EPA’s Policy of Superfund Sites Redevelopment into Recreational Facilit

EPA’s Policy of Superfund Sites Redevelopment into Recreational Facilities: The Success of Chisman Creek Introduction Superfund sites are located all across the United States and its territories. These sites have been deemed the worst of the worst in terms of environmental damage; they pose a threat to human health and the environment, prior to their remediation. Superfund sites are usually a result of several years of contamination; however, there are some instances when they are one-time accidents. United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is in charge of Superfund, which is the common term for Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA) and the enforcement of this law in the United States. Superfund was passed in 1980 to establish enforcement surrounding contamination sites in the U.S. and their cleanup. EPA has set up several initiatives and policies that deal with the remediation and redevelopment of these sites. EPA focuses their remediation policies on turning these sites back into productive and useful areas for the community, whether that reuse i s residential, commercial, industrial, or recreational use. Chisman Creek Superfund Site in Virginia was chosen as a site that could be successfully remediated into a recreational facility and serve as an example for other site remediation policy makers. The process by which this contaminated old landfill was redeveloped into a phenomenal recreational facility is an example of EPA successfully pulling together several issues and actors to achieve their agenda. Issues Superfund sites could have many different contaminations and remediation characteristics. The characterization of the site should strongly correlate with... ...ncy and Remedial Responses, Reuse of CERCLA Landfill and Containment Sites, OSWER 9375.3-05P, September 1999. EPA, Office of Emergency and Remedial Responses, Returning Superfund Sites To Productive Use, OSWER 9378.0-16FS, March 1999. EPA, Office of Emergency and Remedial Responses, Chisman Creek, York County, Virginia – Technical Appendix, OSWER 9378.0-16FS, March 1999. WWW.EPA.GOV/oerrpage/superfund/programs/recycle/benefits.htm WWW.EPA.GOV/oerrpage/superfund/programs/recycle/bensum.htm WWW.EPA.GOV/oerrpage/superfund/programs/recycle/recycle.htm WWW.EPA.GOV/oerrpage/superfund/programs/recycle/list170.htm Colvin, George H., "RCRA Cleanup Reforms", Environmental Protection, February 2000. Bolitzer, B and N. R. Netusil, " The Impact of open spaces on property values in Portland, Oregon", Journal of Environmental Management, 59, 185-193, 2000.