Full text of Administrator Pruitt’s memo cover letter:

The Superfund program is a vital function of Environmental Protection Agency, and under my administration, Superfund and EPA’s land and water cleanup efforts will be restored to their rightful place at the center of the Agency’s core mission.  As such, in order to facilitate the more-rapid remediation and revitalization of contaminated sites and to promote accountability and consistency in remedy selection, I have issued the accompanying revised CERCLA delegation of authority.  With this revised delegation, authority previously delegated to the Assistant Administrator for Office of Land and Emergency Management and the Regional Administrators to select remedies estimated to cost $50 million or more at sites shall be retained by the Administrator.

The purpose of these revisions is to improve the remedy selection process and to involve the Administrator and the Administrator’s office in this process more directly.  In light of this revised delegation, please take all necessary steps to adjust associated consultations, reviews, and other practices in a manner consistent with the revised delegation.  As part of effectuating this adjustment to the remedy selection process, I ask that you involve the Administrator’s office early-on and throughout the process of developing and evaluating alternatives and remedy selection.  This is particularly important for sites where you anticipate that the preferred remedial alternative and/or the remedy selected in the Record of Decision will be estimated to cost more than $50 million and thus will require the Administrator’s approval and signature of the Record of Decision. It is through this enhanced cooperation and continuous involvement that we will work to revitalize this essential Agency effort while enhancing consistency in remedy selection across States and the Regions.

Please consult the revised delegation for additional information. The revised delegation is effective immediately.

 

• Administrator's cercla_delegation_memo_pdf (PDF)(6 pp, 1 MB, May 9, 2017)
  In order to facilitate the more-rapid remediation and revitalization of contaminated sites and to promote accountability and consistency in remedy selection, EPA has issued a revised CERCLA delegation of authority. With this revised delegation, authority previously delegated to the Assistant Administrator for Office of Land and Emergency Management and the Regional Administrators to select remedies estimated to cost $50 million or more at sites shall be retained by the Administrator.