Program Components

FFRRO's work consists of two core components: the Superfund Federal Facilities Response program and the Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) program.

Federal Facilities Response

The Superfund Federal Facilities Response program addresses federal facilities that are on the National Priorities List (NPL), also known as Superfund. The federal facilities pipeline shows statistics on the various cleanup phases for federal facility NPL sites as of October 2005.

For additional information on federal facilities sites, including statistics for both NPL and non-NPL sites by agency; the status of cleanup; Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) information; and community involvement activity, see EPA's FFRRO fiscal year fact sheet: [HTML] [PP, 98KB]

The NPL is a result of Section 105(a)(8)(B) of the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act (CERCLA), as amended by the Superfund Amendments and Reauthorization Act (SARA) of 1986, which requires specific statutory criteria to be used to prepare a list of national priorities among the known releases or threatened releases of hazardous substances, pollutants or contaminants throughout the United States.

The purpose of the NPL is primarily to serve as an information and management tool. The identification of a site for the NPL is intended primarily to guide EPA in:

• Determining which sites warrant further investigation to assess the nature and extent of the human health and environmental risks associated with a site;
• Identifying what CERCLA-financed remedial actions may be appropriate;
• Notifying the public of sites EPA believes warrant further investigation; and
• Serving notice to potentially responsible parties that EPA may initiate CERCLA-financed remedial action.

Inclusion of a site on the NPL does not in itself reflect a judgment of the activities of its owner or operator, require those persons to undertake any action, or assign liability to any person. The NPL serves primarily informational purposes, identifying for the states and the public those sites or other releases that appear to warrant remedial actions.

See Federal Facility Site Information for NPL sites with FFRRO involvement.

Base Closure and Realignment (BRAC)

FFRRO's BRAC program develops policies, plans and programs to expedite the cleanup and reuse of closing military installations. FFRRO receives money annually from DoD for BRAC efforts. Since 1993, EPA's BRAC program has worked with DoD and state environmental programs to achieve the administration's goal of "making property environmentally acceptable for transfer, while protecting human health and the environment."

Bases are selected for realignment or closure according to a process prescribed in the Defense Authorization Amendments and Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) Act of 1988 and Defense Base Closure and Realignment Act of 1990. Once a base has been approved for closure or realignment, laws and regulations identify the requirements that shape the rest of the process to be followed.

For additional information about federal facilities BRAC sites, including statistics for cumulative transfer acreage, status of NPL and non-NPL site cleanup, and time and cost avoidance of the Fast Track Cleanup program, see EPA's FFRRO fiscal year fact sheet: [HTML] [PP, 98KB]

See Federal Facility Site Information for BRAC sites with FFRRO involvement.