Hazardous Waste

Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO reviewed the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) corrective action program under the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA), as amended, focusing on the: (1) status of the program at RCRA facilities; and (2) staff level EPA committed to the corrective action program.

GAO found that: (1) EPA had not assessed most RCRA facilities to determine whether potential leaks existed; (2) EPA had proceeded with remedies at 95 facilities; (3) in fiscal year (FY) 1989, EPA committed 216 staff years to the corrective action program, and EPA estimated that it would use 118 staff years for critical oversight of cleanup activities; (4) EPA estimated that its 10 regional offices needed over 300 staff years for oversight; (5) for FY 1990 and FY 1991, EPA budgeted more staff resources to corrective action; and (6) in order for EPA to meet RCRA provisions, all of the corrective action resources would have to be devoted to performing assessments and issuing corrective action permits, resulting in few regional staff resources being available for oversight.