EPA’s Efforts to Encourage the Development and Use of Innovative Technologies

EPA has established two offices to encourage the development and use of innovative technologies. Overall, in 1994, EPA selected innovative technologies in about 20 percent of its decisions on remedies for all Superfund sites. For PCB- and dioxin-contaminated sites, EPA selected innovative treatment technologies to a lesser extent than at other Superfund sites. None of these treated a PCB- or dioxin-contaminated site. These factors include (1) regulatory standards, (2) the technical limitations of technologies, (3) the lack of sufficient cost and performance data, (4) the lack of incentives for private industry to invest in innovative technologies, and (5) EPA’s general preference for technologies it believes to be effective. Scope and Methodology

You asked us to identify (1) what EPA has done to encourage the development and use of alternative, or “innovative,” technologies at all contaminated sites, including those contaminated with PCBs and dioxin; (2) whether EPA has identified innovative technologies that can be used at PCB-and dioxin-contaminated sites; and (3) what factors have limited the use of innovative technologies at PCB- and dioxin-contaminated sites.
Why GAO Did This Study

Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO reviewed the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) efforts to encourage the development and use of innovative technologies at contaminated sites, focusing on: (1) whether EPA has identified innovative technologies that can be used at polychlorinated biphenyls (PCB) and dioxin-contaminated sites; and (2) what factors have limited the use of innovative technologies at PCB and dioxin contaminated sites.

What GAO Found

GAO found that EPA has: (1) chosen innovative technologies in about 20 percent of its cleanup decisions and has used innovative treatment technologies at 10 percent of the PCB-contaminated sites and 3 percent of the dioxin-contaminated sites; (2) not identified any innovative technologies that it believes to be as effective as incineration for treating waste at PCB or dioxin contaminated Superfund sites; (3) recognized that some of its previous cleanup decisions should be reevaluated to take advantage of recent technological advancements; and (4) identified a number of barriers that inhibit the development and use of innovative technologies at Superfund sites, including the inability of innovative technologies to meet incineration performance standards, technical limitations, limited cost and performance data, and the lack of incentives to encourage technology development.