The U. S. Department of Energy, which operates the Hanford Site in South Central Washington State, the U. S. Environmental Protection Agency, and the State of Washington Department of Ecology signed a comprehensive cleanup and compliance agreement on May 15, 1989. The Hanford Federal Facility Agreement and Consent Order, or Tri-Party Agreement, is an agreement for achieving compliance with the Comprehensive Environmental Response Compensation and Liability Act (CERCLA) remedial action provisions and with the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) treatment, storage, and disposal unit regulations and corrective action provisions. More specifically, the Tri-Party Agreement 1) defines and ranks CERCLA and RCRA cleanup commitments, 2) establishes responsibilities, 3) provides a basis for budgeting, and 4) reflects a concerted goal of achieving full regulatory compliance and remediation, with enforceable milestones in an aggressive manner.
The Tri-Party Agreement is a legally binding agreement consisting of 2 main documents.
- The "Legal Agreement" itself which describes the roles, responsibilities and authority of the three agencies, or "Parties", in the cleanup, compliance and permitting processes. It also sets up dispute resolution processes and describes how the agreement will be enforced.
- The "Action Plan" to implement the cleanup and permitting efforts which includes milestones (in Appendix D) for initiating and completing specific work and procedures the three agencies will follow.
Additionally, an associated plan called the "Public Involvement Plan", describes how the public will be informed and involved throughout the cleanup process.
For questions or comments, please send e-mail to Robert E Piippo
