| Name | Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act of 1980 |
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| Fullname | An act to provide for liability, compensation, cleanup, and emergency response for hazardous substances released into the environment and the cleanup of inactive hazardous waste disposal sites. |
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| Nickname | Superfund |
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| Acronym | CERCLA |
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| Enacted by | 96th |
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| Public law url | http://epw.senate.gov/cercla.pdf |
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| Cite public law | |
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| Cite statutes at large | |
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| Title amended | 42 (Public Health) |
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| Sections created | et seq. |
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| Leghisturl | http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d096:HR07020:@@@X |
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| Introducedin | House |
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| Introducedbill | "Hazardous Waste Containment Act of 1980" (H.R. 7020) |
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| Introducedby | James Florio (D-NJ) |
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| Introduceddate | April 2, 1980 |
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| Committees | House Interstate and Foreign Commerce, House Ways and Means, Senate Environment, Senate Finance |
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| Passedbody1 | House |
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| Passeddate1 | September 23, 1980 |
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| Passedvote1 | 351–23 |
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| Passedbody2 | Senate |
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| Passeddate2 | November 24, 1980 |
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| Agreedbody3 | House |
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| Agreeddate3 | December 3, 1980 |
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| Agreedvote3 | 274–94 |
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| Signedpresident | Jimmy Carter |
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| Signeddate | December 11, 1980 |
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| Amendments | Superfund Amendments and Reauthorization Act of 1986;Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act of 1986 |
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Superfund is the common name for the
Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act of 1980 (CERCLA), a
United States federal law designed to clean up sites contaminated with
hazardous substances. Superfund created the
Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR), and it provides broad
federal authority to clean up releases or threatened releases of hazardous substances that may endanger
public health or the
environment. The law authorized the
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to identify parties responsible for contamination of sites and compel the parties to clean up the sites. Where responsible parties cannot be found, the Agency is authorized to clean up sites itself, using a special trust fund.
History
s check the status of a cleanup site]]
CERCLA was enacted by
Congress in 1980 in response to the threat of hazardous waste sites, typified by the
Love Canal disaster in
New York, and the
Valley of the Drums in
Kentucky.
The EPA published the first Hazard Ranking System (HRS) in 1981, and the first National Priorities List (NPL) in 1982. The implementation during early years has been criticized as being ineffective due to the Reagan administration's laissez-faire policies. During his two terms, 16 of the 799 Superfund sites were cleaned up, and $40 million of $700 million in recoverable funds from responsible parties were collected.
The Superfund Amendments and Reauthorization Act of 1986 (SARA), made several important changes and additions to CERCLA including increasing the funding of Superfund to $8.5 billion and providing for studies and the use of new technologies.
In 1994, the Clinton administration proposed a new Superfund reform bill, which was seen as an improvement to existing legislation by some environmentalists and industry lobbyists. However, the effort was unable to gain bipartisan support. Until the mid-1990s, most of the funding came from a tax on the petroleum and chemical industries, reflecting the polluter pays principle, and Congress yielded to corporate pressure.
Provisions
CERCLA authorizes two kinds of response actions:
Removal actions. These are typically short-term response actions, where actions may be taken to address releases or threatened releases requiring prompt response. Removal actions are classified as: (1) emergency; (2) time-critical; and (3) non-time critical. Removal responses are generally used to address localized risks such as abandoned drums containing hazardous substances, and contaminated surface soils posing acute risks to human health or the environment.
Remedial actions. These are usually long-term response actions. Remedial actions seek to permanently and significantly reduce the risks associated with releases or threats of releases of hazardous substances which are serious, but lack the time-criticality of removal actions, and include such measures as preventing the migration of pollutants and neutralizing toxic substances. These actions can be conducted only at sites listed on the EPA
National Priorities List (NPL) in the United States and the territories.
Four classes of parties, termed potentially responsible parties (PRPs), may be liable for contamination at a Superfund site:
the current owner or operator of the site;
the owner or operator of a site at the time that disposal of a hazardous substance, pollutant or contaminant occurred;
a person who arranged for the disposal of a hazardous substance, pollutant or contaminant at a site; and
a person who transported a hazardous substance, pollutant or contaminant to a site, who also has selected that site for the disposal of the hazardous substances, pollutants or contaminants.
The CERCLA also enabled the revision of the
National Oil and Hazardous Substances Pollution Contingency Plan (NCP). The NCP provided the guidelines and procedures needed to respond to releases and threatened releases of hazardous substances, pollutants, or contaminants. The NCP also established the NPL. The NPL, which appears as Appendix B to the NCP, primarily serves as an information and management tool for the EPA, and helps the EPA prioritize sites for cleanup. The NPL is updated periodically.
