EPA Releases Updated Residential Soil Guidance

Details

Published: Monday, 05 February 2024 18:50

As previously reported by the Forum, EPA drafted and received public input on a draft “Strategy to Reduce Lead Exposures and Disparities in U.S. Communities.” Of particular importance to the Upper Columbia Valley communities are objectives to reduce exposure to lead in soils.

Below is EPA’s January 19, 2024 email regarding additional guidance and how it may affect Upper Columbia River Site actions.

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EPA email notification

This email is to notify you that EPA’s Office of Land and Emergency Management has finalized the attached Updated Residential Soil Lead Guidance for CERCLA Sites and RCRA Corrective Action Facilities.

As you are aware, the EPA has been revising its guidance on residential soil lead contamination resulting in the new guidance memo. This guidance is specific to residential properties defined as, “any areas where children have unrestricted access to lead contaminated soil”. Updating the residential soil lead guidance is a significant milestone in EPA’s agency-wide Strategy to Reduce Lead Exposures and Disparities in U.S. Communities. EPA has made this change because protecting children from lead exposure is a top priority, and because science has shown that lead exposure is harmful to children’s health at lower levels than was reflected in previous agency guidance in 1994.

What impacts might this have on the Upper Columbia River Site?

Screening levels are not cleanup levels. Screening levels are used to help identify areas, contaminants, and conditions that may pose risk and require further attention at a particular site. Areas of a site where concentrations are below screening levels generally require no further action. Areas where concentrations exceed screening levels may warrant further investigation, and may, but not always, require cleanup or other actions necessary to address unacceptable risks.

Previous studies have shown that Pb concentrations exceed soil screening levels throughout upland portions of the UCR study area.  EPA’s Upper Columbia River Team will be assessing what this new guidance means for the cleanup. The updated Pb guidance will be used to determine where additional sampling may be required and will be considered in the development of soil-based cleanup goals. EPA makes cleanup decisions specific to each site, including setting cleanup levels, using site-specific factors such as risk factors, community input, and the level of lead that was already in the area (called the background level).

More than 70 residential properties and common use areas within the Upper Columbia River study area have been cleaned to date, during which contaminated soil was replaced with clean soil. It is unlikely that previously cleaned areas will be affected by the new guidance.

What next?

Although the guidance is effective immediately, EPA welcomes feedback from the public which may be considered in any future updates to the guidance. Please submit written feedback on the guidance in the public docket on www.regulations.gov (Docket ID: EPA-HQ-OLEM-2023-0664) for 60 days from January 17, 2024 – March 17, 2024.