Agency Guidance on Contaminated Sediment Cleanup

The United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has developed two guidance documents that are used in determining the appropriate cleanup methods to implement at contaminated sediments sites. These documents are summarized below, along with links to the actual documents.

To further guide federal and state project managers in determining the appropriate remedial actions for contaminated sediments sites, EPA released the Contaminated Sediment Remediation Guidance for Hazardous Waste Sites in December 2005. This document provides technical and policy guidance for making decisions at contaminated sediment sites. The information presented in this document is also pertinent to the public and regulated community as it describes what EPA intends to use in implementing its regulations at contaminated sediment sites. Guidance presented in this document can be applied to contaminated sediment in a wide variety of aquatic environments, and will be applied to the Grasse River.

Eleven principles were developed by EPA to assist site managers in making scientifically sound and nationally consistent risk management decisions for contaminated sediment sites. These eleven principles are presented in a memorandum entitled Principles for Managing Contaminated Sediment Risks at Hazardous Waste Sites. These principles will be considered in selection of the cleanup plan for the Grasse River.

In addition, under the sponsorship of EPA, the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) completed a study to evaluate the effectiveness of dredging as a remedial option. NAS reviewed a total of 26 environmental dredging projects throughout the United States, including two removal projects conducted in the Grasse River. This document entitled Sediment Dredging at Superfund Megasites: Assessing the Effectiveness was released in June 2007 and presents an analysis of available information regarding the effectiveness of dredging as a remedial option for the management of contaminated sediments.