Superfund Community Involvement Publications
Links
Community Involvement
Publications on this page provide information to community members at Superfund sites. Information found in these publications includes:
- How EPA determines the amount of risk at a site;
- How to get detailed reports about a site in your area;
- How EPA supports reuse of sites after they have been cleaned up.
You will need Adobe Reader to view some of the files on this page. See EPA's PDF page to learn more.
You may download copies of the publications by using the links provided or you may order hard copies of EPA publications by contacting the National Service Center for Environmental Publications (NSCEP) by email at nscep@bps-lmit.com, fax at 301-604-3408, phone at 1-800-490-9198 (toll free), or by mailing your order to PO Box 42419 Cincinnati,OH 45242-0419.
- Citizen’s Guides
- Cleanup Costs
- Community Involvement Tools
- Construction Completion
- Five-Year Reviews
- Records of Decision (RODs)
- Reuse/Revitalization
- Risk Assessment
- Ritualistic Use of Mercury
- Social Impacts of the Superfund Process
Citizen’s Guides
Citizen’s Guides to Cleanup Methods
A set of fact sheets describing, in general terms, cleanup methods used at Superfund and other contaminated sites. Each fact sheet answers five questions about the cleanup method: 1) What is it? 2) How does it work? 3) Is it safe? 4) How long will it take? and 5) Why use it? These guides are also available in Spanish as shown.
- A Citizen’s Guide to Activated Carbon Treatment (PDF)
(2 pp, 532K) (EPA 542-F-01-020)
Guía para el Ciudadano sobre Tratamiento con Carb ón Activado (PDF) (2 pp, 457K) (EPA 542-F-01-020S) - A Citizen’s Guide to Air Stripping (PDF)
(2 pp, 529K) (EPA 542-F-01-016)
Guía para el Ciudadano sobre Extracción con Aire (PDF) (2 pp, 531K) (EPA 542-F-01-016S) - A Citizen’s Guide to Bioremediation (PDF)
(2 pp, 1.4MB) (EPA 542-F-01-001)
Guía del Ciudadano para la Biocorrección (PDF) (2 pp, 3MB) (EPA 542-F-01-001S) - A Citizen’s Guide to Capping (PDF)
(2 pp, 526K) (EPA 542-F-01-022)
Guía para el Ciudadano sobre Cobertura (PDF) (2 pp, 500K) (EPA 542-F-01-022S) - A Citizen’s Guide to Chemical Dehalogenation (PDF)
(2 pp, 74K) (EPA 542-F-01-010)
Guía para el Ciudadano sobre Deshalogenación Qu?mica (PDF) (2 pp, 150K) (EPA 542-F-01-010S) - A Citizen’s Guide to Chemical Oxidation (PDF)
(2 pp, 172K) (EPA 542-F-01-013)
Guía del Ciudadano para la Oxidación Qu?mica (PDF) (2 pp, 122K) (EPA 542-F-01-013S) - A Citizen’s Guide to Soil Excavation (PDF)
(2 pp, 530K) (EPA 542-F-01-023)
Guía para el Ciudadano sobre Excavación del Suelo (PDF) (2 pp, 454K) (EPA 542-F-01-023S) - A Citizen’s Guide to Fracturing (PDF)
(2 pp, 73K) (EPA 542-F-01-015)
Guía para el Ciudadano sobre Fracturación (PDF) (2 pp, 175K) (EPA 542-F-01-015S) - A Citizen’s Guide to In Situ Flushing (PDF)
(2 pp, 88K) (EPA 542-F-01-011)
Guía para el Ciudadano sobre Enjuague In Situ (PDF) (2 pp, 150K) (EPA 542-F-01-011S) - A Citizen’s Guide to In Situ Thermal Treatment Methods (PDF)
(2 pp, 101K) (EPA 542-F-01-012)
Guía para el Ciudadano sobre Métodos de Tratamiento Térmico In Situ (PDF) (2 pp, 184K) (EPA 542-F-01-012S) - A Citizen’s Guide to Incineration (PDF)
(2 pp, 521K) (EPA 542-F-01-018)
Guía para el Ciudadano sobre Incineración (PDF) (2 pp, 451K) (EPA 542-F-01-018S) - A Citizen’s Guide to Monitored Natural Attenuation (PDF)
(2 pp, 91K) (EPA 542-F-01-004)
