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New EPA Initiative Aims to Improve Coordination; Consistency among Superfund; RCRA; Underground Storage Tank Programs; Better Communicate Cleanup Results to Public

Release Date: 04/08/2003
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(04/08/03) EPA’s Office of Solid Waste and Emergency Response today launched a new initiative to integrate the assessment and cleanup efforts of its solid and hazardous waste cleanup programs (Superfund, The Resource Conservation and Recovery Act, and Underground Storage Tanks) to increase speed and efficiency of environmental cleanups and improve the sharing of information with affected citizens.

The initiative, called the “One Cleanup Program,” was announced at an Environmental Council of States (ECOS) meeting in Washington, D.C. by Marianne Lamont Horinko, EPA’s Assistant Administrator for Solid Waste and Emergency Response (OSWER).

“The One Cleanup Program can be the key to better and faster cleanups and more relevant public information on the health effects of waste sites, ” Horinko said. “It means better management of complicated programs that have a direct and real impact on the lives of thousands of individuals.”

There are several key goals for “One Cleanup”: (1) Returning the waste site to beneficial and productive use once the primary cleanup goal is accomplished; instead of just focusing on cleanup per se, OSWER will focus more on “end use”, the reuse and economic revitalization of contaminated properties. (2) Assuring more consistency and efficiency in cleanups through integration and sharing of technologies and cleanup techniques across OSWER programs. (3) Making all information about any site more accessible and understandable to citizens most impacted. Under One Cleanup, the public will get a more unified message about how different OSWER programs are working together on revitalization efforts.

OSWER officials in Washington will accomplish these goals by working more closely among themselves and with their partners in EPA regional offices, states, tribes, local governments and other federal agencies in identifying and creating opportunities for cross-program and cross-agency cleanup efforts.

To measure the overall effectiveness and benefits of cleanup efforts, EPA also will work with its partners to develop new, clearer program measures in four areas: (1) The number of people protected through waste cleanup activities; (2) The amount or degree to which the environment is protected through cleanup; (3) The amount of land made available through cleanup activities for productive uses; and (4) The economic impact of cleanup activities.

EPA also will provide more understandable and useful information about cleanups to the public by working with its partners to develop compatible and linkable network systems. These systems may include information on: current contacts in and information on involved agencies; multiple program coordination and cleanup approaches; site activities; status and cleanup requirements; long-term monitoring and maintenance requirements; links to institutional control tracking systems; links to waste sites technologies information systems; and reuse options. The ultimate goal of this public information effort is to combine multiple websites into one easy-to-understand, unified system that will contain information on all EPA waste cleanup programs.

The One Cleanup Program does not require new Congressional legislation. It will build on existing standards and resources, and can be implemented under existing law.

Established in 1993, ECOS is a national non-profit, non-partisan association of state and territorial environmental commissioners who work with EPA and other federal agencies on policy, regulations and implementation of environmental laws.

Learn more about the One Cleanup Program at: https://www.epa.gov/oswer/onecleanupprogram