EPA Offers Companies Quicker Path to Superfund Cleanup

Companies and EPA’s regional offices could speed up Superfund remedies, under the agency’s new policy that allows some planning work to begin while the involved parties negotiate who should pay how much for cleanup.

The Environmental Protection Agency moved June 21 to separate a single step in the Superfund program into two tracks: the design of the cleanup plan and the cleanup action. That change is designed to reduce the time to complete cleanup in cases where design and action settlements are challenged or otherwise delayed, the agency hopes.

Designing cleanup at a Superfund site is generally less costly ...