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The Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (also known as CERCLA or Superfund) provides for a federal tax on chemical and petroleum industries (or “Superfund”) to clean up uncontrolled or abandoned hazardous-waste sites. It also provides federal planning and funding for responses to accidents, spills, and other emergency releases of pollutants and contaminants into the environment.
Through CERCLA, EPA has the power to seek out those parties responsible for any release and assure their cooperation in the cleanup.
The Superfund Amendments and Reauthorization Act (SARA) of 1986 reauthorized CERCLA to continue cleanup activities around the country. Several site-specific amendments, definition clarifications, and technical requirements were added to the legislation, including additional enforcement authorities.
Scope
EPA implements CERCLA in all 50 states and U.S. territories. Superfund site identification, monitoring, and response activities in states are coordinated through the state environmental protection or waste management agencies.
Regulatory citations
40 CFR 300 — National oil and hazardous substances pollution contingency plan
40 CFR 302 — Designation, reportable quantities, and notification
40 CFR 303 — Citizen awards for information on criminal violations under Superfund
40 CFR 304 — Arbitration procedures for small superfund cost recovery claims
40 CFR 305 — Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA) administrative hearing procedures for claims against the Superfund
42 U.S.C. 9601 et seq. — Comprehensive environmental response, compensation, and liability
Key definitions
CERCLA: The Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act of 1980, as amended.
Continuous release: A release of a hazardous substance that is continuous and stable in quantity and rate. EPA 40 CFR 302.8 says, “A continuous release is a release that occurs without interruption or abatement or that is routine, anticipated, and intermittent and incidental to normal operations or treatment processes ... A release that is stable in quantity and rate is a release that is predictable and regular in amount and rate of emission.”
Hazardous substance: As defined by CERCLA, means any:
Substance designated pursuant to section 311(b)(2)(A) of the Clean Water Act (CWA);
Element, compound, mixture, solution, or substance designated pursuant to section 102 of CERCLA;
Hazardous waste having the characteristics identified under or listed pursuant to section 3001 of the Solid Waste Disposal Act;
Toxic pollutant listed under section 307(a) of the CWA;
Hazardous air pollutant listed under section 112 of the Clean Air Act ; and
Imminently hazardous chemical substance or mixture pursuant to section 7 of the Toxic Substances Control Act.
The term does not include petroleum, including crude oil, which is not otherwise specifically listed or designated as a hazardous substance, or natural gas, natural gas liquids, liquified natural gas, or synthetic gas usable for fuel (or mixtures of natural gas and such synthetic gas).
Environment:
For the purposes of 40 CFR Part 302, means (1) 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 Fishery Conservation and Management Act of 1976, and (2) any other surface water, ground water, drinking water supply, land surface or subsurface strata, or ambient air within the United States or under the jurisdiction of the United States.
For the purposes of 40 CFR Part 355, includes water, air, and land and the interrelationship that exists among and between water, air, and land and all living things.
EPCRA: The Emergency Planning and Community Right-To-Know Act of 1986.
Establishment: An economic unit, generally at a single physical location, where business is conducted or where services or industrial operations are performed.
For the purposes of 40 CFR Part 302, means (1) 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 (2) 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.
For the purposes of 40 CFR Part 355, means all buildings, equipment, structures, and other stationary items that are located on a single site or on contiguous or adjacent sites and that are owned or operated by the same person (or by any person that controls, is controlled by, or under common control with, such person). Facility includes manmade structures, as well as all natural structures in which chemicals are purposefully placed or removed through human means such that it functions as a containment structure for human use. For purposes of emergency release notification, the term includes motor vehicles, rolling stock, and aircraft.
Hazardous chemical: For the purposes of 40 CFR Part 355, means any hazardous chemical as defined under 29 CFR 1910.1200(c), except that this term does not include the items listed at 40 CFR 355.61.
Hazardous waste: Shall have the meaning provided in 40 CFR 261.3.
