ABSTRACT
Hundreds of millions to ultimately billions of dollars are being spent across the country in "Superfund" and Resources Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) hazardous chemical site investigation and remediation. In the past few years, there has been a considerable emphasis on redeveloping so-called brownfield properties as part of this effort. This redevelopment will result in the public and/or the environment being exposed to hazardous/deleterious chemicals left at the site as part of site remediation/closure. While initially in the Superfund program the primary focus of remediation was clean-up to background, today the emphasis is changing to the use of remediation technologies that leave waste residues at the hazardous chemical site. In general, it is being assumed that an on-site waste management area that is covered with a landfill that meets minimum RCRA specifications, on-site RCRA landfills, solidified waste residues, "naturally attenuated" groundwater pollution plumes, and other on-site remediation technologies that leave appreciable quantities of hazardous or deleterious chemicals at the site upon site closure will, after a 30 -year period, require no further monitoring and/or maintenance of the waste residues left at the site. However, a critical review of the adequacy of such remediation technology shows that in many instances the residues will be a threat to public health and the environment for a long, if not infinite, period of time.
