RE: [CPEO-MEF] NPL listing timelines

[olah@speagle.com]

Please post, Pauline.  thanks!

Lenny,
My understanding of the law is that within 18 months of placement on the
federal facilities docket, the EPA is required to rank the site for
eligibility for the NPL. Both Fort McCoy and Badger Army Ammunition Plant
(here in Wisconsin) were placed on the docket in March 1988 and neither have
been ranked by EPA.  The Army at Badger reports it has submitted all
required information; the hang-up, we are told, is with the EPA which is not
ranking any additional facilities save those where significant political
pressure is applied, most often by a State governor.

For the EPA to admit that sites are not being ranked is to admit the agency
is not complying with federal law so it seems logical that it would take
something like a lawsuit to get a clear answer on the status of the NPL
ranking process.

The unofficial answer we've rec'd here is that EPA doesn't have the
where-with-all to deal with the NPL sites they already have.  We've also
been told that since cleanups have already been initiated at Badger and Fort
McCoy under RCRA, ranking will not expedite cleanup and consequently the
agency is additionally disinclined to complete the NPL process.
Irregardless, this simply doesn't jive with existing law and has, at the
very least, the appearance of being a highly subjective and politicized
process.

Moreover, this pattern of not ranking sites means fewer and fewer
communitities near contaminated federal facilities are eligible for TAG
grants -- one of the most significant ramifications, I believe, of this
stalled process.

Let the debate begin....
Laura

P.S. RELATED QUESTION: I've been told that under CERCLA it is virtually
impossible to challenge a proposed cleanup technology once it is selected
under these regs.  For example, if incineration is the preferred cleanup
technology, the community doesn't have a mechanism to effectively appeal
this in favor of another technology.  Is this true?



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