A review of accelerated response actions available to the environmental restoration program: Selected case histories and associated issues. [CONTAINS GLOSSARY

Abstract

Accelerated actions were developed by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) within the regulatory framework for initiating early cleanup action or accelerating ongoing cleanup action to abate, mitigate, or reduce risk to human health or the environment at a contaminated waste site. The purposes of this report are to review the regulatory frameworks available to initiate accelerated actions at sites on the National Priorities List (NPL) and to provide case histories of sites where accelerated actions have been implemented. The findings of this report are applicable to non-NPL waste sites also. Accelerated actions are of interest to the Department of Energy (DOE) for two primary reasons: they are methods available to demonstrate progress in environmental restoration at DOE waste sites, and a subset of accelerated actions, termed interim remedial actions, may be required in place of final actions to avoid violating National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) guidelines during the development of DOE Office of Environmental Restoration and Waste Management's (DOE- EM's) Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement (PEIS). To provide the case histories, interviews with staff and reviews of compliance documents were conducted for sites in EPA Regions 3, 4, and 7. 12 refs., 1 fig.