Hazardous wastes remediation CERCLA

The law intended to remedy the mistakes in past hazardous waste management. CERCLA authorized a number of government actions to remedy the conditions or the effects of a release. CERCLA, as originally enacted in 1980, authorized a 5-year plan by the federal government to perform cleanup activities. CERCLA authorized EPA to identify those sites where the release of hazardous substances had occurred or might occur and posed a serious threat to human health, welfare, or the environment. The parties responsible for the releases were required to fund the cleanup actions. 

This section provides an overview of the engineering technologies and applications that are currently applicable to the study and remediation of releases of hazardous wastes and constituents from RCRA (Resource Conservation and Recovery Act) facilities and those sites which parallel Superfund sites. Activities which would be termed removal actions or expedited response actions under CERCLA (Comprehensive Environmental Recovery-Cleanup and Liability Act) are also covered in this section. Information presented in this section represent excerpts from document EPA/625/4-89/020 (September 1989). 

Tlie Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA) of 1980 was tire first major response to tire problem of abandoned hazardous waste sites throughout the nation. CERCLA was the begiiming of tlie remediation of hazardous waste sites. This program was designed to ... 

In 1980, Congress passed the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA). Commonly known as Superfund, the program under this law is focused on the remediation of abandoned or uncontrolled hazardous waste sites. Since 1980, Superfund has assessed nearly 44,400 sites. To date, 33,100 sites have been removed from the Superfund inventory to aid their economic redevelopment, and 11,300 sites remain active with the site assessment program or are included in the National Priorities List (NPL) for the implementation of remedial actions. By September 2000, 1509 sites were included in the NPL with ongoing or completed cleanup activities. 

The Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA), commonly known as Superfund, 1980, created a tax on the chemical and petroleum industries and provided broad federal authority to respond directly to releases or threatened releases of hazardous substances that may endanger public health or the environment. The act was amended by the Superfund Amendments and Reauthorization Act (SARA) in 1986 and stressed the importance of permanent remedies and innovative treatment technologies in cleaning up hazardous waste sites. 

Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA). This is an attempt to deal with the many waste sites that exist across the nation. It covers remedial action, including the establishment of a National Priorities List to identify those sites that should have a high priority for remediation. This act authorizes the cleanup of hazardous waste sites, including those containing pesticides, that threaten human health or the environment. If they can be identified, the US EPA is authorized to recover cleanup costs from those parties responsible for the contamination. CERCLA provides a fund to pay for the cleanup of contaminated sites when no other parties are able to conduct the cleanup. The Superfund Amendments and Reauthorization Act (SARA) (1986) is an amendment to CERCLA that enables the US EPA to identify and cleanup inactive hazardous waste sites and to recover reimbursement of cleanup costs. One section of CERCLA authorizes the EPA to act whenever there is a release or substantial threat of release of a hazardous substance or any pollutant or contaminant that may present an imminent or substantial danger to the public health or welfare into the environment. 

In implementing the risk-based waste classification system developed in this Report, the selection of exposure scenarios appropriate to waste disposal is an important technical issue that must be addressed. NCRP believes that scenarios for inadvertent intrusion into near-surface disposal facilities are appropriate in classifying waste for purposes of disposal and, further, that scenarios involving permanent occupancy of disposal sites after loss of institutional control would be appropriate (see Section 6.1.3) such scenarios are commonly used in regulating near-surface disposal of low-level radioactive waste and in risk assessments at hazardous waste sites subject to remediation under CERCLA. 

It was clear as soon as it was passed that CERCLA would address only the most serious sites and that there were literally thousands of other sites containing hazardous wastes that also needed to be dealt with. In the absence of federal resources for this task, a number of states passed their own legislation to identify, assess and remediate such sites. Activities undertaken under both the federal and state statutes revealed that hazardous wastes had been buried not only in industrially owned sites but also in municipal and private landfills. Indeed, some of these hazardous wastes were the result of citizen disposal practices. Thus, the dimensions of the problems that Love Canal uncovered were revealed to be larger than first thought and the resources needed to address them much greater than anticipated. Twenty-five years later, these problems persist and many sites still await remediation. 

The third series of acts, commonly referred to as CERCLA/superfund acts, provided the federal government with the authority to respond to (l.e., clean up) uncontrolled release of hazardous waste. The Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA) was enacted In 1977. CERCLA applies to the release or threat of release Into the environment of any hazardous substance. The broad scope of this statute is Indicated by the fact that "environmental" Includes all environmental media, and "hazardous substance" Is broadly defined to include not only RCRA "hazardous waste" but a list of substances identified by ERA in 40 CFR 302, which now includes over 700 hazardous substances and over 1500 radionuclides. Whenever there is a release or threat of a release of a hazardous substance to the environment, EPA is authorized by the statute to undertake "removal" and/or "remedial" action. 

Regulatory Approach to Site Remediation. Most environmental cleanup standards are derived from the provisions of CERCLA, section 121 "Cleanup Standards" or RCRA, Subtitle C entitled "Hazardous Waste Management." The implementing regulations are... 

