• Various terms are critical to the understanding of the basics of the CERCLA, or Superfund, program.

The Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA) 101 defines terms that are critical to understanding the basics of the Superfund program. These definitions are used throughout both the statute and the codified regulations. Specific terms defined that are an integral part of CERCLA include “release,” “hazardous substance,” and “owner or operator.”

Act of God

Act of God means an unanticipated grave natural disaster or other natural phenomenon of an exceptional, inevitable, and irresistible character, the effects of which could not have been prevented or avoided by the exercise of due care or foresight.

Disposal

Disposal means the discharge, deposit, injection, dumping, spilling, leaking, or placing of any solid waste or hazardous waste into or on any land or water so that such solid waste or hazardous waste or any constituent thereof may enter the environment or be emitted into the air or discharged into any waters, including groundwaters.

Environment

Environment means the navigable waters, the waters of the contiguous zone, and the ocean waters of which the natural resources are under the exclusive management authority of the United States under the Magnuson Fishery Conservation and Management Act (16 United States Code (U.S.C.) 1801 et seq.); and any other surface water, groundwater, drinking water supply, land surface or subsurface strata, or ambient air within the United States or under the jurisdiction of the United States.

Facility

Facility, means any building, structure, installation, equipment, pipe or pipeline (including any pipe into a sewer or publicly owned treatment works), well, pit, pond, lagoon, impoundment, ditch, landfill, storage container, motor vehicle, rolling stock, or aircraft, or any site or area, where a hazardous substance has been deposited, stored, disposed of, or placed, or otherwise come to be located; but does not include any consumer product in consumer use or any vessel.

Federally permitted release

Federally permitted release means:

1. Discharges in compliance with a permit under section 402 of the Federal Water Pollution Control Act [33 U.S.C. 1342],
2. Discharges resulting from circumstances identified and reviewed and made part of the public record with respect to a permit issued or modified under section 402 of the Federal Water Pollution Control Act and subject to a condition of such permit,
3. Continuous or anticipated intermittent discharges from a point source, identified in a permit or permit application under section 402 of the Federal Water Pollution Control Act, which are caused by events occurring within the scope of relevant operating or treatment systems,
4. Discharges in compliance with a legally enforceable permit under section 404 of the Federal Water Pollution Control Act [33 U.S.C. 1344],
5. Releases in compliance with a legally enforceable final permit issued pursuant to section 3005(a) through (d) of the Solid Waste Disposal Act [42 U.S.C. 6925(a)–(d)] from a hazardous waste treatment, storage, or disposal facility when such permit specifically identifies the hazardous substances and makes such substances subject to a standard of practice, control procedure or bioassay limitation or condition, or other control on the hazardous substances in such releases,
6. Any release in compliance with a legally enforceable permit issued under 33 U.S.C. 1412 or 1413,
7. Any injection of fluids authorized under federal underground injection control programs or state programs submitted for federal approval (and not disapproved by the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency) pursuant to part C of the Safe Drinking Water Act [42 U.S.C. 300h et seq.],
8. Any emission into the air subject to a permit or control regulation under section 111 [42 U.S.C. 7411], section 112 [42 U.S.C. 7412], title I part C [42 U.S.C. 7470 et seq.], title I part D [42 U.S.C. 7501 et seq.], or state implementation plans submitted in accordance with section 110 of the Clean Air Act [42 U.S.C. 7410] (and not disapproved by the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency), including any schedule or waiver granted, promulgated, or approved,
9. Any injection of fluids or other materials authorized under applicable state law:
   1. For the purpose of stimulating or treating wells for the production of crude oil, natural gas, or water,
   2. For the purpose of secondary, tertiary, or other enhanced recovery of crude oil or natural gas, or
   3. Which are brought to the surface in conjunction with the production of crude oil or natural gas and which are reinjected,
10. The introduction of any pollutant into a publicly owned treatment works when such pollutant is specified in and in compliance with applicable pretreatment standards of section 307(b) or (c) of the Clean Water Act (CWA) [33 U.S.C.1317(b), (c)] and enforceable requirements in a pretreatment program submitted by a State or municipality for Federal approval under section 402 of such Act [33 U.S.C. 1342], and
11. Any release of source, special nuclear, or byproduct material, as those terms are defined in the Atomic Energy Act of 1954 [42 U.S.C. 2011 et seq.], in compliance with a legally enforceable license, permit, regulation, or order issued pursuant to the Atomic Energy Act of 1954.

