Green agency goes green?

What a novel concept.

Last week, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced an initiative to make hazardous waste cleanups through the Superfund Program more environmentally friendly.

Considering the EPA is our government's regulator of all things that could have an impact on the environment, this step should have been taken a long time ago.

The Superfund Program was established in 1980 to clean up hazardous waste sites and respond to emergencies involving hazardous waste.

And it has made considerable progress since then.

However, even the EPA admits the program is flawed.

"Today, we recognize that cleanup activities associated with investigation and remediation of hazardous waste sites may be sources of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, diesel emissions, air pollutants and other emissions," the EPA's Web site says. "Much can be done to reduce the energy use and improve the environmental performance of Superfund activities."

The initial effort to determine specific actions to promote green remediation and reduce energy use at Superfund sites is called the Superfund Green Remediation Strategy.

The EPA divided the items requiring action into three categories including program evaluation, policy and guidance development and resource development and program implementation.

With 1,261 Superfund sites currently on the National Priorities List, this new green initiative has the potential to make an impact on projects all across the country.

Imagine - the EPA actually being green while enforcing green measures.

Along with regulations, the strategy includes recommendations for the implementation of a series of near-term program initiatives and the establishment of a baseline of Superfund energy usage.

The really great news is that this project is "high priority" for the EPA.

Should that really have to be mentioned?

I hope that the environment is high priority for the "Environmental Protection Agency."

The announcement of the program goes on to say, "In addition to the new strategy, EPA has developed Principles for Greener Cleanups. The principles call for EPA's cleanup programs to use greener approaches during any phase of site work and establish the goal of evaluating cleanup actions to ensure protection of human health and the environment while reducing the environmental footprint of cleanup activities, when feasible."

So once these green regulations are put into place, the question will remain, "What about the projects that don't meet the greener specifications?"

Simple enough.

"Cleanups that do not satisfy threshold requirements for protectiveness or do not meet site specific cleanup objectives, are not considered greener cleanups," the announcement reads.

I commend the EPA for attempting to go green.

However, environmentally friendly protocols should not be new to this "environmental" agency.

That's just ridiculousness.

As with many EPA projects, the public has a chance to offer input about the development of the Remediation Strategy.

A public comment period will be open through Nov. 10.

I encourage you to visit www.epa.gov/superfund/greenremediation/ to learn about the Superfund Green Remediation Strategy.

To submit a comment, go to www.epa.gov/superfund/greenremediation/comment.html.

alang@unews.com