[CPEO-BIF] Joint letter support including Vapor Intrusion in the Hazard Ranking System

[Lenny Siegel <LSiegel@cpeo.org>]

Dear US EPA,

Please see our official comments from 49 community-based local, state  
and national environmental health, labor, and health-impacted groups  
from around the country in regards to Docket ID No. EPA–HQ– SFUND– 
2010–1086.

We are writing to fully support EPA’s proposal to update the Hazard  
Ranking System (HRS) to include the vapor intrusion pathway, so that  
sites with significant documented or potential vapor intrusion can be  
placed on the “Superfund” National Priorities List (NPL).

This action is long overdue, because an uncounted number of Americans  
are exposed to toxic volatile substances in our homes, schools, and  
workplaces.

Many of us live, work, or have children that attend schools near  
legacy industrial sites, military sites, gas stations, dry cleaning  
facilities, and other sources of hazardous vapors.

Our comments are attached and below.  Thank you.

Sincerely,

Mike Schade, PVC Campaign Coordinator
Center for Health Environment and Justice
New York, NY
212.964.3680 / mike@chej.org

Alaska Community Action on Toxics (ACAT)
Barron Park Association Foundation
The Breast Cancer Fund
BVOCAL (Behr VOC Area Leaders)
Center for Health, Environment & Justice (CHEJ)
Center for Public Environmental Oversight
Citizens' Environmental Coalition
Citizens For A Clean Pompton Lakes
Citizens for Safe Water Around Badger (CSWAB)
Citizens for Sanity.Com, Inc.
Clean Water for North Carolina
Cleanuprocketdyne.org
Community Builders Corporation
Concerned Citizens of Lake Twp./Uniontown IEL
Concerned Citizens of the Plainview-Old Bethpage Community Inc.
CTS Citizens Monitoring Council
Don't Waste Arizona
Edison Wetlands Association
Empire State Consumer Project
Environmental Awareness Foundation
Environmental Health Group
French Broad Riverkeeper
Global Community Monitor
Global Indoor Health Network, Inc.
Glynn Environmental Coalition
Green Spaces NY
Group for the East End
HabitatMap
Healthy Child Healthy World
Hopewell Junction Citizens for Clean Water
Hudson River Sloop Clearwater, Inc.
Incinerator Free Brown County
Inter PAC Environmental Justice Committee
Lindon Park Neighborhood Association
Mills Gap Road Ground Water Contamination Site CAG
New Bedford Environmental Justice Network
New Green Media
Newtown Creek Alliance
New York Committee for Occupational Safety & Health (NYCOSH)
New York Public Interest Research Group (NYPIRG)
NJ Environmental Federation
New Jersey Friends of Clearwater, Inc.
New York Vapor Intrusion Alliance (NYVIA)
Old Bedford Village Development, Inc.
Person County People Rising in Defense of Ecology
Physicians for Social Responsibility - Los Angeles (PSR-LA)
Voluntary Clean-Up Advisory Board
Western North Carolina Alliance
Wild New Jersey

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
EPA Docket Center
Superfund Docket,
Mail Code 28221T
1200 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW.
Washington, DC  
20460                                                             
April 15, 2011

Re: Docket ID No. EPA–HQ– SFUND–2010–1086

Dear US EPA:

We are writing to fully support EPA’s proposal to update the Hazard  
Ranking System (HRS) to include the vapor intrusion pathway, so that  
sites with significant documented or potential vapor intrusion can be  
placed on the “Superfund” National Priorities List (NPL). This action  
is long overdue, because an uncounted number of Americans are exposed  
to toxic volatile substances in our homes, schools, and workplaces.

Many of us live, work, or have children that attend schools near  
legacy industrial sites, military sites, gas stations, dry cleaning  
facilities, and other sources of hazardous vapors.

We believe that dangerous, complex, and/or large vapor intrusion  
sites may need to be addressed under Superfund because many states  
lack the capability to adequately evaluate the pathway. In addition,  
EPA-led sites that are addressed under other programs, such as  
Emergency Response, sometimes use unprotective exposure standards. At  
many sites where vapor intrusion is being mitigated there is no long- 
term strategy for eliminating the source. Listing would require that  
remediation alternatives be evaluated.

It should be simple for significant sites with completed vapor  
intrusion to qualify for Listing, but the HRS should also recognize  
sites with potential vapor intrusion:

1.      Most potential vapor intrusion sites have not experienced  
soil gas or indoor air sampling. Significant levels of volatile  
substances, particularly chlorinated volatile organic compounds  
(CVOCs), in shallow groundwater should be enough to place these sites  
on the NPL. This should apply to undeveloped property where occupied  
structures are a reasonably anticipated future land use.

2.      Many occupied buildings with elevated levels of CVOCs in  
underlying soil gas do not manifest elevated concentrations indoors  
because the slab or floor is currently impermeable or ventilation  
rates are high. These temporary conditions should not be considered  
protective, and listing should be considered.

3.      At a growing number of sites, overseen by EPA or other  
regulators, as well as those where the environmental response is  
conducted by volunteers, mitigation such as subslab depressurization  
has been installed. Such mitigation is necessary, but these are  
interim measures. Short term reductions in indoor air contamination  
should not prevent a site from NPL Listing.

