Environmental Cleanup and Liability Management Team (ECLM Team)

General Information
Objectives
Team Contacts

General Information

The ECLM Team manages the Central Hazardous Materials Fund (CHF) to support cleanup of contaminated sites located on DOI lands. The Department of the Interior continues to face major demands regarding the cleanup of hazardous substance releases on its property. By FY 2004, the Department had identified over $101 million in environmental liabilities in its annual financial statement. Much of that liability results from past activities such as mining, landfills, agricultural, and other industrial uses. The CHF is the major vehicle available to the Department to address its medium to long-term cleanup needs.

The CHF supports program management, response actions, remedial investigations/feasibility and other advanced studies, and cleanups at sites where a release of hazardous substances has occurred (as defined in the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA) and for which the Department is the lead agency or for which it may be liable. The CHF funding may not be used to clean up releases of petroleum, solid waste, or State designated special wastes (such as asbestos or lead based paint) because these may not be federal CERCLA hazardous substances. In previous years, funds for the CHF were appropriated to the BLM for overall fiscal administration and were made available by allocation to the other participating bureaus. These management functions of the CHF have been moved into the Department, specifically the Office of Environmental Policy and Compliance (OEPC).

Objectives

The purpose of the CHF is to:

• Protect public health and safety relative to uses and activities on Department lands and facilities;
• Conduct hazardous material cleanup activities and the subsequent maintenance and monitoring of the remedial actions in a manner consistent with the National Contingency Plan (NCP) and with bureau land use and management plan objectives; and
• Pursue aggressive cost recovery and cost-sharing actions with the parties responsible for contaminating Federal land.

Staff

Documents

• Cost Estimate Tables
• ECM07-2 - Statement of Principles for Collaborative Decision Making for Cleanup of FUDS on Federal Lands
• ECM07-3 - Statement of Principles for Collaborative Decision Making at Mixed Ownership Sites
• ECM07-4 Policy and Procedures for Prioritization of EDL Sites
• EDB Implementation July 2006
• EDL Inflation Factors FY2008
• EDL_EDB_June 2005
• EDL_materials_facilities_construction_October 2003
• Technical Bulletin 2006-1

Links

• Federal Remediation Technologies Rountable
• US Air Force Center for Engineering and the Environment
• US Air Force Center for Engineering and the Environment, Technology and Transfer
• US Army Corps of Engineers, Environmental Community of Practices
• Abandoned Mine Lands Portal