Environmental regulations: A brief overview of their applications to bioremediation

There are at least 10,000 potential Superfund sites in the United States, of which 1200 have been identified for clean-up. In situ bioremediation is perhaps the simplest method for the clean-up of large contaminated sites. Current research in bioremediation has demonstrated over a 96% remediation efficiency for soils containing polycyclic hydrocarbons, light petroleum oils, and other organic contaminants. Although the lab-scale testing has been promising, the use of bioremediation on a full scale site has been hindered by environmental regulations. Over the past several years the Environmental Protection Agency has made great strides in overcoming some of the regulatory obstacles. The primary legislative acts of concern are the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act, the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act, the Toxic Substance Control Act and the Federal Plant Pest Act. This paper will briefly discuss the impact on bioremediation of the key provisions of these acts.