We recognize that not every site with confirmed or potential vapor  
intrusion will qualify for the NPL—the nation’s worst. We also  
understand that once sites are listed that remedies will be selected  
according to the nine criteria of the National Contingency Plan.  
Nevertheless, we strongly believe that adding the vapor intrusion  
pathway as a factor in NPL Listing will provide EPA with an important  
tool to protect Americans further from continuing exposure to highly  
toxic volatiles substances.

In summary, we strongly support EPA’s proposal to add the vapor  
intrusion pathway as a component of the Hazard Ranking System for  
listing properties on the “Superfund” National Priorities List.

We thank you for the opportunity to comment on this important matter.

Sincerely,


Pamela K. Miller, Executive Director
Alaska Community Action on Toxics (ACAT)
Anchorage, AK

Bob Moss
Barron Park Association Foundation
Palo Alto, CA

Jeanne Rizzo, R.N. President and CEO
The Breast Cancer Fund
San Francisco, CA

Jerry Bowling III
BVOCAL (Behr VOC Area Leaders)
Dayton, OH

Lois Marie Gibbs, Executive Director
Center for Health, Environment & Justice (CHEJ)
Falls Church, VA

Lenny Siegel, Executive Director
Center for Public Environmental Oversight
Mountain View, CA



Nancy Swan
Children's Environmental Protection Alliance

Barbara J. Warren, Executive Director
Citizens' Environmental Coalition
Albany, NY

Lisa Riggiola , Executive Director
Citizens For A Clean Pompton Lakes
Pompton Lakes, NJ

Laura Olah, Executive Director
Citizens for Safe Water Around Badger (CSWAB)
Merrimac, WI

Clay G. Colson, Board Director and Water Issues Chair
Citizens for Sanity.Com, Inc.
Pasco, FL

Katie Hicks
Clean Water for North Carolina
Asheville, NC

Christina Walsh
Cleanuprocketdyne.org
West Hills, CA

Duane De Witt, Executive Director
Community Builders Corporation
Santa Rosa, CA

Sarah Anker, Suffolk County Legislator
Community Health and the Environment
Mt. Sinai, NY

Chris Borello, President
Concerned Citizens of Lake Twp./Uniontown IEL
Uniontown, OH

Carol Meschkow, President
Concerned Citizens of the Plainview-Old Bethpage Community Inc.
Plainview, NY

Dave Ogren, Buncombe County Commissioner Appointed
CTS Citizens Monitoring Council
Asheville, NC

Stephen Brittle, President
Don't Waste Arizona
Phoenix, AZ

Robert Spiegel, Executive Director
Edison Wetlands Association
Edison, NJ

Judy Braiman
Empire State Consumer Project
Rochester, NY

Bill Burns
Environmental Awareness Foundation
Atlanta, GA

Kent Slowinski, Co-Founder
Environmental Health Group
Washington, DC

Hartwell Carson
French Broad Riverkeeper
Western North Carolina Alliance
Asheville, NC

Denny Larson, Executive Director
Global Community Monitor
El Cerrito, CA

Cheryl Wisecup, President
Global Indoor Health Network, Inc.
Henderson, Nevada

Daniel Parshley, Project Manager
Glynn Environmental Coalition
Brunswick, GA

Eva Navon, Community Manager
Green Spaces NY
New York, NY

Robert S. DeLuca, President
Group for the East End
Southold, NY

Michael Heimbinder, Executive Director
HabitatMap
Brooklyn, NY

Rachel Lincoln Sarnoff, Interim Executive Director/CEO
Healthy Child Healthy World
Los Angeles, CA

Debra Hall, Co-Chair
Hopewell Junction Citizens for Clean Water
NYVIA New York Vapor Intrusion Alliance
Hopewell Junction NY

Ed Dlugosz
Hudson River Sloop Clearwater, Inc.
New Jersey Friends of Clearwater, Inc.
Red Bank, NJ

John Filcher
Incinerator Free Brown County
Green Bay, WI

Marion J. Lamberth, Outreach Chair
Inter PAC Environmental Justice Committee
Durham, N.C.

Mary Moore
Lindon Park Neighborhood Association
Phoenix, AZ

Donna A. Lupardo
Member, NYS Assembly
Binghamton, NY

Glen Horecky, Chair
Mills Gap Road Ground Water Contamination Site CAG
Asheville, NC

Kathleen Schmid, Executive Director
Newtown Creek Alliance
Brooklyn and Queens, NY

Karen A. Vilandry
New Bedford Environmental Justice Network
New Bedford, MA

Joel Shufro, Executive Director
New York Committee for Occupational Safety and Health (NYCOSH)
NeNew York, NY



Laura Haight, Senior Environmental Associate
New York Public Interest Research Group (NYPIRG)
Albany, NY

Dana Patterson, Manger
New Green Media
Edison, NJ

Amy Goldsmith, State Director
NJ Environmental Federation.
Belmar, NJ

John G. Andrade Executive Director
Old Bedford Village Development, Inc.
New Bedford, MA

Pat Hill, Co-Chair
Person County People Rising in Defense of Ecology
Roxboro, NC

Martha Dina Argüello, Executive Director
Physicians for Social Responsibility - Los Angeles (PSR-LA)
Los Angeles, CA

Tim Lopez, President
Voluntary Clean-Up Advisory Board
Denver, CO

David Wheeler, Founder
Wild New Jersey
Edison, NJ



CC:     EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson
        EPA Assistant Administrator Mathy Stanislaus, OSWER

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