Compliance & Enforcement at Federal Facilities

EPA enforces environmental cleanup requirements at federal facilities. Cleanup enforcement authority is derived from several statutes: the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA or Superfund), the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA), including the Underground Storage Act (UST) program, and the Oil Pollution Act (OPA), a part of the Clean Water Act (CWA). These statutes, as well as Presidential Executive Orders, require federal facilities to clean up environmental contamination at their facilities.

CERCLA requires federal agencies to investigate and clean up contamination at their facilities. Federal facilities that are significantly contaminated may be placed on the CERCLA National Priorities List (NPL). For such facilities CERCLA requires that EPA and the federal facility enter into an interagency agreement (IAG -- sometimes called Federal Facility Agreement) to govern the cleanup to be done. States often are signatories to these IAGs, too. Once an IAG has been signed, EPA monitors the cleanup schedule and milestones and oversees its requirements to ensure proper implementation of each cleanup. EPA can assess stipulated penalties for non-compliance with the terms of the IAG including missed milestones.

Superfund (CERCLA) Enforcement at Federal Facilities

The Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act (CERCLA), also known as Superfund, is the primary Federal statute regulating the cleanup of environmental contamination and imposing liability for cleanup on the responsible parties. Facilities owned or operated by Federal agencies are subject to this statute. See Superfund (CERCLA) Cleanup Enforcement.

Learn more about Federal Facilities Cleanup Enforcement Policy and Guidance.
For information on the realignment and closure of military bases (aka BRAC sites), please visit the Federal Facilities Restoration and Reuse site.

CERCLA Section 120(c) requires EPA to establish and maintain a Federal Agency Hazardous Waste Docket which contains information on federal facilities engaging in hazardous waste activities or having the potential to release hazardous substances into the environment.

Please also visit FedCenter, an interagency virtual compliance assistance center for federal facilities. FedCenter contains information for federal agencies in cleanup environmental contamination.