Groups representing liable parties and cleanup contractors are urging EPA to borrow concepts from its Great Lakes cleanup program and create a national public-private collaborative to speed cleanups at Superfund sediment mega-sites, a shift from the litigation-driven, polluter-pays concept though one that will likely require congressional action to advance.
Utilities are warning that a district court ruling subjecting coal ash disposal sites to Clean Water Act (CWA) discharge permits for leaks into groundwater could subvert EPA's Resource Conservation & Recovery Act (RCRA) rule governing ash disposal, an outcome they say could throw states' waste programs into “disarray.”
The 4th Circuit will not coordinate two cases testing the limits of Clean Water Act authority over groundwater contamination, raising the possibility of contradictory rulings.
“These [Superfund cleanup] funds should not be entrusted to someone who has been barred from working for every financial institution from credit unions to Wall Street banks,” Rep. Frank Pallone (D-NJ) told the administrator.
House Democrats argue Trump administration plans to slash EPA funding fly in the face of the need to secure contaminated sites against increasing risk of hurricanes and other disasters.
After years of resisting calls to incorporate workload analysis into its resource allocations, EPA's waste office has agreed to prioritize most Superfund sites and assign personnel according to those priorities, though the agency is suggesting a “more measured approach” than what the agency's Inspector General (IG) originally sought.
Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) staff says EPA’s re-proposed groundwater protection rule for uranium in-situ recovery (ISR) mining reaches beyond the agency’s jurisdictional authorities, by encroaching on NRC’s authorities to regulate the activity and applying the wrong statutory authority in an attempt to protect potential future groundwater uses.