The identification of a site for the NPL is intended primarily to guide EPA in:
determining which sites warrant further investigation to assess the nature and extent of the risks to the human health and environment;
identifying what CERCLA-financed remedial actions may be appropriate;
notifying the public of sites which EPA believes warrant further investigation; and
notifying PRPs that EPA may initiate CERCLA-financed remedial action.
Inclusion of a site on the NPL does not itself require PRPs to initiate action to clean up the site, nor does it assign liability to any person. The NPL serves primarily informational purposes, notifying the government and the public of those sites or releases that appear to warrant remedial actions.
Despite the name, the Superfund trust fund lacks sufficient funds to clean up even a small number of the sites on the NPL. As a result, the government will typically order PRPs to clean up the site themselves. If a party fails to comply with such an order, it may be fined up to $25,000 for each day that non-compliance continues. A party that spends money to clean up a site may sue certain other PRPS under the CERCLA. A related provision allows a party that has reimbursed another party's response costs to seek contribution from other PRPs, during or after the orignial lawsuit.
Procedures
Upon notification of a potentially hazardous waste site, the EPA conducts a Preliminary Assessment/Site Inspection (PA/SI) which involve records reviews, interviews, visual inspections, and limited field sampling. Information from the PA/SI is used by EPA to develop a Hazard Ranking System (HRS) score to determine the CERCLA status of the site. Sites that score high enough to qualify for the full program then proceed to a Remedial Investigation/Feasibility Study (RI/FS). The RI includes an extensive sampling program and risk assessment in order to define the extent of the site contamination and risks. The FS is used to develop and evaluate various remediation alternatives. The preferred alternative is presented in a Proposed Plan for public review and comment. The selected alternative is approved in a Record of Decision (ROD). The site then enters into a Remedial Design phase and then the Remedial Action phase. Many sites include Long-Term Monitoring and 5-year reviews once the Remedial Action has been completed.
Implementation
As of November 29, 2010, there are currently 1,280 sites listed on the National Priority List, an additional 347 have been delisted, and 62 new sites have been proposed.
Approximately 70 percent of Superfund cleanup activities historically have been paid for by parties responsible (PRPs) for the cleanup of contamination. The only time cleanup costs are not borne by the responsible party is when that party either cannot be found or is unable to pay for the cleanup. For those sites, the Superfund law originally paid for toxic waste cleanups through a tax on petroleum and chemical industries. The chemical and petroleum fees were intended to provide incentives to use less toxic substances. Over five years, $1.6 billion was collected, and the tax went to a trust fund for cleaning up abandoned or uncontrolled hazardous waste sites. The last full fiscal year in which the Department of the Treasury collected the tax was FY1995. At the end of FY1996, the invested trust fund balance was $6.0 billion. This fund was exhausted by the end of FY2003; since that time funding for these orphan shares has been appropriated by Congress out of general revenues.
Accessing Superfund data
The data in the Superfund Program is available to the public.
EPA Superfund Information Systems: Report and Product Descriptions
EPA Superfund Information Systems: Superfund Product Order Form
TOXMAP is a Geographic Information System (GIS) from the Division of Specialized Information Services of the United States National Library of Medicine (NLM) that uses maps of the United States to help users visually explore data from the United States Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) Toxics Release Inventory and Superfund programs. TOXMAP is a resource funded by the US Federal Government. TOXMAP's chemical and environmental health information is taken from NLM's Toxicology Data Network (TOXNET) and PubMed, and from other authoritative sources.
See also
Brownfield land
Formerly Used Defense Sites
Gade v. National Solid Wastes Management Association
Hazardous waste
National Oil and Hazardous Substances Contingency Plan
Orphan share
Phase I Environmental Site Assessment
Relevant and appropriate requirements
Remedial action plan
Remedial response
Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA)
Superfund Research Program
TOXMAP
United States v. Bestfoods
Vapor intrusion
References
EPA. "CERCLA/Superfund Orientation Manual." Document No. EPA/542/R-92/005. October 1992.
External links
Superfund - EPA Official Site
Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry
National Priorities List of Hazardous Substances
Superfund sites by state - EPA
"High Court Limits Liability in Superfund Cases." - New York Times, 2009-05-05
"Without Superfund Tax, Stimulus Money Helps Pay for Cleanups." - New York Times, 2009-04-26
Category:1980 in law
Category:United States federal environmental legislation
Category:United States Environmental Protection Agency
Category:96th United States Congress
Category:Hazardous waste
Category:Article Feedback Pilot
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