[CPEO-MEF] Superfund Agency Seeks Public Comment on IC Monitoring Guide

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Superfund Agency Plans to Seek Public Comment  On Institutional Control 
Monitoring Guide

The Environmental Protection Agency plans to issue for public comment by 
the end of June guidance on implementing, monitoring, and enforcing
institutional controls at contaminated sites, an agency official said 
May 1.

Comments on the guidance by the agency's regional offices were due April 
30, according to James Woolford, director of EPA's Federal Facility 
Restoration and Reuse Office. Woolford, whose office is a branch of the 
Office of Solid Waste and Emergency Response, said the 
guidance could change some between now and June, depending on the 
comments from the regions.  The guidance document will help site 
managers, site attorneys, and others who work on superfund and Resource 
Conservation and Recovery Act corrective action cleanups determine the 
best type of institutional control for a site, how
to fund monitoring of the control, and who should enforce compliance 
with the control, EPA has said.  Institutional controls, also known as 
land-use restrictions, are measures such as administrative or legal 
mechanisms that minimize the potential for exposure to contamination by 
limiting the use of land or resources and protect the integrity of a 
remedy.

Details of Guidance

Woolford, speaking at the 2002 Contaminated Property 
Transactions--Converting Ruins to Rubies conference, gave some details 
of what the guidance addresses in its current form.

The document, which is being published as a companion to a September 
2000 EPA fact sheet on selecting institutional controls, "advocates the 
team approach for developing effective institutional control 
approaches," Woolford said. It stresses the importance of working with 
states, he added.

The guide was designed by EPA to be a "cross-program" guidance, so it 
can be used by different agency program offices, he said.

Woolford also said the guide stresses the importance of the development 
of "appropriate" institutional control documents, such as easements, 
covenants, and deed notices. It also provides guidance on how to handle 
"vague or incomplete language" in remedy decision/enforcement documents, 
he said.

Annual Inspections Suggested

The guide suggests annual inspections and reporting of institutional 
controls be routine operation and maintenance requirements, according to 
Woolford.

Institutional controls are considered activities of the operation and
maintenance phase of a cleanup, which is the responsibility of the state 
or local entity in which the contaminated site is located.

An EPA official told BNA in January that the document will provide
guidance on the cost of monitoring the institutional controls, which can 
be significant over time

The agency in August 2001 charged its Environmental Financial Advisory
Board to assist states with this financial burden. The board is 
completing a study of ways states can fund institutional controls and 
their maintenance at polluted sites. EPA has said it hopes to publish 
the study in the spring of 2002

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