Hazardous substance

Hazardous substance, means:

• Any substance designated pursuant to section 311(b)(2)(A) of the CWA;
• Any element, compound, mixture, solution, or substance designated pursuant to section 102 of CERCLA;
• Any hazardous waste having the characteristics identified under or listed pursuant to section 3001 of the Solid Waste Disposal Act (but not including any waste the regulation of which under the Solid Waste Disposal Act (42 U.S.C. 6901 et seq.) has been suspended by Act of Congress);
• Any toxic pollutant listed under section 307(a) of the CWA;
• Any hazardous air pollutant listed under section 112 of the Clean Air Act (42 U.S.C.7521 et seq.); and
• Any imminently hazardous chemical substance or mixture with respect to which the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator has taken action pursuant to section 7 of the Toxic Substances Control Act (15 U.S.C. 2601 et seq.).

The term does not include petroleum, including crude oil or any fraction thereof which is not otherwise specifically listed or designated as a hazardous substance, and the term does not include natural gas, natural gas liquids, liquified natural gas, or synthetic gas usable for fuel (or mixtures of natural gas and such synthetic gas).

Hazardous waste

Hazardous waste means a solid waste, or combination of solid wastes, which because of its quantity, concentration, or physical, chemical, or infectious characteristics may:

• Cause, or significantly contribute to an increase in mortality or an increase in serious irreversible, or incapacitating reversible, illness; or
• Pose a substantial present or potential hazard to human health or the environment when improperly treated, stored, transported, or disposed of, or otherwise managed.

Hazard Ranking System

Hazard Ranking System (HRS) means the method used by EPA to evaluate the relative potential of hazardous substance releases to cause health or safety problems, or ecological or environmental damage.

National contingency plan

National contingency plan means the national contingency plan published under 311(c) 4 of the Federal Water Pollution Control Act or revised pursuant to CERCLA 9605 of Title 42 of the U.S. Code.

Owner or operator

Owner or operator means:

• In the case of a vessel, any person owning, operating, or chartering by demise, such vessel,
• In the case of an onshore facility or an offshore facility, any person owning or operating such facility, and
• In the case of any facility, title, or control of which was conveyed due to bankruptcy, foreclosure, tax delinquency, abandonment, or similar means to a unit of state or local government, any person who owned, operated, or otherwise controlled activities at such facility immediately beforehand. Such term does not include a person, who, without participating in the management of a vessel or facility, holds indicia of ownership primarily to protect the person’s security interest in the vessel or facility.

Person

Person means an individual, firm, corporation, association, partnership, consortium, joint venture, commercial entity, United States government, state, municipality, commission, political subdivision of a state, or any interstate body.

Pollutant or contaminant

Pollutant or contaminant, shall include, but not be limited to, any element, substance, compound, or mixture, including disease-causing agents, which after release into the environment and upon exposure, ingestion, inhalation, or assimilation into any organism, either directly from the environment or indirectly by ingestion through food chains, will or may reasonably be anticipated to cause death, disease, behavioral abnormalities, cancer, genetic mutation, physiological malfunctions (including malfunctions in reproduction) or physical deformations, in such organisms or their offspring. The term does not include petroleum, including crude oil or any fraction thereof which is not otherwise specifically listed or designated as a hazardous substance under section 101(14) (A) through (F) of CERCLA, nor does it include natural gas, liquified natural gas, or synthetic gas of pipeline quality (or mixtures of natural gas and such synthetic gas).

