The Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act — otherwise known as CERCLA or Superfund — provides
a Federal “Superfund” to clean up uncontrolled or abandoned hazardous-waste sites as well as accidents, spills, and other emergency releases of pollutants and contaminants into the environment
…
Who can be liable under CERCLA?
CERCLA imposes liability for clean-up costs and other response and/ or
remediation costs upon owners or operators of facilities and sites from which a release of hazardous substances has occurred
. All of these terms are defined in CERCLA.
What is CERCLA and why is it important?
CERCLA gives
the federal government the power to tax chemical and petroleum companies found responsible for releasing hazardous waste into unregulated areas
. … CERCLA permits federal authorities to act swiftly when a qualifying spill occurs, allowing them to manage short-term removals and long-term responses.
What is the purpose of CERCLA and in what year was the law passed?
The Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation & Liability Act was signed into law by President Jimmy Carter on December 11,
1980
. The law is known as CERCLA or Superfund since it created the Superfund program for cleanup of sites contaminated with hazardous substances and pollutants.
What federal agency is responsible for enforcement of CERCLA?
The liability requires the parties to pay damages for the clean up of the sites. CERCLA invokes theories and elements of environmental law, property law, and tort law.
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)
is responsible for enforcing CERCLA.
What is CERCLA and how does it impact the safety profession?
The Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act — otherwise known as CERCLA or Superfund —
provides a Federal “Superfund” to clean up uncontrolled or abandoned hazardous-waste sites as well as accidents, spills, and other emergency releases of pollutants and contaminants into the environment
…
What is the CERCLA process?
The Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA), also known as Superfund,
authorizes the President to respond to releases or threatened releases of hazardous substances into the environment.
Who is liable under Superfund?
There are four classes of Superfund liable parties:
Current owners and operators of a facility
, Past owners and operators of a facility at the time hazardous wastes were disposed, … Transporters of hazardous waste that selected the site where the hazardous substances were brought.
Why are they called Superfunds?
Superfund is the common name given to the law called
the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act of 1980
, or CERCLA. Superfund is also the trust fund set up by Congress to handle emergency and hazardous waste sites needing long-term cleanup.
Who is liable under RCRA?
Under RCRA, a plaintiff has to establish three elements: (i) a site may present an imminent and substantial endangerment to the health or environment; (ii) the endangerment arises from handling, storage, treatment, transportation, or disposal of any solid or hazardous waste, and (iii) the
defendant is contributing or
…
How does the Superfund Act work?
It
allows EPA to clean up contaminated sites
. It also forces the parties responsible for the contamination to either perform cleanups or reimburse the government for EPA-led cleanup work. When there is no viable responsible party, Superfund gives EPA the funds and authority to clean up contaminated sites.
Is mold a hazardous substance under CERCLA?
In short, since the ASTM standards specifically state only hazardous substances identified in CERCLA are to be considered in a Phase I ESA, and since mold, lead, and asbestos are
not
identified in any acts referred to in CERCLA, the answer is no, a ‘by-the-books' Phase I ESA does not include inspecting for mold, lead, …
Is the Superfund Act effective?
Over the past three decades, CERCLA has successfully cleaned and restored close to 400 contaminated sites once listed on its national priorities list (NPL), including the infamous Love Canal site. In
2017
, then-EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt established the Superfund Task Force.
Why did the federal government pass CERCLA?
Congress passed the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA or commonly known as Superfund)
in response to a growing national concern about the release of hazardous substances from abandoned waste sites
.
What is CERCLA strict liability?
CERCLA imposes strict liability
for the costs associated with cleanup of hazardous substances upon certain statutorily defined parties known as PRPs
(potentially responsible parties). One type of PRP is the owner of a site on which hazardous substances are found.
How is Superfund enforced?
Under the authority of the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act of 1980 (CERCLA, commonly known as Superfund), the Superfund enforcement program
gets sites cleaned up by finding the companies or people responsible for contamination at a site and negotiating with or ordering them to do
…
