incorporating options to minimize the environmental footprints of a cleanup
- Home
RSS Help
- New U.S. EPA report on using green infrastructure to reduce stormwater runoff
- Recent water pollution control bulletin: Talking "green" at LUST sites in New England; ASTM’s New "Standard Guide for Greener Cleanups"
- Recent Federal Remediation Technologies Roundtable meeting on optimization and green and sustainable remediation practices
- Final Greener Cleanups Guidance issued by Massachusetts DEP
- Call for abstracts: Waste Management (WM) Conference on March 15-19 in Phoenix
- Registration now open: April 15-17 Design and Construction Issues at Hazardous Waste Sites (DCHWS) Conference in Philadelphia
- News archives...
- December 4 SERDP-ESTCP webinar on Waste to Energy Options for Base Camps: Efficient Tar Management and Rotary Kiln Gasification
- January 22 SERDP-ESTCP webinar on Sustainable Materials
- More on the calendar...
EPA's action plan for United Heckathorn
cleanup along the Richmond Channel in northern California relies on use of passive samplers to identify areas of sediment contaminated by DDT.
Cleanup at the Rainbow Valley Citrus Maintenance Yard Facility in Goodyear, Arizona, recently involved air sparging to address contamination from leaking underground storage tanks. Associated vapors were collected through solar-powered fans designed to also capture passive wind energy that vented monitoring wells with high hydrocarbon concentrations. Use of renewable energy instead of grid-supplied power otherwise needed to operate a conventional air blower avoided consumption of approximately 20,000 kWh of electricity and emission of over 18 metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent while lowering project costs over 10 months of air sparging. *New*
A groundwater treatment building for the Lawrence Aviation Industries NPL site in Port Jefferson Station, NY, benefits from geothermal energy and other green building aspects.
Groundwater investigations at the Massachusetts Military Reservation at Cape Cod, MA, included sampling of nearby cranberry bogs to assure protection of ecosystem services.
Wind turbines at the former St. Croix Alumina Plant in St. Croix, VI, drive compressed air into hydraulic skimming pumps used to recover petroleum product for reuse.
Four gradient-driven constructed wetlands populated by cattails or pondweed treat contaminated groundwater at the Apache Nitrogen Products, Inc., NPL site in Benson, AZ.
Treatment of landfill gas collected through 460 gas extraction wells relied on microturbines at the Operating Industries, Inc. Landfill NPL site in Monterey Park, CA.
Use of native plants above the landfill cover at the Barskdale Air Force Base in Bossier City, LA, minimizes maintenance activities while helping to avoid erosion and control stormwater runoff.
GR Best Management Practices
- An Introduction (PDF) (2 pp, 114K)
- Excavation and Surface Restoration (PDF) (4 pp, 238K)
- Site Investigation (PDF) (4 pp, 179K)
- Pump and Treat Technologies (PDF) (8 pp, 225K)
- Bioremediation (PDF) (4 pp, 176K)
- Soil Vapor Extraction & Air Sparging (PDF) (4 pp, 131K)
- Clean Fuel & Emission Technologies for Site Cleanup (PDF) (10 pp, 354K)
- Integrating Renewable Energy into Site Cleanup (PDF) (8 pp, 335K)
- Sites with Leaking Underground Storage Tank Systems (PDF) (6 pp, 448K)
- Landfill Cover Systems & Energy Production (PDF) (6 pp, 465K)
- Overview of EPA's Methodology to Address the Environmental Footprint of Site Cleanup (PDF) (2 pp, 176K)
- Mining Sites (PDF) (6 pp, 535K)
- Implementing In Situ Thermal Technologies (PDF) (6 pp, 249K)
- Materials and Waste Management (PDF) (4pp, 397K)
Upcoming Topics (PDF) (1 pg, 240K)
GR Technology Primer (PDF) (56 pp, 814K):
Incorporating Sustainable Environmental Practices into Remediation of Contaminated Sites
A Citizen's Guide to Greener Cleanups (PDF) (2 pp, 1.4MB)
- EPA Strategic Plan, FY 2014-2018
- ...EPA's hazardous waste programs also are working to reduce the energy use and environmental footprint during the investigation and remediation of hazardous waste sites.
Goal 3: Cleaning Up Communities and Advancing Sustainable Development
EPA's Methodology for Understanding and Reducing a Project's Environmental Footprint uses 21 metrics and a seven-step process to quantify energy, air, water, and materials & waste comprising the environmental footprint of a remedy. The supporting Spreadsheets for Environmental Footprint Analysis (SEFA) workbooks are available to help users estimate each of the methodology's metrics on a site-specific basis. Related background studies, examples, and data gathering tools offer additional information of value to environmental footprint assessment.
Aligning with National Goals
Learn about executive orders, requirements, and guidance on energy and water management, green purchasing, and environmental stewardship
Questions and comments about EPA's green remediation efforts may be forwarded to:
Carlos Pachon, Office of Superfund Remediation and Technology Innovation.
