Illinois – OCTOBER 31, 2002
The Weekly Roundup is published by Marasco Newton Group, Ltd., on behalf of
the Land Renewal Network, a forum to address RCRA, CERCLA, and Brownfields
policies. The following items are of interest this week:
LAND RENEWAL (Brownfields, Superfund Redevelopment, USTfields)
EPA ACCEPTING BROWNFIELDS GRANT APPLICATIONS: EPA is now accepting
proposals for brownfields assessment, revolving loan fund, and cleanup
grants. The grants will be the first issued under the authority of the
Small Business Liability Relief and Brownfields Revitalization Act, signed
by President Bush in January 2002. The FY 2003 brownfields budget request
is double last year’s funding, and EPA estimates that funding will be
available for 200 grant awards next year, almost double 2002’s awards. The
assessment grants (up to $200,000 each over two years) are used to inventory, characterize, assess, and conduct planning and community involvement for brownfields; the revolving loan fund grants (up to $1 million each over five years) allow recipients to capitalize a revolving loan fund to support cleanup activities; and the new cleanup grants (up to $200,000 each over two years) provide funding to clean up brownfields sites.
Grant proposals are due to EPA by December 16, 2002; applicants selected in the initial evaluation round will have until March 5, 2003, to submit final proposals. For more information, call the EPA Call Center at 703.412.9810
or 1.800.424.9346. The proposal guidelines are available at Brownfields. The Brownfields 2002 conference will also “help introduce the new and enlarged program inspired by the federal legislation signed by President Bush” (see Upcoming Events below).
RCRA/RECYCLING
EPA PROPOSED RULE TO REDUCE WASTE TESTING BURDEN: On October 30, 2002, EPA
published in the Federal Register a proposed rule that would amend a variety
of testing and monitoring requirements under RCRA for determining whether
waste is hazardous (67 FR 66251). The proposed rule would allow more
flexibility when conducting RCRA-related sampling and analysis by removing unnecessary test methods in the manual, Test Methods for Evaluating Solid Waste, Physical/Chemical Methods, also known as SW-846. The proposal would only require the use of an SW-846 test method when that method is the only
one capable of measuring a particular waste characteristic. EPA views this
proposal as an “important step” toward implementation of a performance-based
measurement system, which is part of the agency’s Innovating for Better
Environmental Results efforts. EPA is accepting comments on the proposed
rule through December 30, 2002. Comments may be submitted to: OSWER
Docket, Environmental Protection Agency, Mail Code: 5305-G, 1200
Pennsylvania Avenue, NW, Washington, DC 20460, Attention Docket ID No.
RCRA-2002-0025. You must send an original and two copies of your comments.
PEOPLE ON THE MOVE
OERR DIRECTOR ANNOUNCES REORGANIZATION OF SUPERFUND OFFICE: EPA Office of
Emergency and Remedial Response (OERR) Director Mike Cook has announced the
new organization of OERR, or the Superfund office. OERR has moved from an organization comprising 14 centers, to a more traditional organization with
three new divisions, and branches within those divisions. The three
divisions are Emergency Response, Resources Management (which handles
internal EPA activities), and Assessment & Remediation (which handles
Superfund pipeline and related activities). On October 29, Cook announced the selection of managers for the new positions, including Elaine Davies as OERR Deputy Office Director, and Elizabeth Southerland as Director,
Assessment & Remediation Division. The other two division director positions have not been filled. These appointments will not go into effect
until the reorganization package is approved. It is not yet clear where the
reuse function will reside. The proposed organization chart is attached
below.
GENERAL
DOT ANNOUNCES $12.8 MILLION IN GRANTS FOR HAZARDOUS MATERIALS PLANNING AND
TRAINING: On October 25, the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT)
announced that it is granting nearly $12.8 million to states, territories,
and Native American tribes to fund planning and training to improve response strategies to hazardous materials transportation incidents. The grants were made available through DOT’s Research and Special Programs Administration, which is charged with regulating HAZMAT transport and pipeline safety, and were awarded under the Hazardous Materials Emergency Preparedness Program. The grants are funded through registration fees from shippers and carriers of certain hazardous materials. For more information, visit <a href="http://www.rspa.dot.gov"Research and Special Programs Administration, and click on HAZMAT safety.
CERCLA
IG CLARIFIES DETAILS OF FY 2002 SUPERFUND FUNDING: According to an October 25th report by the EPA Inspector General (IG), cleanups at seven Superfund sites for which funding had been requested were not funded by EPA in FY 2002, and an additional five sites were not funded to the levels requested by the EPA regional offices. The report was written in response to
information requests by the Senators Jeffords and Boxer made on August 26,
after an IG report released in July reported a total of 33 sites for which
cleanups had not been funded at that time. The July report had generated
concerns that cleanup activities and long-term response actions would be
placed in jeopardy at certain sites due to a lack of funds in EPA’s
Superfund cleanup program. According to the recently released IG report, in
addition to the 12 sites that have received no funding or received less
funding than requested, another 12 sites received no funding due to delays
or obstacles to cleanup at those sites; EPA determined these 12 sites did
not require funding. Of the $417 requested by the EPA regional offices in
FY 2002 for cleanup activities, $320 million was received, resulting in a
shortfall of $97 million. EPA reported that the seven Superfund sites that
requested but did not receive funding account for approximately $92 million
of this shortfall, leaving about $5 million in funding that was not
obligated to the remaining five sites that were not fully funded. According
to an EPA spokesman, the seven sites that were unfunded in FY 2002 have
received a total of $48 million in previous years to address short-term
risks, and all are expected to receive funding in future years to pay for
long-term risks. He noted that other sites were funded over these seven
this year because they presented higher risks to human health and the
environment. This IG report updates the office’s July report; EPA had
countered the July report by saying that not all FY 2002 funding had been
obligated by that time. If you would like a copy of the IG’s report, please
respond affirmatively to this e-mail.
UPCOMING EVENTS
SAVE THE DATE! On November 13, 2002, Marasco Newton Group is hosting a
reception at the Tower Club Charlotte, 27th Floor, 201 South College Drive,
Charlotte, North Carolina. Appetizers and beverages will be served. If you
will be in Charlotte attending the Brownfields 2002 conference, please join
us between 6:30 p.m. and 9:30 p.m. to mingle with your colleagues in
industry and government! Please R.S.V.P. via return e-mail so we can
maintain a head count. We look forward to seeing you there!
BROWNFIELDS 2002: The Brownfields 2002 Conference will be held November
13-15 in Charlotte, North Carolina. The annual brownfields conference is
open to all stakeholders; program sessions will be offered for beginning,
intermediate, and seasoned stakeholders. This year’s conference theme is
“Investing in the Future.” The 2002 Phoenix Awards, which recognize
outstanding achievement in brownfields redevelopment, will be presented at
the conference. To learn more about the conference, visit the Brownfields
2002 Web site at Brownfields.
NATIONAL COMPLIANCE ASSISTANCE PROVIDERS FORUM: EPA’s National Compliance Assistance Providers Forum 2002 will be held December 4-6 in San Antonio, Texas. The forum allows compliance assistance practitioners to share their expertise, network, and build their skills. Previous forum participants have included state, federal, tribal, and local officials; community groups; non-profit organizations; representatives from academia; and private firms.
To learn more about this event, visit
http://www.mng-ltd.com/cfide/website/ncapf02/index1.htm”>Forum Overview.
