The Environmental Protection Agency’s Use of Community Involvement to Engage Communities at Superfund Sites

Abstract

The Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Superfund program was established to identify, assess and clean up the nation’s worst hazardous waste sites to protect human health and the environment. Community involvement is an important part of the Superfund program for at least three reasons. First, involving communities in decision making at Superfund sites is a statutory requirement. Second, community involvement is important so that clean up decisions will support reuse in the surrounding community. Third, because even after cleanup many sites have residual contamination that warrants administrative and legal controls to protect health and the environment, community members should understand these controls to both help protect community members and any limitations on site reuse. Community feedback informs both proposed actions and local reuse decisions. While the EPA recognizes that the agency performs many activities that are helpful to support community involvement, there are areas in need of improvement and further research would be helpful for communities in the future.

Perceived Risk and Intentions to Practice Health Protective Behaviors in a Mining-Impacted Region

“…In the Silver Valley environmental and public health conditions have improved over the past several decades: hillsides that were once bare due to smoke fallout from the Pb smelter, have been revegetated [70]; the water quality and condition of rivers and streams have improved [24]; health risk warning signs are posted at public recreation areas and at old mining sites [26]; the District hosts regular workshops about Pb contamination and provides free annual blood lead screenings [31]; and extensive environmental remediation in residential and commercial areas has reduced the risk of Pb exposure [35]. Nationally, the EPA has applied a national model of community engagement at Superfund sites in an attempt to ensure that remediation and restoration efforts align with local needs [71]. Related studies demonstrate that risk perception is not only linked to the contaminants present, but also to cues such as the equipment used for remediation or how organized remediation sites appear [72].…”

Themes Across New Directions in Community Engagement

“…The authors emphasize that both are important components of the SRP mission and describe some of the ways that SRP teams have engaged communities effectively, including developing tools to improve citizen knowledge and health literacy, adapting communication strategies to communities’ culture-specific needs, and forging partnerships that connect community members to research being conducted in SRP centers. On the other hand, Zaragoza [10] focuses on the EPA’s community involvement efforts at Superfund sites. He explains that not only is community involvement one of the core goals of the Superfund program, it is also vital to reaching the program’s other goals: protecting human and environmental health, holding responsible parties accountable, and enabling communities to resume use of previously contaminated sites.…”

“…One thing made clear by the articles in this special issue of IJERPH is that community engagement and research translation are increasingly valued by the agencies and universities that work to study and remediate hazardous waste sites. This commitment to working with communities is a clear priority of the Superfund program [10] and of the SRP [3].…”

“…The EPA is required to document community involvement in the Record of Decision (ROD) for a Superfund site and to provide a public meeting and comment period [8], though the efforts of community involvement staff also “often go well beyond” what is legally required ([9], p. 168). Activities include informing the public about the hazard and cleanup process, addressing environmental justice concerns, training community involvement staff in best practices, and offering technical assistance grants to communities, among others [10].…”

“…Although community engagement is not part of the physical process of cleaning up a hazardous waste site, it is undoubtedly vital to remediation efforts [10]. As Senier et al [11] put it, “remediation ought to restore a community’s sense of wholeness, safety, and integrity, as well as restoring clean air, soil, and water to their environs” (p. 4661).…”