While many Long Island residents know that Brookhaven National Laboratory is a Superfund site, few understand the meaning, the scope, and the process by which a site is identified, investigated and remediated.
The Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act (CERCLA or Superfund law) was passed by the U.S. Congress in December 1980, revised substantially in 1986, and re-authorized in 1990 and 1993. The law created a process to be used for the remediation of inactive or abandoned hazardous waste sites where contamination could pose a threat to public health or the environment. It also placed a special tax on oil and chemical companies and other polluting industries to build up a multi-billion dollar trust to fund the program.
In 1985, after the tax was in effect for five years, the Superfund program began with $1.6 billion in the trust fund. The fund is used primarily when those companies or people responsible for contamination at Superfund sites cannot be found, or cannot perform or pay for the cleanup work. When a site is owned or operated by a federal agency, like the U.S. Department of Energy, that agency is responsible for all cleanup costs. Thus, the cleanup here at the Lab is being funded by the Department of Energy, not the Superfund trust fund.
Superfund Goals
The Superfund program is overseen by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, and has four basic goals:
Over the past 11 years, 27,850 sites across the U.S. have been investigated by the Environmental Protection Agency for possible contamination, and 12,781 are still undergoing Superfund actions of some kind. Thousands of sites were dropped after no contamination was found, while others were placed on the National Priorities List for further investigation.
The National Priorities List is a published list of hazardous waste sites eligible for extensive, long-term cleanup action under the Superfund program. As of June 1996, this list contained 1,227 sites, including BNL and 153 other federal facilities. The remaining 1,073 sites belong to the state or local government, or are privately owned. Remediation projects have been completed at 353 sites. The New York, New Jersey and Connecticut area includes 201 National Priorities List sites. There are 20 National Priorities List sites on Long Island (see illustration, page 8).
The Superfund process begins with an initial screening of a suspect site, a process known as a preliminary assessment, a review of historical data to determine if further investigation is warranted. If necessary, this is followed by an Environmental Protection Agency site inspection, an on-site investigation into whether there is a release or potential release of contaminants into the environment. At this time, the site can be scored, using a process known as the Hazard Ranking System, to determine whether it should be included on the National Priorities List.
The Hazard Ranking System
The Hazard Ranking System considers the relative threat to public health and the environment, using data from the earlier investigations to assign each site a score ranging from zero to 100. The score is based on the likelihood that contaminants have been or will be released from the site; the types of contaminants present; and the human population or sensitive environmental areas that could be impacted by a release. Sites scoring above 28.50 are eligible for placement on the National Priorities List. The Lab was placed on the National Priorities List in 1989. The Lab's score is 39.92.
Contrary to popular belief, there is no "most polluted site" on the list, and a site with a higher hazard ranking is not necessarily "more contaminated" than one with a lower score. While it is a measure of relative threat, the hazard ranking is based on a formula that allows the score to be high even if just one pathway (air, groundwater, surface water or soil) score is high.
As a result, a moderately contaminated site that impacts air, soil and groundwater pathways could have a score similar to an extremely dangerous site that poses a threat through only one pathway (e.g., deeply buried, leaking hazardous waste storage drums that threaten drinking wells but have no impact on the other three pathways).
In addition, the formula takes into account requirements established by Superfund law, Environmental Protection Agency policy decisions, and risk assessment principles. Because these relationships are complex and non-linear, hazard rankings do not imply, for example, that a site with a score of 70 is a greater threat than a site with a score of 50, or that two sites with equal scores should have equal priorities for further action.
Following placement on the National Priorities List, the lead agency (in the Lab's case, the Department of Energy) conducts a remedial investigation to collect data and determine the nature and extent of contamination. This investigation includes sampling and monitoring of air, water and soil, and is conducted in conjunction with a risk assessment, which quantifies current risks to public health and the environment.
After the remedial investigation is completed or under way, a feasibility study is done to develop a host of remediation options. These options are then evaluated against nine Environmental Protection Agency criteria to determine which will be most protective of human health and the environment. (see EPA's nine criteria, page 7). This process and explanation of the preferred alternative is described in detail in a document called the "Proposed Remedial Action Plan."
The Community's Role
While public participation is encouraged throughout the process, this is a key point in time for public input. Area residents and the general public are encouraged to ask questions and express concerns during a public comment period and at a public meeting. These comments, as well as the Department of Energy's response to them, are included in a report called the "Responsiveness Summary."
At this point, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and other regulatory agencies overseeing the process select what they believe is the most appropriate option, taking into account public concerns, which are finalized in a legally-binding document known as the "Record of Decision."
The next step is the remedial design, which sets out the detailed plans and specifications for remediation. The final step is the remedial action, or actual construction and implementation of the selected option.
Special Actions
At any point in this process the regulatory agencies can expedite cleanup through a removal action or interim remedial action. These actions, such as capping, pump-and-treat, and public water hookup, are performed as quickly as possible to eliminate a potential threat to human health or the environment.
The Brookhaven National Laboratory site includes a number of areas where past practices or accidents have resulted in suspected or known contamination. To date, 28 "areas of concern" have been identified on-site and grouped into six geographical areas known as "operable units." Thirteen projects are completed or under way. Several of these projects are described in detail elsewhere in this issue.
Under Superfund law, all of the documents listed above, once each is completed, become part of the "Administrative Record" for the site. This "Administrative Record" is available for public review at information repositories. The Lab's "Administrative Record" can be found at the Longwood and Mastic-Moriches-Shirley public libraries, the BNL research library and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Region II library in Manhattan (for locations, click here).