United States Environmental Protection Agency (“EPA”) Administrator E. Scott Pruitt issued a May 9th memorandum titled:
Revisions to CERCLA Delegations of Authority 14-2 Responses and 14-21A Consultations, Determinations, Reviews and Selection of Remedial Actions at Federal Facilities (“Memorandum”)
The Memorandum was directed to the Assistant Administrator – Office of Land and Emergency Management and the Regional Administrators.
A focus of the Memorandum is the prior delegation of Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act (i.e., “Superfund”) decision making authority to the EPA Regional Offices.
Administrator Pruitt states:
. . . in order to facilitate the more-rapid remediation and revitalization of contaminated sites and to promote accountability and consistency in remedy selection, I have issued the accompanying revised CERCLA delegation of authority. With this revised delegation, authority previously delegated to the Assistant Administrator for Office of Land and Emergency Management and the Regional Administrators to select remedies estimated to cost $50 million or more at sites shall be retained by the Administrator.
The rationale offered for this change is “to improve the remedy selection process and to involve the Administrator and the Administrator’s office in this process more directly.”
A copy of the Memorandum and the revised CERCLA delegation of authority can be downloaded here.
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