The EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) and the military use the following steps to determine and implement the appropriate response to threats posed by releases of hazardous substances:

Preliminary Assessment (PA) & Site Inspection (SI) make up the first phase of a Superfund investigation. A PA is a report that determines the potential for contamination at a facility or parcel of land based on a review of historical documents and interviews with past employees. The SI is an actual tour of the site to identify physical clues of onsite pollution.

The Remedial Investigation (RI) & Feasibility Study (FS) are the reports that represent the findings of onsite sampling programs and the recommendations for follow-up cleanup activities. An RI presents the results of actual physical sampling of soils, groundwater, and buildings. It also estimates the risks to human health and the environment according to the levels of contamination found. The FS compares the possible options for cleaning up the contamination.

Once the Feasibility Study is completed, a Proposed Plan is developed. The proposed plan describes how the military intends to proceed with the cleanup of the contaminated site. This is a key stage in the process and the most important opportunity for community input. By law, a 30-day comment period goes into effect once the Proposed Plan has been submitted. The statutory 30-day comment period must be extended by an additional 30 days if the community requests an extension. The military is required to respond to all comments received. Any comments received by the military during this comment period will be entered into the Administrative Record.

The Record of Decision (ROD) is the contract between the military, the United States Environmental Protection Agency, and the State Regulatory Authority for toxic cleanups. The contract lays out the standards and procedures that will be used to implement the cleanup as described in the approved Proposed Plan. RODs may be changed. For minor modifications to the agreement the military can provide an Explanation of Significant Difference (ESD). Larger changes require a formal amendment process including public input.

Click here to read the Superfund legislation

You can also download Military Base Cleanup : Step by Step (100KB PDF), a more detailed introduction to the federal process for cleaning up a contaminated military base in the U.S.