FENCELINE ISSUE

[Lenny Siegel <lsiegel@igc.org>]

From: Lenny Siegel <lsiegel@igc.org>

THE FENCELINE-TO-FENCELINE ISSUE
One of the recurring complaints about the way cleanups occur at 
military "Superfund" (National Priorities List, or NPL) facilities is 
that the entire installation appears to listed, not just the 
contaminated sites. While US EPA says that listing applies only to 
contaminated areas, that distinction is not always apparent in the field.
In his March 21, 1996 testimony before the House National Security 
Committee, Edwin Clark of Clean Sites, Inc. discussed the practice - as 
he understands it - of listing entire facilities on the NPL: "The 
practice has led to non-NPL caliber sites (e.g. underground storage 
tanks) being treated as NPL sites." It requires a process "much too 
elaborate for most of these sites."
However, I think that it's confusing to clean up different portions of 
a facility under different statutes. For example, it's absolutely 
frustrating to communities to be told that underground storage tanks 
are not part of cleanup programs. Furthermore, at the early stages of 
investigation, when listing occurs, it is not always clear whether a 
"minor" fuel plume will interact with a TCE plume to form vinyl chloride.
I therefore favor continuing to include ALL CONTAMINATED AREAS, as they 
are identified, in the NPL listing. Then, agencies can use approaches - 
such as the Air Combat Command's Variable Oversight - to avoid wasting 
time and money by paying too much attention to minor sites.
Then, when a facility-wide investigation is used to complete the study 
process at an NPL-listed base, sites previously unaddressed can be 
folded into the facility-wide record of decision without developing new 
legal arrangements.
In summary, while fenceline-to-fenceline listing may have caused some 
difficulties in the past, administrative clarification and reform will 
solve most of those problems. There is no need to change the law to 
reduce further the application of Superfund authorities.
Lenny Siegel