Background Information

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What do the Cross Program Revitalization Measures (CPRM) measure?

Universe Indicator	The number of actual, potentially or previously contaminated sites and surface acres for which OSWER's cleanup programs have an oversight role for assessment and/or response action.
PFP Performance Measure	The number of acres and sites at which there is no complete pathway for human exposures to unacceptable levels of contamination based on current site conditions.
RAU Performance Measure	The number of acres and sites at which: 1) there is no complete pathway for human exposures to unacceptable levels of contamination based on current site conditions (PFP), and 2) all cleanup goals have been achieved for media that may affect current and reasonably anticipated future land uses of the acres or site so that there are no unacceptable risks, and 3) all institutional or other controls identified as part of the response action to help ensure long-term protection have been put in place.

How do these measures relate to other measures, such as Human Exposure Under Control or construction complete?

Human Exposure Under control is equivalent in this case to the Protective for People Measure. However, human exposure under control is only measured at the site level, not the individual acre level. Additionally, for the Superfund Program, human exposure under control is limited to sites on the NPL while PFP is broader.

Ready for anticipated use is one step further along the cleanup process than construction complete. Construction complete meets the first two parts of the RAU definition, but RAU acres and sites have the additional milestone of having all controls in place. Additionally, construction complete is measured at the site level only.

How often are the CPRM measures updated?

EPA plans to annually update the CPRM measures. This will happen in approximately December of each year.

Why aren't more sites/acres RAU?

RAU is a new performance measure. Getting institutional controls in place is a new focus at EPA, and OSWER expects to increase the scope of this measure in the future. In fact, by 2014, EPA anticipates that 1 million acres will be made RAU.

Background Resources:

Measuring Revitalization of Contaminated Properties in America's Communities: Past Accomplishments and Future Opportunities (PDF) (94 pp, 1.85M) — This September 2006 report provides information on and possible approaches to measuring revitalization in several cleanup programs within OSWER. This information is intended to help stakeholders–whether EPA and other federal, state, and tribal agencies or non-governmental and private sector organizations–better understand how these OSWER cleanup programs are currently measuring revitalization, as well as the opportunities that may be available to develop new or improved ways of capturing cleanup and revitalization accomplishments.
In October 2006, OSWER issued the Interim Guidance for OSWER Cross-Program Revitalization Measures (PDF) (34 pp, 501K) to help track land revitalization at the national level and promote greater consistency in measuring acres-based cleanup and revitalization activities across all its cleanup programs.
Program-specific guidance for the PFP and RAU measures can be found in Appendix A of the Interim Guidance document. Likewise, guidance for estimating acreage can be found in Appendix B of the Interim Guidance document. Program-specific guidance has been developed by the Superfund (PDF) (56 pp, 860K) and RCRA Corrective Action (PDF) (19 pp, 88K) programs.
2008 EPA's Report on the Environment, Chapter 4 - Exhibit 4-2.

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