Basic Information about Cleanups
EPA conducts and supervises investigation and cleanup actions at sites where oil or hazardous chemicals have been or may be released into the environment. Cleanup activities take place at active and abandoned waste sites, federal facilities and properties, and where any storage tanks have leaked. EPA, other federal agencies, states or municipalities, or the company or party responsible for the contamination may perform cleanups. Cleanup can also include site reuse and redevelopment.
EPA's Cleanup Programs
There are several programs under which EPA and its partners conduct cleanup-related activities. EPA's programs are described below. The tag lines in the listing should generally help you figure out which programs are appropriate for specific situations.
- Emergency Response - when the danger from pollutants poses an immediate threat to human health or the environment
- Superfund Cleanup - for large, abandoned hazardous waste sites
- Federal Facilities Cleanup - for cleanups at facilities owned by the federal government (includes Superfund and RCRA sites)
- Brownfields Cleanup - for assessments and cleanups grants related to potentially usable properties
- Underground Storage Tank Cleanup - a state-delegated program for cleanups involving underground storage tanks
- RCRA Corrective Action - a state-delegated program for hazardous waste management facilities with a spill or release
- Cleaning Up Oil Spills - for spills of oil on land and in inland waters
- Cleaning Up Air Pollutants - for addressing releases of pollutants to the air
- Cleaning Up Water - to check on the quality of your waterways and learn about drinking water standards and where to find information about the quality of your drinking water
- Emergency Response - responses to releases and hazardous waste site situations that pose imminent and substantial danger to human health and the environment and prompt immediate or short-term actions
EPA's Superfund program was established in1980 to locate, investigate, and clean up hazardous waste sites throughout the United States. The Superfund program oversees long-term ("remedial") cleanups at National Priorities List (NPL) sites, short-term cleanups ("removal actions") and responses to chemical and oil spill emergencies. Superfund cleanup starts when anyone discovers or reports a waste site or the possible release of hazardous materials. EPA compiles a database of potential hazardous substance release sites. EPA evaluates the potential for a release of hazardous substances using these Superfund cleanup process steps:
- Superfund - the program to identify, investigate, and clean up large, abandoned hazardous waste sites
- Superfund (CERCLA) Compliance Monitoring
- Superfund Compliance and Penalties
- Superfund Enforcement – work to find the responsible parties to perform the cleanup or to pay for cleanup work already done
Federal Facilities Cleanup
The mission of EPA’s Federal Facilities Cleanups Program is to facilitate faster, more effective, and less costly cleanup of environmental contamination such as hazardous and radioactive wastes, munitions and explosives, or other toxic substances, and ready Federal Facility sites for reuse across the country. At Superfund federal facilities, we provide regulatory oversight under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act (CERCLA) to ensure protection of human health and the environment. In addition, Section 120(c) of the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act (CERCLA) requires EPA to establish a Docket which contains information reported to EPA by federal facilities that manage hazardous waste or from which hazardous substances, pollutants or contaminants have been or may be released. Government facilities have to follow all necessary environmental regulations including state, tribal, and local requirements. We work with the Department of Defense, Department of Energy and other federal agencies to ensure long-term protectiveness of cleanup remedies and return Federal facilities back to communities for beneficial use.
Brownfields are defined as real properties, the expansion, redevelopment, or reuse of which may be complicated by the presence or potential presence of a hazardous substance, pollutant, or contaminant. EPA's Brownfields Program provides funds and technical assistance to states, communities, and other stakeholders in economic redevelopment to work together to assess, safely clean up, and sustainably reuse brownfields.
EPA's Brownfields program balances protecting human health and the environment with redevelopment. Possible environmental contamination can affect re-use of abandoned or unused sites. Many "brownfields" were created when manufacturing plants or military bases closed or moved. EPA assesses these sites to clean them up, prevent more contamination and make plans for re-use.
EPA’s Brownfields and Land Revitalization cleanup enforcement program provides guidance and uses site-specific enforcement tools to address available liability protections, thereby assisting parties seeking to clean up, reuse, or redevelop contaminated properties.
Underground Storage Tank Cleanup
The federal UST program defines underground storage tank systems (USTs) as tanks and connected piping with at least 10 percent of their combined volume underground. Some leaking USTs can cause fires and explosions. The greatest hazard is UST contents seeping into the soil and contaminating groundwater, the main source of drinking water. Learn more about cleaning up UST system releases and their enforcement.
RCRA Corrective Action
Hazardous waste can be released accidentally from storage facilities. Under the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA), owners or operators of treatment, storage or disposal (TSD) facilities are responsible for investigating and cleaning up these accidental releases. EPA calls this kind of cleanup a "corrective action."
Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) Compliance Monitoring
There are several ways to accomplish RCRA cleanup enforcement. TSD facility owners can sign a voluntary cleanup agreement. EPA can compel compliance with a permit, require an investigation or implement a cleanup action. EPA can also issue an order regarding situations that might present imminent and substantial endangerment to health or the environment.
Oil Spill Cleanup
EPA works to prevent oil spills. The Spill Prevention Control and Countermeasure (SPCC) program helps prepare for, and respond to, any oil spill affecting the inland waters of the United States. The program has reduced the number of spills to less than 1% of the total volume of oil handled each year.
Oil cleanup enforcement information is available under the Oil Pollution and Clean Water Acts. Enforcement concerns parties responsible for actual or threatened oil spills. Regulatory enforcement includes administrative and judicial penalty actions for oil spills, SPCC program violations and other regulatory requirements.
Cleaning Up Air Pollutants
Learn more about criteria air pollutants and air pollution in specific areas of the country.
Cleaning Up Water
Search How's My Waterway to find out if your local waterway has been checked for pollution, what was found, and what is being done.
Links to information about drinking water standards and how to find out the quality of your drinking water can be found on the Ground Water and Drinking Water page.