Superfund Basics
What is Superfund?
Superfund, officially
The Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability
Act (CERCLA), was enacted by Congress on December 11, 1980. This
law created a tax on the chemical and petroleum industries and provided
broad federal authority to respond directly to releases or threatened
releases of hazardous substances that may endanger public health
or the environment. Over five years, $1.6 billion was collected
and went to a trust fund for cleaning up abandoned or uncontrolled
hazardous waste sites. CERCLA:
- Establishes
prohibitions and requirements concerning closed and abandoned
hazardous waste sites;
- Provides
for liability of persons responsible for releases of hazardous
waste at these sites; and
- Establishes
a trust fund to provide for cleanup when no responsible party
can be identified.
The
law authorizes two kinds of response actions:
- Short-term
removals, where actions may be taken to address releases or threatened
releases requiring prompt response.
- Long-term
remedial response actions, that permanently and significantly
reduce the dangers associated with releases or threats of releases
of hazardous substances that are serious, but not immediately
life threatening. These actions can be conducted only at sites
listed on EPA's National Priorities List (NPL).
CERCLA
also enables the revision of the National Contingency Plan (NCP).
The NCP provides the guidelines and procedures needed to respond to
releases and threatened releases of hazardous substances, pollutants,
or contaminants. The NCP also establishes the NPL. CERCLA was amended
by the Superfund Amendments and Reauthorization Act (SARA) on October
17, 1986.
> Superfund
FAQ
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on CERCLA
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entire NPL
Who cleans
up a Superfund site?
The
simple answer is that the responsible party pays for the cleanup.
If the responsible party no longer exists or cannot be determined,
trust fund monies are used to complete the cleanup. However, the
actual work involved in a Superfund cleanup can be very complex
and require the efforts of many experts in science, engineering,
public health, management, law, community relations and numerous
other fields.
In
the case of both the Clark Fork River and Milltown, the potentially
responsible party is Arco, recently purchased by BP Amoco.
There
are a number of groups within EPA and other government agencies
that play a leading role in Superfund site cleanups. EPA has specialists
spread out across the ten Superfund regions in the country who are
responsible for cleanup activities, including On-Scene Coordinators,
Community Involvement Coordinators, and Site Assessment specialists.
National teams of specialists from the EPA, the U.S. Coast Guard,
the U.S. Corps of Engineers, and Agency for Toxic Substances and
Disease Registry take part in Superfund cleanup efforts, too.
Once
a hazard has been identified and cleanup options have been studied
for effectiveness and feasibility, the EPA determines what it believes
to be the appropriate cleanup. The party responsible for the contaminants
at the site is, in most cases, also responsible for cleanup costs.
How do people
get exposed to hazardous substances?
There
are a number of ways people are exposed, such as through:
·
contaminated air;
· direct contact with hazardous waste;
· contaminated drinking water;
· fire or explosion;
· the food chain;
· contaminated ground water;
· contaminated soil; and
· contaminated surface water.
The
sources of exposure vary depending on the site, and not all of these
exposure threats exist at every site. That's why the EPA scientists
must assess a site and figure out the type of exposure threats that
exist. Once they know that, the best way to protect the health of
the surrounding community and environment can be determined and
the cleanup can begin.
In addition to
human health, the EPA considers impacts to the environment and wildlife
(particularly endangered species).
> More
on hazardous waste
What is the
difference between hazardous and other waste?
Ordinary waste,
not specifically classified as hazardous, is defined by the EPA
as any garbage, refuse, or sludge from a wastewater treatment plant,
water supply treatment plant, or air pollution control facility,
and other discarded material.
Discarded material includes solid, liquid, semi-solid or contained
gaseous material resulting from industrial, commercial, mining,
and agricultural operations, and from community activities.
Waste
is hazardous when it is ignitable, corrosive or reactive (explosive).
Also, if waste contains certain amounts of toxic chemicals, it is
considered hazardous. There are 500 specific hazardous wastes that
have been defined by the EPA. For more information on this subject,
read the office of Solid Waste's fact sheet, What Makes a Waste
Hazardous? on the EPA's site. You'll find a link to that site on
our links page.
How does the
EPA decide on a cleanup option?
