Our reviews have shown that the Superfund cleanup process can be long and expensive. Some of these state programs can handle highly contaminated sites, whose risks could qualify them for the Superfund program, as well as less dangerous sites. States accomplish cleanups under three programs: (1) voluntary cleanup programs that allow parties to clean up their sites without enforcement action, often to increase the site’s economic value; (2) brownfields programs that encourage the voluntary cleanup of sites in urban industrial areas to reuse the sites and avoid the expansion of industry into “greenfields,” that is, undeveloped land; and (3) enforcement programs that oversee the cleanup of the most serious sites and force uncooperative responsible parties to clean up their sites.States generally use their voluntary and brownfields programs to clean up less complex sites by offering various incentives to responsible parties, such as reduced state oversight. State Practices That Officials Believe May Facilitate Faster, Less Costly Hazardous Waste Cleanups

Hazardous waste officials in each of the seven states we contacted identified practices used at sites sufficiently contaminated to be included in the Superfund program that they believe achieve faster and less costly cleanups than would occur under the Superfund program. Two states have adopted practices that reduce the liability of parties who might be responsible for cleanup costs under Superfund’s liability rules. State officials said that these practices have been applied to some state program sites that are sufficiently contaminated to qualify for the NPL. Although the officials described instances in which these practices have yielded benefits, none could formally document the time and cost savings of the practices. According to state officials, containment remedies remain protective of human health and the environment if properly controlled and maintained. EPA and Other Stakeholders Identified Potential Disadvantages of Applying State Practices to the Superfund Program

Environmental policy stakeholders that we interviewed, including EPA, state and national environmental organizations, and representatives of state and local government associations, generally did not dispute that the state practices had the efficiency benefits described by state officials. Some of the environmental organizations and a local government organization, however, identified potentials risks of applying these practices to the Superfund program. Since the state practices can reduce cleanup costs, they are generally advantageous for businesses and others responsible for cleaning up sites. Stakeholder’s Views on Practices That Could Lead to Lower-Cost Remedies

The representatives of the environmental groups and others that we contacted, such as the Sierra Club, John Snow Institute, RFF, and EPA regions, generally believed that the states’ lack of preference for permanent cleanup remedies and their greater readiness to consider that sites will not be used for residential purposes in the future tend to weaken the long-term effectiveness of site remediation programs. Scope and Methodology

To identify practices that may facilitate cleanups of hazardous waste sites that are faster or less costly in comparison with the federal Superfund program, we selected seven states—Illinois, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Texas—with cleanup programs that are among the largest in the nation and that were recommended by various stakeholders—including EPA, industry organizations, and environmental groups—as states that had implemented time- and cost-saving practices.
Why GAO Did This Study

Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO: (1) identified practices that are both used in selected state programs at sites that may be contaminated enough to qualify for long-term cleanup under the Superfund program and that are believed by state officials to reduce the time and expense of cleanups; and (2) obtained the views of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), environmentalists, and other stakeholders about whether the states' practices may be applicable to the Superfund program.

What GAO Found

GAO noted that: (1) state hazardous waste program officials identified cleanup practices that they believe lead to faster or less costly cleanup of sites and that have been applied at sites that qualify for the Superfund Program, and said that the practices facilitated cleanups in that: (a) some practices promoted faster decisionmaking about how to clean up sites, that is, decisions about which cleanup remedies to use; (b) their programs allow less costly cleanup remedies than the Superfund law requires, which are nevertheless, they believe, protective of health and the environment; and (c) two state programs reduce litigation costs, speed up cleanups, and improve the fairness of the cleanup process by not holding some parties responsible for cleanup who would be liable under the Superfund law; (2) although the officials provided some anecdotal evidence illustrating the benefits of these practices, none could provide a formal assessment of time and cost savings; (3) environmental policy stakeholders that GAO interviewed, including EPA, state and national environmental organizations, and representatives of local governments, generally did not dispute that the state practices identified can facilitate faster or less costly cleanups; (4) because they can reduce costs, the state practices are generally advantageous to private companies and others responsible for cleaning up sites; (5) however, EPA and environmental and local government groups said that applying some of the practices to the Superfund program could have disadvantages; (6) environmental groups, as well as representatives of state and local officials, noted that containment remedies leaving contamination at sites would require control over the use of the sites, such as restrictive zoning, to reduce human exposure to the contaminants; (7) a number of stakeholders, including state officials, said that a lessening of the Superfund program's more rigorous cleanup requirements or liability standards could negatively affect the state programs; (8) they noted that states can refer sites at which parties responsible for cleanup refuse to comply with state requirements to EPA for possible action under the Superfund program; and (9) the belief of responsible parties that the Superfund requirements are more onerous than the states' is a powerful incentive for cooperation with state authorities that might be weakened if the Superfund program became more like the state programs.