2014 CPEO Brownfields List Archive

From: Lenny Siegel <lsiegel@cpeo.org>
Date: Fri, 10 Jan 2014 10:12:18 -0800 (PST)
Reply: cpeo-brownfields
Subject: [CPEO-BIF] Superfund Program Review
 
FY2014 Superfund Remedial Program Review Action Plan
U.S. EPA
November 26, 2013

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

The Superfund remedial program has sustained substantial budget reductions over the past two fiscal years. The cumulative effect of reduced funding has put a strain on the remedial program’s ability to maintain its cleanup activities. In response, the Superfund remedial program initiated a comprehensive review to evaluate the efficiency of current cleanup processes and the use of remedial program resources with the goal of minimizing reductions to the remedial program’s effectiveness in protecting human
health and the environment.

This action plan is the result of the remedial program review. It identifies short- and long-term measures and activities which will be undertaken to maintain an effective remedial cleanup program under budgetary constraints. The plan is divided into two major sections under the headings of Cleanup Process and Program Management Actions. The cleanup processes sections discuss adaptive management (described below) and the assessment, study, design and construction phases of the remedial process. The program management activities outline actions to use internal Agency resources such as contracts (acquisitions), budget, in-house expertise, and information technology (IT), more efficiently.

One of the key concepts of the 2010-2012 Integrated Cleanup Initiative (ICI) was managing sites to completion. In the spirit of this initiative, this plan continues to focus on project completion, from the onset of site assessment through design and construction. A major concept carried forward from the ICI is the integration of the remedial design (RD) and remedial action (RA) processes. Having early constructor involvement during design, tailoring the design to the complexity of the construction and assuring availability of project funds prior to beginning the design, among other measures, are expected to result in
cost savings/avoidances as evidenced by the ICI pilot studies.

Another significant element presented within the Cleanup Process section involves the concept of adaptive management, an iterative process which allows modifications to remedial approaches based on newly acquired information. While some aspects of adaptive management were used historically, this plan emphasizes integrating it more deliberately throughout the remedial process.

The Program Management actions emphasize streamlining business processes and leveraging resources to the extent possible. The Acquisition Framework focuses on establishing a contracting strategy that promotes fair opportunity to ensure the best price for the work required. The budget and special account actions focus on building processes that simplify using deobligated, reclassified and special account resources ahead of newly appropriated funding. Actions that strengthen the use and sharing of in-house resources, both technical and programmatic, are also defined. Similarly, the implementation of the Superfund Enterprise Management System (SEMS) will significantly affect the way the program does business by moving the primary program management system to the web and providing a more robust project, records and web content management capability.

By implementing the actions presented in this plan, the Superfund remedial program is striving to continue to improve and streamline site cleanup approaches beginning with strategic upfront planning with an eye toward project completion. Modifying remedial program resource management priorities, combined with additional increases in efficiencies will contribute to this goal. In this way, the Superfund remedial program aims to minimize the adverse consequences of budget cuts on its effectiveness in protecting human health and the environment, while recognizing their impacts cannot be fully off-set.


To download the entire 43-page report, go to
http://www.epa.gov/superfund/cleanup/pdfs/ Final_SPR_Action_Plan-11_26_2013_(2).pdf

--

Lenny Siegel
Executive Director, Center for Public Environmental Oversight
a project of the Pacific Studies Center
278-A Hope St., Mountain View, CA 94041
Voice: 650/961-8918 or 650/969-1545
Fax: 650/961-8918
<lsiegel@cpeo.org>
http://www.cpeo.org

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