TABLE OF CONTENTS
| Topics | Sections |
|---|---|
| OVERVIEW | 5.1 What is the purpose of this chapter? 5.2 What is the scope of this chapter? 5.3 What are the authorities for this chapter? |
| BACKGROUND ON THE DOCKET | 5.4 What is the Federal Agency Hazardous Waste Compliance Docket (Docket)? 5.5 What information do Federal agencies provide to EPA for the Docket? 5.6 What does EPA do with the information it receives? |
| RESPONSIBILITIES | 5.7 Who in the Service is responsible for ensuring compliance with EPA’s Docket notification requirements? |
| PRELIMINARY ASSESSMENTS/ SITE INSPECTIONS | 5.8 What happens when a Service facility is listed on the Docket? 5.9 What is a Preliminary Assessment (PA)? 5.10 What is a Site Inspection (SI)? |
| AFTER THE PA/SI - REQUIREMENTS FOR FACILITIES ON THE DOCKET | 5.11 What happens once the PA/SI is complete? 5.12 Are there categories of facilities that EPA does not include on the Docket? 5.13 Once on the Docket, does a facility ever come off? 5.14 What documentation does the Service maintain? 5.15 What other guidance materials and resources are available about the Docket? |
OVERVIEW
5.1 What is the purpose of this chapter? This chapter:
A. Describes the Federal Agency Hazardous Waste Compliance Docket (Docket) that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) maintains under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA) Section 120(c); and
B. Provides guidance for U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service) employees about listing, investigating, documenting, and reporting the status of Service facilities on the Docket.
5.2 What is the scope of this chapter? This chapter applies to all Service facilities that are listed on EPA’s Docket.
5.3 What are the authorities for this chapter?
A. Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act of 1980 (CERCLA), as amended (42 U.S.C. 9601, et seq.).
B. Executive Order 12580, Superfund Implementation, as amended.
C. Federal Facility Compliance Act of 1991 (Public Law 102-386).
D. National Oil and Hazardous Substances Pollution Contingency Plan (National Contingency Plan/NCP) (40 CFR 300, et seq.).
E. Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA), as amended, (42 U.S.C. 6901, et seq.).
BACKGROUND ON THE DOCKET
5.4 What is the Federal Agency Hazardous Waste Compliance Docket (Docket)? The Docket is a comprehensive record of information reported to EPA by Federal agencies that manage hazardous waste or from which hazardous substances, pollutants, or contaminants have been released. CERCLA Section 120(c) requires EPA to establish and maintain the Docket, which is available for public inspection, and to publish and update it every 6 months.
5.5 What information do Federal agencies provide to EPA for the Docket?
A. See Table 5-1 for a description of the information Federal agencies must provide to EPA.
Table 5-1: Information Federal Agencies Provide to EPA
| Type of Facility | Notification/Information Requirements | Authority |
|---|---|---|
| Facilities where hazardous substances are or have been treated, stored, or disposed | Information about the facility specifying the amount and type of any hazardous substance found there, and any known, suspected, or likely releases of such substances from the facility (unless the facility has a permit issued under 42 U.S.C. 6921) | CERCLA Section 103(c) |
| Hazardous waste treatment, storage, and disposal (TSD) facilities | Certain information must be provided to EPA as part of the permitting system for RCRA | RCRA Section 3005 |
| Hazardous waste generators, transporters, and TSD facilities | Information about their hazardous waste activities | RCRA Section 3010 |
| Facilities on the Docket | A biennial inventory of hazardous waste sites they own or operate or that they used to own or operate | RCRA Section 3016 |
B. In addition, EPA reviews the information agencies enter in the databases listed below and creates a list of potential Docket additions, corrections, and deletions every 6 months:
(1) Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Information System (CERCLIS): CERCLIS contains information on hazardous substance sites, potentially hazardous substance sites, and cleanup activities. The EPA will be replacing CERCLIS with the Superfund Enterprise Management System (SEMS) in the future.
(2) RCRAInfo: RCRAInfo is a national program management and inventory system that contains information about hazardous waste handlers.
(3) RCRA 3016 Inventory: The RCRA 3016 Inventory contains information about each site an agency owns or operates, or has owned or operated, at which they store, treat, or dispose of (or have disposed of) hazardous waste.
(4) Emergency Response Notification System (ERNS): EPA and the U.S. Coast Guard maintain ERNS. ERNS contains information on spills of oil and hazardous substances reported to the National Response Center.
5.6 What does EPA do with the information it receives? EPA:
A. Updates and publishes the Docket every 6 months in the Federal Register. Prior to its publication, EPA gives agencies the proposed list of facilities that they plan to add to the Docket for the agencies’ review and comment. The Service reviews the proposed list of facilities and provides additional information, if needed.
B. Maintains a Docket repository in its Regional offices.
RESPONSIBILITIES
5.7 Who in the Service is responsible for ensuring compliance with EPA’s Docket notification requirements? See Table 5-2.
Table 5-2: Responsibilities for Compliance with Docket Requirements
| These employees… | Are responsible for… |
|---|---|
| A. The Director | Approving policy that ensures the Service’s compliance with Docket notification requirements. |
| B. The Assistant Director – Business Management and Operations | Overseeing the program that ensures the Service’s compliance with Docket notification requirements. |
| C. The Chief, Division of Engineering | (1) Developing policy for complying with Docket requirements, and (2) Coordinating review of draft Docket updates and sending formal comments to the U.S. Department of the Interior (Department). |
| D. Regional Environmental Compliance Coordinators (RECCs) or their designees | (1) Sending completed Preliminary Assessment (PA), Site Inspection (SI), and other site information to the EPA Regional Docket Coordinator within a reasonable timeframe; and (2) Maintaining the official file for Docket sites in their Regions or designating another appropriate location, such as the Service office responsible for: (a) Performing the PA/SI, (b) Conducting any subsequent cleanup, or (c) Overseeing cleanup activities performed by another entity. |
PA/SIs
5.8 What happens when a Service facility is listed on the Docket?
A. When EPA adds a Service facility to the Docket, we must prepare and send them a PA, and if required, an SI, within a reasonable timeframe. (See CERCLA Section 120(d)(1).)
