Status of Civilian Federal Agencies' Efforts To Address Hazardous Waste Problems on Their Lands
RCED-84-188
Published: Sep 28, 1984. Publicly Released: Sep 28, 1984.
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Highlights
Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO determined: (1) what actions have been taken by federal civilian agencies to comply with provisions of the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA), which require them to identify federal sites which potentially contain hazardous wastes; and (2) the status of ongoing and planned agency actions to assess and correct hazardous waste problems at federal sites.
Recommendations
Recommendations for Executive Action
| Agency Affected | Recommendation | Status |
|---|---|---|
| Environmental Protection Agency | The Administrator, EPA, should instruct EPA regional offices on the importance and need for complete and accurate information on potential hazardous waste site locations on federal lands. The instructions should also require regional offices to update and correct the ERRIS database to show which locations are on federal lands and clearly identify within the database those locations on federal lands that have been shown to lack the potential for uncontrolled hazardous waste sites. |
Section 120(c) of P.L. 99-499 required EPA to establish a federal facilities hazardous waste database to be updated every 6 months to show current status of hazardous waste sites. EPA published the docket on February 12, 1988. The CERCLIS database was updated in order to arrive at docket.
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| Environmental Protection Agency | The Administrator, EPA, should require EPA regional offices to update and correct the ERRIS database to show the current status of site assessment, evaluation, and corrective actions that have been taken at federal agency locations. |
As part of fulfilling a mandate to establish a federal facilities docket under SARA, P.L. 99-499, EPA provided guidance to federal agencies on how to assess hazardous waste sites and report the status of sites to the EPA regional office to include in its repository.
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Topics
Data collectionEnvironmental monitoringHazardous substancesPollution controlProgram managementReporting requirementsWaste disposalHazardous waste sitesHazardous wastesFederal agencies