US Superfund

After lead, arsenic is the most common contaminant at US Superfund National Priorities List (NPL) sites (EPA, 2002a, 2). As of 2002, arsenic was a contaminant of concern at 568 or 47% of 1209 NPL sites with records of decision (RODs) (EPA, 2002a, 2). Among the arsenic-contaminated sites, 380 of them have contaminated groundwater, a total of 86 have arsenic-contaminated surface water, and the number of sites with arsenic-contaminated soils and sediments are 372 and 154, respectively (EPA, 2002b, 2.2). Appendix B in US EPA (2002b) lists the locations of Superfund sites where arsenic is a contaminant of concern. 

Apart from the US Superfund [14] and the funds established by the oQ industry [15], such compensation schemes are still unusual and of minor significance. In the Netherlands a fund on damage fix>m air pollution was created already in 1972 and in France, a fund for noise, which compensates persons living around Paris airports, in 1973. The US Superfund, as is widely agreed, has proved inefficient and unfair, and therefore, should not serve as a model. The solutions fix the oil industry, in turn, serve only for purposes characteristic to that industry, ie, are created in case of major transport accidents. 

US EPA. Preliminary Remediation Goals. United States Environmental Protection Agency. Available on line at http //www.epa.gov/region09/superfund/prg/. Accessed March 2012... 

Despite the difficulties of evaluating the true extent of contamination, the latest estimations in Europe in 2006 set a number of 3.5 million potentially contaminated sites [23]. Of these, approximately 0.5 million were expected to require urgent treatment. The National Priorities List of the 2012 US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) identified 1,305 superfund sites, which are defined as abandoned hazardous waste sites [24]. 

The Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act The Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA), commonly known as Superfund, was enacted by the U.S. Congress on 11 December 1980. CERCLA 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. Over 5 years, 1.6 billion was collected and the tax went to a tmst fund for cleaning up abandoned or uncontrolled hazardous waste sites (US-EPA 2007c). 

The goal of the Superfund program is to clean up uncontrolled hazardous waste sites that pose unacceptable risks to human health and environment in a manner that restores these sites to uses appropriate for nearby communities. As already mentioned, the program was authorized under the CERCLA of 1980 (US-EPA 2007c). 

US-EPA. 2007b. U.S. EPA Ground Water and Drinking Water website, http //www.epa.gov/safewater/ US-EPA. 2007c. U.S. EPA Superfund website http //www.epa.gov/superfund/index.htm US-EDA. 2007. U.S. Eood and Drug Administration website. http /www.fda.gov/... 

USEPA] US Environmental Protection Agency. 1999. Risk assessment guidance for superfund volume 3, part A, process for conducting probabilistic risk assessment. Washington (DC) EPA 000-0-99-000. Office of Emergency and Remedial Response. 

In 1994, a US unit was used to remediate PCBs at the Coal Creek Superfund Site in Chehalis, Washington. Approximately 33,000 tons of soils were excavated, and highly contaminated soils were separated from soils with minimum contamination. Approximately 9700 tons were treated with the nS-5 the remaining soil was stabilized and backfilled into an in-site containment cell (D115377). The actual cost for remediation at the site was approximately 8,100,000, or approximately 830 per ton. The extensive excavation and material handling at the site added to the total remediation cost (D184672, p. 77). 

A third example [28] involved a Superfund site. Octolig was used in a bench test of material from the Liberty Industrial Finishing Superfund site, a 30-acre parcel in the village of Farm-ingdale, Nassau County, New York state. At this location. Republic Aviation produced military aircraft for the US government from the late 1930s until the 1960s. Operations involved... 

EPA 1994. Handbook, Recycling and. Reuse of Material Found on Superfund. Sites. US Environmental Protection Agency, EPA-625/R-94-004. 

Until recently, this PRG was used by Region 9 of the US EPA for Superfund sites in Arizona, California, Hawaii, Nevada, US Pacific Islands, and Tribal Nations, Appendix E). As farmlands and orchards once treated with arsenical pesticides are being developed for residential use, occupants of these homes could be exposed to arsenic (Belluck et al., 2003). 

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (US EPA) (1996) Bioavailability of Arsenic and Lead in Environmental Substrates. 1. Results of an Oral Dosing Study of Immature Swine. EPA 910/R-96-002, Superfund/Office of Environmental Assessment. 

US EPA (2002a, 5.2) summarizes an in situ vitrification project at the Parsons Chemical Superfund Site in Grand Ledge, Michigan, United States. The soil at the old agrichemical facility contained 8.4-10.1 mg kg-1 of arsenic. A total of 3000 cubic yards of soil was treated in eight melts. Like other encapsulation... 

National priorities list (NPL) A list of US sites contaminated with hazardous wastes that is maintained by the United States Environmental Protection Agency (US EPA). The sites are eligible for long-term remediation under the US EPA Superfund program. 

Superfund A program funded by the US federal government and managed by the US Environmental Protection Agency to remediate seriously contaminated sites in the United States. 

The tables and maps in this appendix list the locations of prominent areas with arsenic-contaminated groundwater, geothermal waters, and/or substantial arsenic-bearing rocks and mining wastes. Additionally, there are countless sites that have local waters, sediments, and soils that have been contaminated by arsenic from chemical manufacturing facilities, pesticide applications, and individual mines. These small-scale areas, which include hundreds of Superfund sites in the United States, are too numerous and poorly documented to list in this appendix. Appendix B in US Environmental Protection Agency (US EPA) (2002) lists the locations of Superfund sites where arsenic is a contaminant of concern. 

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. 

EPA. Risk Assessment Guidance for Superfund, Vol. 1. Human Health Evaluation Manual (Part A). US EPA. 1989. 

R. Puls and M. Barcelona, Ground Water Sampling for Metals Analysis, Superfund Ground Water Issue, EPA/540/4-89/001, [US Environmental Protection Agency, 1989]. 

Brownfields can be cleaned up under any number of environmental laws, including the Federal Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act (CERLCA, more commonly called Superfund) the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) and a variety of state environmental protection laws that generally parallel the Federal laws. Some sites are regulated under multiple authorities. One example of the confusion of cleanup standards can be seen in the original Superfund regulations. Under Superfund, US EPA and the states determined cleanup standards for each site based on ARAlls, or laws and regulations that were... 

Support for this initiative has expanded greatly since 1995. In 2001, the US Congress passed the Small Business Liability Relief and Brownfields Revitalization Act (also known as the 2002 Brownfields Law). This act, which updates the Superfund legislation, authorizes US EPA to provide up to 50 million in grants to states and tribes to establish or enhance programs to assess, cleanup, and redevelop brownfields. Each year since 2003, EPA has distributed almost 50 million in brownfields grants to states, territories, and tribal groups. 

Thiophene and 3-methylthiophene are Us ted on the TSCA chemical substances inventory. Thiophene is regulated as a hazardous material under OSHA and also regulated under the Clean Air Act, Section 110, 40 CFR 60.489, but there are no exposure limits or controls set for 3-methylthiophene. Both materials are regulated under sections 311/312 of the Superfund Amendments and Reauthorization Act, 1986 (SARA), as materials with an acute health and fire hazard, and under the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act, as ignitable hazardous wastes (D001). 

US Environmental Protection Agency (1991) Superfund national priorities list for remediation. 40 CFR 423.A, Code of Federal Regulations... 

US Environmental Protection Agency (1998c) This is Superfund. Available http //www. epa.gov/superfund/whatissf/sfguide.htm (20 March 2000)... 

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