USDA and Interior have identified certain contaminated or potentially contaminated sites under their responsibility but neither agency has a reliable and complete inventory, making it difficult to project the long-term costs of cleanup, GAO has said.
USDA has identified nearly 1,500 contaminated and many potentially contaminated sites varying from landfills to shooting ranges but does not have a centralized inventory nor does it have a plan to complete one—and without it, the department “cannot effectively manage its cleanup programs.” Similarly, Interior has a list including some 4,700 sites but also knows of some 30,000 abandoned mines that have not been assessed for contamination and even that listing is not complete, GAO said.
Separately, the EPA keeps its own inventories, listing 260 USDA sites and 528 Interior sites, that may pose health or environmental risks, most of which have been assessed. “Disagreement with USDA and Interior over their need to assess the remaining sites and differing information on whether this requirement has been met at some sites means EPA cannot assure that the assessments are conducted in a timely manner and, ultimately, that sites most in need of remediation are addressed,” GAO said.
In fiscal year 2013, USDA allocated over $22 million for environmental cleanup efforts, and Interior allocated over $13 million for environmental assessment and cleanup projects plus some $34 million for hazardous waste management and abandoned mine programs. USDA projects future costs of $176 million from sites it has identified and Interior projects up to $139 million in costs mainly related to mines plus $192 million in other cleanup costs.
Interior and EPA generally agreed with GAO’s findings. USDA disagreed that its incomplete inventory affects the effectiveness of its cleanup programs, but GAO said it “continues to believe that effective program management requires reliable data.”