Hazard Ranking System (HRS): 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.
Import: To cause a chemical to be imported into the customs territory of the United States. For purposes of this definition, “to cause” means to intend that the chemical be imported and to control the identity of the imported chemical and the amount to be imported.
LEPC: The Local Committee appointed by the State Emergency Response Commission.
Listed hazardous substances: For the purposes of 40 CFR Part 302, means the elements and compounds and hazardous wastes appearing in Table 302.4 that are designated as hazardous substances.
Manufacture: To produce, prepare, import, or compound a toxic chemical. Manufacture also applies to a toxic chemical that is produced coincidentally during the manufacture, processing, use, or disposal of another chemical or mixture of chemicals, including a toxic chemical that is separated from that other chemical or mixture of chemicals as a byproduct, and a toxic chemical that remains in that other chemical or mixture of chemicals as an impurity.
Material safety data sheet (MSDS): The sheet required to be developed under 29 CFR 1910.1200(g).
Mixture:
For the purposes of 40 CFR Part 355, a heterogeneous association of substances where the various individual substances retain their identities and can usually be separated by mechanical means. This definition includes solutions but does not include alloys or amalgams.
For the purposes of 40 CFR Part 372, any combination of two or more chemicals, if the combination is not, in whole or in part, the result of a chemical reaction. However, if the combination was produced by a chemical reaction but could have been produced without a chemical reaction, it is also treated as a mixture. A mixture also includes any combination which consists of a chemical and associated impurities.
National Priorities List (NPL): The list, compiled by EPA under CERCLA section 105, of uncontrolled hazardous substance releases in the U.S. that are priorities for long-term remedial evaluation and response.
National Response System (NRS): The mechanism for coordinating response actions by all levels of government in support of the on-scene coordinator. The NRS is composed of the NRT, regional response teams, the on-scene coordinator, Area Committees, and Special Teams and related support entities. The NRS is capable of expanding or contracting to accommodate the response effort required by the size or complexity of the discharge or release.
National Response Team (NRT): The team made up of representatives from several federal agencies tasked with national planning and coordination for chemical emergency response.
Otherwise use: Any use of a toxic chemical, including a toxic chemical contained in a mixture or other trade name product or waste, that is not covered by the terms “manufacture” or “process.” Otherwise use of a toxic chemical does not include disposal, stabilization (without subsequent distribution in commerce), or treatment for destruction unless: (1) The toxic chemical that was disposed, stabilized, or treated for destruction was received from off-site for the purposes of further waste management; or (2) The toxic chemical that was disposed, stabilized, or treated for destruction was manufactured as a result of waste management activities on materials received from off-site for the purposes of further waste management activities. Relabeling or redistributing of the toxic chemical where no repackaging of the toxic chemical occurs does not constitute otherwise use or processing of the toxic chemical.
Process: The preparation of a toxic chemical, after its manufacture, for distribution in commerce: (1) In the same form or physical state as, or in a different form or physical state from, that in which it was received by the person so preparing such substance, or (2) As part of an article containing the toxic chemical. Process also applies to the processing of a toxic chemical contained in a mixture or trade name product. Relabeling or redistributing of the toxic chemical where no repackaging of the toxic chemical occurs does not constitute otherwise use or processing of the toxic chemical.
Release:
For the purposes of 40 CFR Part 355, 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) of any hazardous chemical, EHS, or CERCLA hazardous substance.
For the purposes of 40 CFR Part 372, 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) of any toxic chemical.
Reportable quantity (RQ):
For any CERCLA hazardous substance, the quantity established in Table 302.4 of 40 CFR 302.4, for such substance.
For any EHS, the quantity established in Appendices A and B of 40 CFR Part 355 for such substance. Unless and until superseded by regulations establishing a reportable quantity for newly listed EHSs or CERCLA hazardous substances, a weight of 1 pound shall be the reportable quantity.
