterioration, or vandalism. If new immediate threats arise, an emergency response action is taken.

A long-term clean-up site may ultimately have several emergency response actions, or it may have none. In some cases, emergency response actions eliminate the need for a long-term cleanup at certain portions of the site. As a result, emergency response actions actually may speed the cleanup of portions of the site and may lead to early elimination of the site from EPA's long-term clean-up program.