Guía del Ciudadano para la Reducción Natural Supervisada (PDF) (2 pp, 130K) (EPA 542-F-01-004S) - A Citizen’s Guide to Permeable Reactive Barriers (PDF)
(2 pp, 88K) (EPA 542-F-01-005)
Guía del Ciudadano para las Barreras Reactivas Permeable (PDF) (2 pp, 145K)(EPA 542-F-01-005S) - A Citizen’s Guide to Phytoremediation (PDF)
(2 pp, 87K) (EPA 542-F-01-002)
Guía del Ciudadano para la Fitocorrección (PDF) (2pp, 101K) (EPA 542-F-01-002S) - A Citizen’s Guide to Pump and Treat (PDF)
(2 pp, 526K) (EPA 542-F-01-025)
Guía para el Ciudadano sobre Bombeo y Tratamiento (PDF) (2 pp, 461K) (EPA 542-F-01-025S) - A Citizen’s Guide to Soil Vapor Extraction and Air Sparging (PDF)
(2pp, 80K) (EPA 542-F-01-006)
Guía del Ciudadano para la Extracción de Vapores de los Suelos y la Aeración (PDF) (2 pp, 288K) (EPA 542-F-01-006S) - A Citizen’s Guide to Soil Washing (PDF)
(2 pp, 76K) (EPA 542-F-01-008)
Guía para el Ciudadano sobre Lavado del Suelo (PDF) (2 pp, 164K) (EPA 542-F-01-008S) - A Citizen’s Guide to Solidification/Stabilization (PDF)
(2 pp, 527K) (EPA 542-F-01-024)
Guía para el Ciudadano sobre Solidificación/Estabilización (PDF) (2 pp, 457K) (EPA 542-F-01-024S) - A Citizen’s Guide to Solvent Extraction (PDF)
(2 pp, 77K) (EPA 542-F-01-009)
Guía para el Ciudadano sobre Extracción por Solventes (PDF) (2 pp, 153K) (EPA 542-F-01-009S) - A Citizen’s Guide to Thermal Desorption (PDF)
(2 pp, 65K) (EPA 542-F-01-003)
Guía del Ciudadano para la Desorción Térmica (PDF) (2 pp, 90K) (EPA 542-F-01-003S) - A Citizen’s Guide to Vitrification (PDF)
(2 pp, 522K) (EPA 542-F-01-017)
Guía para el Ciudadano sobre Vitrificación (PDF) (2 pp, 449K) (EPA 542-F-01-017S)
This is Superfund
This Is Superfund: A Community Guide to EPA’s Superfund Program (PDF)
(12 pp, 1.1MB) (EPA 540-R-11-021)
Provides citizens with a basic understanding of the Superfund process and how they can become involved if there is a Superfund site in their neighborhoods.
Cleanup Costs
Superfund Today: Focus on Cleanup Costs (June 1996) (PDF)
(4 pp, 216K) (EPA 540-K-96/004)
Describes U.S. EPA efforts to encourage and enforce those responsible for pollution to pay for cleanup of hazardous waste sites.
Community Involvement Tools
Community Involvement Toolkit
Contains comprehensive and practical tools for use by
EPA community involvement personnel and community members in promoting successful community participation in the Superfund process.
Identification and Evaluation of Community Involvement Activities in Abandoned Mine Land
Communities (PDF) (21 pp, 472K)
Identifies ways to protect the public and the environment by setting priorities for the
evaluation, cleanup, and redevelopment of abandoned mine sites.
Lessons Learned About Superfund Community Involvement (PDF)
(26 pp, 109K)
Demonstrates how EPA Remedial Project Managers (RPMs), On-Scene Coordinators (OSCs), and Community Involvement
Coordinators (CICs) have overcome obstacles, inertia, opposition, and mistrust in communities with Superfund cleanup sites.
The Model Plan for Public Participation (February 2000) (PDF)
(20 pp, 475K)
Documents the recommendations of the National Environmental Justice Advisory Council (NEJAC), a public advisory committee providing extramural policy information
and advice to the U.S. EPA, concerning methods for institutionalizing public participation in EPA environmental programs. A Spanish version of this document,
El Plan Modelo Para Participación Pública (PDF)
(14 pp, 2.6MB) (EPA 300-K-96-003) also is available.