The NCP contains several criteria that are Intended to guide decisions on the standards to be achieved in Individual remedial actions. Among these the most important are the threshold criteria, which include (1) a general requirement to protect human health and the environment and (2) cleanup standards which have applicable or relevant and appropriate requirements (ARAR). Under the ARAR approach, EPA can use standards from other federal and state statutes (e.g., CWA, SDWA, RCRA) on a case-by-case basis when these requirements are applicable or relevant and appropriate. For example, RCRA land-disposal restorations (LDR) may be relevant and applicable" if a CERCLA remedial action involves RCRA hazardous waste and the waste or its hazardous residue is to be land disposed. In this case, the RCRA LDR standards that are based on the best demonstrated available technology (BDAT) may apply. 

Environmental restoration activities may be conducted under a RCRA, Part B permit when RCRA hazardous wastes are involved. The RCRA hazardous wastes are identified in 40 CFR 261 and Include characteristic" hazardous wastes as defined in subpart C and "listed" hazardous wastes as defined in subpart D. The Hazardous and Solid Waste Amendment (HSWA) to RCRA includes prohibitions on land disposal of hazardous waste. Under this statute, the EPA has issued regulations (40 CFR 286) that ban the land disposal of untreated hazardous waste and has established treatment standards based on the BDAT. The way that these standards can be Involved in a CERCLA remedial action was discussed above. In addition, technical standards for environmental restoration activities conducted under a RCRA, Part B permit are given in 40 CFR 264, Including closure requirements and groundwater concentration limits (see 40 CFR 264.94). 

The Superfund law derives from citizen concerns over the health impacts of decades of accumulated hazardous wastes within or near communities. More accurately labeled the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liabihty Act (CERCLA), the Superfund governs the removal and destruction of toxics and also estabhshes disposal procedures through the Office of Superfund Remediation Technology Innovation (OSRTl). Prioritization activities are within the jurisdiction of the OSTRI. 

Not all remedial actions involve excavation and treatment. Generally, engineering controls, such as containment, and restrictions on use and access, as well as continued monitoring, can be used for waste that poses a relatively low long-term threat or where treatment is impracticable.5 For example, cumulatively, through most of FY 2002, EPA selected containment in 43 percent of the CERCLA source control Records of Decision (EPA, 2004). Thus, if the history of hazardous waste cleanup is a guide, there are likely to be circumstances where containment in place of buried CWM is chosen over recovery and treatment of the buried CWM. 

Rather than establish individual cleanup standards, CERCLA assures that remedies are based on cleanup standards established by other laws (e.g. CAA, CWA, and RCRA). In conjunction with site-specific risk factors, CERCLA requires that remedies attain any legally applicable or relevant and appropriate requirements (ARARs). ARARs are standards, criteria, or limitations under federal and state environmental laws. For example, if electrokinetic remediation involves the on-site treatment, storage, or disposal of hazardous wastes, the remediation activity must meet RCRA standards for such treatment, storage, and disposal. ARARs relative to electrokinetic remediation include (a) the CERCLA, (b) the RCRA, (c) the CAA, (d) the CWA, (e) the SDWA, and (f) Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) regulations (ERA SITE Program, 2003). These six general requirements are discussed in the sections that follow. 

T vo types of remediation activities are possible under CERCLA removal and remedial actions. Remedial actions are longer-term permanent solutions to hazardous waste contamination. Removal actions are short-term cleanup actions that address immediate threats at a site. They are conducted in response to an emergency situation (e.g. to avert an explosion, to clean up a hazardous waste spill, or to stabilize a site until a permanent solution can be found). Electrokinetic remediation technologies are likely to be part of a CERCLA remedial action. There are nine general criteria that must be addressed by those wishing to implement electrokinetic technologies as part of CERCLA remedial actions ... 

The principal regulatory considerations for the deployment of electrokinetics at hazardous waste sites are CERCLA and RCRA. CERCLA hazardous substances encompass RCRA hazardous wastes as well as other toxic pollutants regulated by the CAA, CWA, and the TSCA. Electrokinetic treatment is most likely to be part of a remedial action and must address the criteria associated with such cleanups. 

As clarification of SARA Title III and CERCLA relationships, the following is provided. The Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA) is designed to help clean up inactive hazardous waste sites. It also requires industries to disclose to their communities what hazardous substances they use and store. CERCLA authorized EPA to remediate polluted sites and created the Superfund to pay for site cleanups when there is no clear-cut responsible party. EPA can pursue potentially responsible parties to make them pay for response and remediation activities. Section 313 of the Emergency Planning Community Right-to-Know Act of 1986 (SARA Title III) requires EPA to establish an inventory of routine toxic... 

Hazardous waste as defined by CERCLA when it is the focus of remedial or removal action under CERCLA... 

It requires industry to develop comprehensive emergency response plans and mandates public disclosure of hazards of materids handled or stored in certain quantities. The "Superfund sites" are those officially listed locations that contain hazardous wastes and that are to be remediated imder CERCLA. They are identified on the National Priority List (NPL). 

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