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Federal Facilities: Consistent Relative Risk Evaluations Needed for Prioritizing Cleanups

RCED-96-150 Published: Jun 07, 1996. Publicly Released: Jul 17, 1996.
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Highlights

Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO reviewed how priorities are being set for hazardous waste cleanups, focusing on: (1) whether the Superfund program is identifying the highest-priority cleanup sites; and (2) the Department of Defense (DOD), Department of Energy (DOE), and the Department of the Interior approaches for ranking risks and prioritizing sites for cleanup.

Recommendations

Matter for Congressional Consideration

Matter Status Comments
To facilitate the setting of risk-based priorities for cleaning up hazardous waste sites, Congress may wish to consider amending the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA) to require the Environmental Protection Agency, in consultation with the responsible federal agencies and other stakeholders, to develop a consistent process for assessing and ranking the relative risks of hazardous waste sites.
Closed – Not Implemented
None of the CERCLA reauthorization bills that Congress is considering contain provisions requiring the recommended action.
To facilitate the setting of risk-based priorities for cleaning up hazardous waste sites, Congress may wish to consider amending CERCLA to require agencies to employ this process as a factor in setting priorities for federal hazardous waste cleanups nationwide.
Closed – Not Implemented
None of the CERCLA reauthorization bills that Congress is considering would require the recommended action.

Full Report

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Topics

Environment evaluationEnvironmental monitoringEnvironmental policiesFederal facilitiesHazardous substancesInteragency relationsRadioactive pollutionSite selectionWaste disposalWaste managementRisk assessment