June 9, 2004—The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is launching an enforcement strategy to better control human exposure at or near hazardous waste facilities. The Corrective Action Smart Enforcement Strategy (CASES) is an effort to get hazardous waste facilities to address contamination that is potentially harmful to human health. EPA’s goal is to have human exposures controlled by 2005 at 9c5 percent of facilities that were identified in 1999 as high priorities for cleanup under the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA).
Under Subtitle C, RCRA requires parties who seek a permit to treat, store, or dispose of hazardous waste to clean up environmental contaminants at their facilities regardless of the time of the release. The cleanup at treatment, storage, or disposal facilities is termed “RCRA Corrective Action.” Corrective action at these types of facilities may be accomplished through the permitting and enforcement mechanisms found in the RCRA law, through state programs, or through voluntary agreements.
For more information about Corrective Action enforcement, visit EPA/Cleanup Enforcement.
