Hazardous waste: EPA's Superfund Program improvements result in fewer stopgap cleanups
The Environmental Protection Agency has designated over 800 hazardous waste sites as priority sites, and expects that list to grow to about 2,000. In 1985, GAO reported that EPA's actions to address immediate and significant hazards at priority sites resulted in the worst hazardous waste sites receiving only stopgap cleanups, leaving hazardous substances on the surface and requiring repeated stopgap actions at additional cost. In this followup report, GAO found that EPA has taken 43 repeat actions in the last two years. Most of these resulted from inadequate or incomplete removal actions during the first three years of the program (1981-83). Only seven repeat actions were taken at sites initially addressed since 1984, so EPA appears to be making progress in the use of removal actions. It is too early to determine the effectiveness of EPA's actions, however, because enough time has elapsed since cleanups began, and cleanup activities have been delayed or curtailed due to funding limitations.
- Research Organization:
- General Accounting Office, Washington, DC (USA)
- OSTI ID:
- 6002472
- Report Number(s):
- GAO/RCED-86-204
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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Related Subjects
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290300 -- Energy Planning & Policy-- Environment
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510200* -- Environment
Terrestrial-- Chemicals Monitoring & Transport-- (-1989)
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54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
CLEANING
CONTROL
COST
DECONTAMINATION
FINANCING
HAZARDOUS MATERIALS
HAZARDS
HEALTH HAZARDS
LAWS
MATERIALS
NATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS
POLLUTION CONTROL
POLLUTION LAWS
REMOVAL
SUPERFUND
US EPA
US GAO
US ORGANIZATIONS