Construction Completion
Superfund Today: EPA Celebrates 400th Cleanup (December 1996) (PDF)
(12 pp, 1MB) (EPA 540-K-96-009)
Documents the Superfund Program?s progress in cleaning up hazardous waste sites as of September 30, 2000.
Superfund Today: EPA Achieves 757th Construction Completion (March 2001) (PDF)
(8 pp, 706K) (EPA 540-F-00-023)
Documents the Superfund Program’s progress in cleaning up hazardous waste sites as of
September 30, 2000.
Superfund Today: Focus on Construction Completion, 900th Completion (August 2004) (PDF)
(8 pp, 1.4MB) (EPA 540-F-05-001)
Documents the Superfund Program’s progress in cleaning up hazardous waste sites as of August 2004.
Five-Year Reviews
Superfund Today: Focus on Five Year Reviews and Involving the Community (December 2009) (PDF)
(2 pp, 424K) (EPA 540-F-01-011)
Explains the community?s role in five-year reviews EPA conducts on Superfund sites where some waste was left behind to ensure that the remedy is still protective of human health and the environment.
Records of Decision (RODs)
Customized CERCLIS/RODs Reports
Provides information tailored to the user?s needs from the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act Information System
(CERCLIS) database, which stores and maintains technical information about all Superfund sites, including information on Records of Decision (RODs), the
documents that explain which cleanup alternative(s) are to be used, for National Priorities List (NPL) sites (the most hazardous) where the cost of the cleanup
is to be paid from the Superfund Trust Fund.
Reuse/Revitalization
Reusing Superfund Sites
Discusses issues related to reuse of Superfund sites, documents reuse successes, and highlights tools available to enhance community participation in reuse
decisions.
Risk Assessment
Superfund Today: Focus on Risk Assessment: Involving the Community (April 1999) (PDF)
(6 pp, 95K) (EPA 540-K-98-004)
Explains the Superfund risk assessment process and provides tips on how the community can get involved in the process. A Spanish version of this document,
El Superfundo Hoy Dia - La Estimación de Riesgos: Cómo Lograr La Participación De La Comunidad (PDF) (6 pp, 230K)
also is available.
Superfund Today: Focus on Revisions to Superfund’s Risk Assessment Guidance (February 1999) (PDF)
(2 pp, 441K) (EPA-540-F-98-055)
Highlights changes made to the Risk Assessment Guidance for Superfund (RAGS) in 1999.
Ritualistic Use of Mercury
Mercury Brochure (PDF)
(2 pp, 531K) (EPA-540-K-04-002)
Answers questions about mercury and provides tips on how to protect oneself and one?s family.
Ritualistic Use of Mercury Simulation: A Preliminary Investigation of Metallic Mercury Vapor Fate and Transport in a Trailer (PDF)
(146 pp, 7MB) (EPA/540/-04/006)
Documents a study to assess the fate and transport of mercury vapors associated with cultural uses of elemental mercury, and evaluate real-time mercury vapor
monitoring instruments results vs. modified National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) Method 6009.
Task Force on Ritualistic Uses of Mercury Report (PDF)
(111 pp, 980K) (EPA/540-R-01-005)
Summarizes Task Force activities, provides an overview of what is known about cultural and spiritual mercury use, and makes recommendations for further
investigation, outreach, and action.
Social Impacts of the Superfund Process
Assessing Social Impacts in the Superfund Process (PDF)
(23 pp, 206K)
Provides information and resources to EPA for use in improving its consideration of the social, cultural,
and economic impacts of the Superfund decision-making process.
Social, Cultural, Economic Impact Assessments: A Literature Review (PDF)
(24 pp, 232K)
Identifies and describes best practices for assessing the social and cultural impacts of risk management
decisions and early and appropriate involvement of all stakeholders in Superfund decision-making.
Societal, Cultural and Economic Impacts and the Superfund Process Workshop,
November 6-7, 2002, Meeting Summary (PDF)
(16 pp, 99K)
Documents discussions in a workshop in which EPA personnel shared their current (2002) activities relative to assessing the social, cultural, and economic
impacts of the Superfund decision-making process and involving the stakeholders in that process.