Hazardous Materials
The BLM manages public lands in a manner aimed at minimizing or preventing threats to human health and natural resources. Risks can come from such natural hazards that include floods, wildfire, and earthquakes, or from man-made causes such as toxic spills, waste dumping, or abandoned mine sites.
The BLM’s Hazard Management and Resource Restoration Program, better known as Hazardous Materials Management (HAZMAT), supports the Department of the Interior’s goal of protecting lives, resources, and property, and improving the health of landscapes and watersheds. As part of meeting this goal, the BLM focuses on increasing the percentage of BLM facilities rated in good condition as it pertains to public safety and environmental health; the percentage of physical and chemical hazards mitigated; and the percentage of known contaminated sites that have been remediated. The BLM works with the Environmental Protection Agency, state environmental quality departments, counties, and potentially responsible parties (both public and private) to fund and expedite the cleanup of hazardous waste sites.