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 is the Superfund Act important?
The Superfund program makes a visible and lasting difference in communities cleaning up the nation’s worst hazardous waste sites , tackling threats to public health and our natural environment, supporting local economies and enhancing quality of life, preventing future releases of hazardous substances, and leading to ...
Is CERCLA an effective law?
Superfund, as CERCLA is popularly known, only is one of the most complex laws now in force , but also is widely regarded as both wasteful and ineffective. ... Under the current law, cleanup of the remaining current and potential sites could cost additional tens of billions of dollars.
Does Superfund still exist?
As of June 12, 2019, there were 1344 Superfund sites on the National Priorities List in the United States. Forty-eight additional sites have been proposed for entry on the list. As of June 12, 2019, 413 sites have been cleaned up and removed from the list.
What did the Superfund Act accomplish?
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 ...
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.
What are the goals of Superfund?
Superfund’s goals are to: Protect human health and the environment by cleaning up contaminated sites ; Make responsible parties pay for cleanup work; Involve communities in the Superfund process; and.
Who is 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.
Who is responsible for 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.
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 .
Why are Superfund sites bad?
In addition to increased levels of childhood cancer and birth defects, exposure to hazardous substances released from Superfund sites has been correlated with higher rates of suspension from school and repeating grade levels , lower standardized test scores, and decreased cognitive functioning.
Is Love Canal still a Superfund site?
| Love Canal | Construction completed 29 September 1998 | Deleted 30 September 2004 | List of Superfund sites |
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Is waste a toxic?
Toxic waste, chemical waste material capable of causing death or injury to life . Waste containing dangerous pathogens, such as used syringes, is sometimes considered to be toxic waste. ... Poisoning occurs when toxic waste is ingested, inhaled, or absorbed by the skin.
What is the biggest Superfund site?
The 586 square mile Hanford Site is home to one of the largest Superfund cleanups in the nation.
Where does Superfund waste go?
It’s up to companies responsible for cleaning the sites to vet the facilities where they send waste . The result is that waste is routinely shipped and treated at plants with well-documented histories of environmental violations.
How much money is in the Superfund?
EPA receives annual appropriations from the trust fund for program activities; since 1981, Superfund appropriations have totaled over $32 billion in nominal dollars, or about $1.2 billion annually .
