Superfund

One of the most contentious issues facing the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is the use of incineration to clean up Superfund sites contaminated by polychlorinated biphenyls (PCB) or dioxin. Increasingly, community groups are protesting the use of incineration as a treatment remedy. Many people fear that the incinerators will emit hazardous substances that could pose a health risk for neighboring communities. Although EPA encourages the development of innovative technologies to dispose of hazardous wastes, it has not identified any technologies it believes to be as effective as incineration for most PCB- or dioxin-contaminated sites. Several innovative technologies, however, have the potential for future applications in treating complex sites contaminated with PCBs and dioxin. Accordingly, GAO agrees with EPA's recent proposal to revisit its decisions on remedies at some sites that could benefit from significant technological advancements.

GAO found that EPA has: (1) chosen innovative technologies in about 20 percent of its cleanup decisions and has used innovative treatment technologies at 10 percent of the PCB-contaminated sites and 3 percent of the dioxin-contaminated sites; (2) not identified any innovative technologies that it believes to be as effective as incineration for treating waste at PCB or dioxin contaminated Superfund sites; (3) recognized that some of its previous cleanup decisions should be reevaluated to take advantage of recent technological advancements; and (4) identified a number of barriers that inhibit the development and use of innovative technologies at Superfund sites, including the inability of innovative technologies to meet incineration performance standards, technical limitations, limited cost and performance data, and the lack of incentives to encourage technology development.