Safety data sheet (SDS): The sheet required to be developed under 29 CFR 1910.1200(g). This term has the same meaning as the term “material safety data sheet or MSDS.”
SARA: The Superfund Amendments and Reauthorization Act of 1986, which reauthorized CERCLA to continue cleanup activities around the country and added new enforcement authorities.
SARA Title III: The provision that authorized the Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act (EPCRA). EPCRA is sometimes referred to as SARA Title III.
SERC: The State Emergency Response Commission for the state in which the facility is located except where the facility is located in Indian Country, in which case, SERC means the Emergency Response Commission for the Tribe under whose jurisdiction the facility is located.
Threshold planning quantity (TPQ): For a substance listed in Appendices A and B of 40 CFR Part 355., the quantity listed in the column “threshold planning quantity” for that substance.
Toxic chemical: A chemical or chemical category listed in 40 CFR 372.65.
Trade secret: Any confidential formula, pattern, process, device, information or compilation of information that is used in a submitter’s business, and that gives the submitter an opportunity to obtain an advantage over competitors who do not know or use it.
Unlisted hazardous substance: For the purposes of 40 CFR Part 302, means a solid waste, as defined in 40 CFR 261.2, which is not excluded from regulation as a hazardous waste. This is a hazardous substance if it exhibits any of the characteristics identified in 40 CFR 261.20 through 261.24.
Worst case discharge: In the case of an offshore facility or onshore facility, the largest foreseeable discharge in adverse weather conditions.
Summary of requirements
Among the many requirements, facilities must:
Know if their hazardous substances are listed in Table 302.4 of 40 CFR 302.4, along with the reportable quantities;
Immediately report to the National Response Center (NRC) at (800) 424-8802 (and any applicable state/local authorities) any release of a hazardous substance that meets or exceeds the RQ per 40 CFR 302;
Meet the requirements of the All Appropriate Inquiries Rule before purchasing property, to avoid CERCLA liability if contamination is later discovered;
Comply with EPA during cleanup actions;
Cooperate in emergency plan preparation and provide the required information if the facility maintains EHS onsite in quantities equal to or greater than corresponding TPQs, per 40 CFR Part 355;
Immediately report accidental releases of EHSs that meet or exceed the RQ per 40 CFR Part 355;
Report to state and local officials any releases of EHSs in quantities equal to or greater than the state and local RQs;
Consider the continuous release reporting regulation, which offers reduced reporting options under CERCLA Section 103(a) and regulation 40 CFR 302.8 for facilities that release hazardous substances in a manner that is continuous, and stable in quantity and rate (this reduced reporting is also applicable to releases of EHSs under EPCRA Section 304);
If the facility handles or stores hazardous chemicals at or above threshold levels at 40 CFR Part 370, submit to state and local officials and local fire departments copies of the material safety data sheets (MSDSs) (or safety data sheets (SDSs)) of facility non-exempted hazardous chemicals OR submit a list of facility non-exempted hazardous chemicals;
If the facility handles or stores of hazardous chemicals at or above threshold levels at 40 CFR Part 370, submit to state and local officials and local fire departments by March 1 a Tier II chemical inventory form (or state equivalent form) for non-exempted hazardous chemicals, if the non-exempted hazardous chemicals are present at any one time at the facility in an amount equal to or greater than their threshold levels during the preceding calendar year; and
Complete and submit a toxic chemical release inventory form (Form R or Form A) annually if the facility meets the applicability criteria at 40 CFR Part 372 (the form must be submitted for each of the TRI chemicals or chemical categories that are manufactured, processed, or otherwise used above the applicable threshold quantities at the facility).
Note: Facilities may withhold the specific chemical identity from the reports filed under EPCRA Sections 303, 311, 312 and 313 (and regulations 40 CFR Part 355, 40 CFR Part 370, and 40 CFR Part 372) if the facilities submit a claim with substantiation to EPA.