The analysis of
alternatives under review shall reflect the scope and complexity of
site problems and alternatives being evaluated and consider the relative
significance of the factors within each criteria. The nine evaluation
criteria are as follows:
| (A) |
Overall
protection of human health and the environment. |
| (B) |
Compliance
with applicable or relevant and appropriate requirements (ARARs) under federal environmental laws and state environmental
or facility siting laws. |
| (C) |
Long-term
effectiveness and permanence. |
| (D) |
Reduction
of toxicity, mobility or volume through treatment. |
| (E) |
Short-term
effectiveness. |
| (F) |
Implementability. The ease or difficulty of implementing the alternatives must
be assessed. |
| (G) |
Cost. The types of costs that shall be assessed include the following:
(1) Capital costs, including both direct and indirect costs;
(2) Annual operation and maintenance costs; and (3) Net present
value of capital and O&M costs. |
| (H) |
State
acceptance. Assessment of state concerns can't be completed
until comments on the Feasibility Study are received. The state
concerns include the following: (1) The state's position and
key concerns related to the preferred alternative and other
alternatives; and (2) State comments on ARARs or the proposed
use of waivers. |
| (I) |
Community
acceptance. This assessment includes determining which components
of the alternatives interested persons in the community support,
have reservations about, or oppose. This assessment may not
be completed until comments on the proposed plan are received.
(NOTE: This is separate and distinct from the public's ability
to comment on the process or on what alternatives it wants implemented.
Therefore, the public may comment at any time to the Governor
and EPA!) |
> Complete
Outline of Nine Criteria
Can local
citizens impact the EPA's decision?
Absolutely.
The Superfund process allows for public input through scheduled
meetings at critical points in the process, but anyone can write
letters or e-mail the EPA and their state Governor and legislators
at any point. Comments sent to the EPA are tallied in a "for
or against" fashion. They need not be long. They need only
give your opinion on the issue.
Briefly,
here are the steps followed to determine cleanup.
| 1. |
Designation. Site is determined to contain hazardous waste that poses
a threat to human and/or environmental health. |
| 2. |
The
party responsible for the waste, the EPA and other groups
collect data on impacts and study options for cleanup. |
| 3. |
The
potentially responsible party presents its findings to the
EPA in what is called a Feasibility Study. |
| 4. |
The
Feasibility Study is reviewed by the EPA and the site's
Technical Assistance Committee. These two groups compare the
study to their own data and interpretations. |
| 5. |
Questions
and comments are submitted to the potentially responsible
party by the EPA and TAC. |
| 6. |
Taking
these questions and comments into account, the potentially
responsible party then issues a Feasibility Study to the EPA.
This study includes a range of options for cleanup and proposes
a specific option be selected by the EPA. |
| 7. |
The
EPA releases the Feasibility Study to the public. |
| 8. |
At this
point, the public is given a comment period. During that
period, it is absolutely vital that local citizens express their
views. State government and local community acceptance are two
of the criteria strongly considered by the EPA. To facilitate
public comment the EPA holds a series of meetings called scoping
meetings. |
| 9. |
Once
the comment period closes (usually 4 to 6 weeks after it
begins), the EPA reviews the public comments and creates a Proposed
Plan. |
| 10. |
Again,
a series of meetings is held where the public and interested
parties can comment on the Proposed Plan (though changes at
this point are typically minimal and have more to do with implementation
rather than substance). |
| 11. |
After
the comment period has ended, the EPA considers the comments,
makes any revisions it deems necessary, and issues a record
of decision. |
Is the EPA's
decision final?
Yes and no. The
decision process can be very involved and there are avenues for
legal recourse, so it's difficult to be black and white in describing
the finality of the EPA's decision. Superfund issues are often decided
by federal courts. However, Superfund is set up to work as follows:
If
the EPA directs the responsible party to clean up the waste in a
certain fashion, the responsible party is bound by law to comply.
If the EPA determines that no cleanup is necessary or feasible,
the responsible party is released from responsibility and cannot
be held accountable in the future.
As
we said, though, Superfund does provide for legal recourse. If the
responsible party does not agree with the EPA's decision, the responsible
party can refuse to comply. The result of this refusal is generally
a lawsuit brought by the EPA to force the responsible party to act
according to the EPA's decision. Conversely, if another party, for
example a state government or public interest group, disagrees with
the EPA's decision, that party can sue the EPA for violating its
mission to protect the environment and hold accountable responsible
parties.
> More
on hazardous waste
Why would
a potentially responsible party follow the EPA's decision if it doesn't
have to?
If the EPA sues
the responsible party for noncompliance and wins, the responsible
party can be held accountable for treble damages - an amount equaling
three times that of the projected cost of the EPA-selected cleanup
for the site, plus all legal fees. This significant penalty was included
to avoid frivolous suits caused by noncompliance.
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