Abstract

 The recent USEPA directive, Principles for Managing Contaminated Sediments at Hazardous Waste Sites (OSWER 9285.6-08) acknowledges that "there is no universally accepted, well-defined risk-based framework or strategy for remediating contaminated sediment sites," and therefore recommends, among other things, that USEPA site managers make risk-based decisions using an iterative process "that evaluates the short-term and long-term risks of all potential cleanup alternatives." The USEPA states that its directive is founded in part by the National Research Council's risk management framework reported in A Risk Management Strategy for PCB-Contaminated Sediments (NRC, 2001).
  In current practice, contaminated sediment remedy evaluations tend to employ a narrow focus on human health and ecological risks, addressing only the chemical-associated risks of specific sediment management activities like removal, containment or treatment without consideration of the "risks of remedy", which are direct and indirect impacts on human and ecological communities as a result of remedy implementation. To enhance the current approach for remedy evaluations, a framework for conducting comprehensive net impact evaluations of potential remedies is being developed. This framework and protocol will present an approach that seeks to determine and maximize the net environmental and social benefit of alternatives, emphasizing quantification of all risks and risks-of-remedy, considering a wide range of human health, ecological, and social/community impacts. The protocol will summarize methods for computing risks and impacts in each of these categories and is anticipated to facilitate comprehensive and quantitative impact assessments for proposed contaminated sediment remedial alternatives. This presentation overviews the components of this protocol, which is currently being developed, and discusses the considerations included in each of the categories of risk assessment and impact evaluation.