Overview

The Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act of 1980 (CERCLA, also known as Superfund), as amended by the Superfund Amendments and Reauthorization Act of 1986 (SARA), gives the federal government the ability to respond to actual or threatened releases of hazardous substances. The law gives the federal government the authority to compel parties responsible for releases of hazardous substances to remove them, and to take action to remedy any danger they pose to human health, welfare, and the environment. It also gives the federal government the authority to respond directly to these releases in appropriate circumstances, and it creates a framework within which the federal government can exercise its role. Many of CERCLA's provisions address cleanup, liability, and compensation associated with inactive or abandoned hazardous waste sites.

Equally important sections address responsibilities for reporting and responding to releases of hazardous substances as they occur. CERCLA establishes a list of Superfund "hazardous substances." There are now about 800 specific substances and 1500 radionuclides. These substances were first identified under other statutes, including the Clean Water Act (CWA), the Clean Air Act (CAA), and the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA). CERCLA authorizes the Administrator of the EPA to add to this list "substances which, when released into the environment may present substantial danger to the public health or welfare or the environment."

For each CERCLA hazardous substance, EPA establishes a reportable quantity (RQ). For hazardous substances that are not radionuclides, RQs are established at 1, 10, 100, 1,000, or 5,000 pounds; one-pound RQs are assigned for all hazardous substances that did not already have RQs established under the CWA. The RQs for radionuclides are expressed in curies, and range from 0.001 to 1,000 curies. These RQs serve as reporting triggers. When an RQ or more of a hazardous substance is released into the environment, the person in charge of the facility or vessel from which the release occurs must immediately report it to the National Response Center (NRC) under CERCLA. Under the Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act of 1986 (EPCRA), the owner or operator of a facility also must notify the appropriate State and local authorities of such releases.