B. For Docket listings, a site is generally the entire facility, not just the portions or units of the facility that we may have reported as having hazardous substance activity. The facility is listed on the Docket only once, even if it contains multiple areas of contamination.
5.9 What is a Preliminary Assessment (PA)?
A. A PA is a review of available information and may include a reconnaissance visit to the facility. The purpose of the PA is to determine:
(1) Whether further action at a site is necessary, or
(2) If EPA can designate the site as “No Further Remedial Action Planned (NFRAP),” and remove the site from further consideration for response.
B. When we conduct a PA, it should include all of the known or expected areas of contamination within the facility. For more information about PAs, you can find a Federal Facilities Remedial PA Summary Guide on EPA’s website.
C. If a PA indicates that additional evaluation of the facility is necessary, we must conduct an SI (see section 5.10).
5.10 What is a Site Inspection (SI)?
A. To conduct an SI, we review the information we collected during the PA, and then we collect samples and gather enough information to:
(1) Characterize the site and contamination sources (including quantity of hazardous substances);
(2) Determine the likelihood of release of hazardous substances, pollutants, or contaminants to groundwater, surface water, soil, or air pathways;
(3) To the extent practicable, establish where contamination has come to be located; and
(4) Estimate actual or potential human and ecological receptors of contamination.
B. For more information about SIs, you can find Guidance for Performing Site Inspections Under CERCLA on EPA’s website.
REQUIREMENTS FOR FACILITIES ON THE DOCKET
5.11 What happens once the PA/SI is complete?
A. Following completion of the PA/SI, EPA uses the Hazard Ranking System (HRS) to score the facility. The HRS is a screening mechanism that helps EPA determine whether or not to place the facility on the EPA’s National Priorities List (NPL).
(1) If the HRS score is below 28.5, the facility remains on the Docket, but EPA will not propose it for the NPL.
(2) If the HRS score is 28.5 or greater, EPA may propose to list the facility on the NPL. When EPA lists a site on the NPL, certain regulatory requirements regarding community involvement, site investigation, and remedy selection apply. These requirements must be met within very specific timeframes.
B. We must clean up all of our facilities, whether or not EPA proposes the facility for the NPL.
(1) See 561 FW 10, CERCLA Site Cleanup, for details on CERCLA and NCP requirements for performing the PA/SI, additional studies that may be necessary, public involvement, records requirements, and remedy selection.
(2) You can find information about funding sources for site cleanup in 560 FW 6, Remediation, Abatement, and Environmental Compliance Funding.
5.12 Are there categories of facilities that EPA does not include on the Docket? Because EPA wants to focus on facilities likely to pose the greatest threat to human health and the environment, certain facilities that pose a lesser threat are exempt from inclusion on the Docket. The Docket does not include:
A. Facilities formerly owned by a Federal agency and now privately owned. If a facility is transferred to another Federal agency, it remains on the Docket, and EPA lists it as the responsibility of the current land administrator. EPA lists facilities that are still active but on the lands of another Federal agency as the responsibility of the agency that occupies the facility.
B. Facilities that are small quantity generators and have never:
(1) Produced more than 1,000 kg of hazardous waste in any month, or
(2) Reported releases under Section 103 of CERCLA or other hazardous waste activities under Section 3016 of RCRA.
C. Facilities that are solely transporters (reporting under RCRA Section 3010).
D. Mixed ownership mine or mill sites, which are sometimes exempt from the Docket. EPA determines on a site-by-site basis whether to include on the Docket mixed ownership mine or mill sites, which were created as a result of the General Mining Law of 1872.
5.13 Once on the Docket, does a facility ever come off? Facilities are never removed from the Docket once they have been added by EPA unless EPA determines that the site should not have been listed, or the agency transfers ownership and it is no longer administered by a Federal agency. The Division of Engineering works with the Department to review all proposed and newly published listings to verify that EPA has correctly identified and listed our facilities.
5.14 What documentation does the Service maintain? Because the public needs to know the status of cleanups, our RECCs or their designees maintain an official file for each site on the Docket. The files include:
A. Correspondence,
B. Historical and background data,
C. Site studies and monitoring results,
D. Cleanup progress, and
E. Completion reports.
5.15 What other guidance materials and resources are available about the Docket?
A. EPA has developed the following guidance documents, which are available on their Cleanups at Federal Facilities – Restoration and Reuse website:
(1) Docket Reference Manual, Federal Agency Hazardous Waste Compliance Docket; November 13, 2013;
(2) Federal Facilities Remedial Preliminary Assessment (PA) Summary Guide; July 21, 2005;
(3) Federal Facilities Remedial Site Inspection (SI) Summary Guide; July 21, 2005; and
(4) FEDFacts: Information about the Federal Electronic Docket Facilities – A Map of Federal Agency Docket Sites.
B. Attorneys from the Department’s Office of the Solicitor regularly work with the statutes and regulations relevant to the Docket and can provide legal guidance for complying with requirements.