EPA ISSUES WARNING ON OVERSIGHT CAPABILITIES FOR MUNITIONS SITES

摘要

States and EPA lack the capacity to provide regulatory oversight for the cleanup of hundreds of sites across the country littered with potentially dangerous military munitions, EPA's federal facilities program chief John Reeder told state regulators March 22.rnThe warning comes as EPA is contemplating requesting legislative changes to clarify the respective roles of states, EPA and the military in munitions cleanups at sites not listed on the National Priorities List (NPL) of the country's most contaminated sites.rnSpeaking at the spring meeting of the Environmental Council of the States (ECOS) in Alexandria, VA, John Reeder, head of EPA's Federal Facilities Restoration & Reuse Office, said that a mountain of munitions response sites threatens to swamp states and EPA, and states in particular lack the resources and technical capacity to cope with the sites.rnHundreds of known military munitions response sites, most not listed on the NPL, are now moving from early scoping phases toward remediation by the Army, he explained, and this will stretch states to the limit. "There will be a day when we are going to feel overwhelmed" by the munitions cleanup workload, Reeder said, adding that EPA has considerable expertise in oversight of munitions sites and can help states through training programs to build their technical capabilities.