Release

Release, means any spilling, leaking, pumping, pouring, emitting, emptying, discharging, injecting, escaping, leaching, dumping, or disposing into the environment (including the abandonment or discarding of barrels, containers, and other closed receptacles containing any hazardous substance or pollutant or contaminant), but excludes: Any release which results in exposure to persons solely within a workplace, with respect to a claim which such persons may assert against the employer of such persons; emissions from the engine exhaust of a motor vehicle, rolling stock, aircraft, vessel, or pipeline pumping station engine; release of source, byproduct, or special nuclear material from a nuclear incident, as those terms are defined in the Atomic Energy Act of 1954, if such release is subject to requirements with respect to financial protection established by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission under section 170 of such Act, or, for the purposes of section 104 of CERCLA or any other response action, any release of source, byproduct, or special nuclear material from any processing site designated under section 102(a)(1) or 302(a) of the Uranium Mill Tailings Radiation Control Act of 1978 (42 U.S.C. 7901 et seq.); and the normal application of fertilizer. For purposes of the NCP, release also means threat of release.

Remove or removal

Remove or removal as defined by:

• Section 311(a)(8) of the CWA, refers to containment and removal of oil or hazardous substances from the water and shorelines or the taking of such other actions as may be necessary to minimize or mitigate damage to the public health or welfare of the United States (including, but not limited to, fish, shellfish, wildlife, public and private property, and shorelines and beaches) or to the environment. For the purpose of the NCP, the term also includes monitoring of action to remove a discharge.
• Section 101(23) of CERCLA, means the cleanup or removal of released hazardous substances from the environment; such actions as may be necessary taken in the event of the threat of release of hazardous substances into the environment; such actions as may be necessary to monitor, assess, and evaluate the release or threat of release of hazardous substances; the disposal of removed material; or the taking of such other actions as may be necessary to prevent, minimize, or mitigate damage to the public health or welfare of the United States or to the environment, which may otherwise result from a release or threat of release.

The term includes, in addition, without being limited to, security fencing or other measures to limit access, provision of alternative water supplies, temporary evacuation and housing of threatened individuals not otherwise provided for, action taken under section 104(b) of CERCLA, post-removal site control, where appropriate, and any emergency assistance which may be provided under the Disaster Relief Act of 1974.

Remedy

Remedy or remedial action (RA) means those actions consistent with permanent remedy taken instead of, or in addition to, removal action in the event of a release or threatened release of a hazardous substance into the environment, to prevent or minimize the release of hazardous substances so that they do not migrate to cause substantial danger to present or future public health or welfare or the environment.

The term includes, but is not limited to, such actions at the location of the release as storage, confinement, perimeter protection using dikes, trenches, or ditches, clay cover, neutralization, cleanup of released hazardous substances and associated contaminated materials, recycling or reuse, diversion, destruction, segregation of reactive wastes, dredging or excavations, repair or replacement of leaking containers, collection of leachate and runoff, on-site treatment or incineration, provision of alternative water supplies, any monitoring reasonably required to assure that such actions protect the public health and welfare and the environment and, where appropriate, post removal site control activities.

The term includes the costs of permanent relocation of residents and businesses and community facilities (including the cost of providing ‘‘alternative land of equivalent value’’ to an Indian tribe pursuant to CERCLA section 126(b)) where EPA determines that, alone or in combination with other measures, such relocation is more cost-effective than, and environmentally preferable to, the transportation, storage, treatment, destruction, or secure disposition off-site of such hazardous substances, or may otherwise be necessary to protect the public health or welfare; the term includes off-site transport and off-site storage, treatment, destruction, or secure disposition of hazardous substances and associated contaminated materials.

Respond

Respond or response, means remove, removal, remedy, or remedial action, including enforcement activities related thereto.

Transport or transportation

Transport or transportation means the movement of a hazardous substance by any mode, including a hazardous liquid pipeline facility, and in the case of a hazardous substance which has been accepted for transportation by a common or contract carrier, the term shall include any stoppage in transit which is temporary, incidental to the transportation movement, and at the ordinary operating convenience of a common or contract carrier, and any such stoppage shall be considered as a continuity of movement and not as the storage of a hazardous substance.

Treatment

Treatment, when used in connection with hazardous waste, means any method, technique, or process, including neutralization, designed to change the physical, chemical, or biological character or composition of any hazardous waste so as to neutralize such waste or so as to render such waste nonhazardous, safer for transport, amenable for recovery, amenable for storage, or reduced in volume. Such term includes any activity or processing designed to change the physical form or chemical composition of hazardous waste so as to render it nonhazardous.

Vessel

Vessel, means every description of watercraft or other artificial contrivance used, or capable of being used, as a means of transportation on water.