Superfund: What It Is, How It Works

IP94

EPA Superfund Oifices

Region 1

Region 4

John F. Kennedy Bldg. 345 Courtland St. N.E.

Boston, MA 02203

Atlanta, GA 30365

(617) 223-5775

(404)881-3931

Region 2

26 Federal Plaza

New York, NY 10007

(212) 264-3082

Reaion

..-w - - - . II

-

1860 Lincoln St.

Denver, CO 80295

(303) 837-6238

Region 5

Region 9

230 South Dearborn St. 215 Fremont St.

Chicago, IL 60604

San Francisco,

(312) 886-7570

CA 94015

(415) 974-7466

Region 3

Reaion

~-- - - - - 6

6th and Walnut Sts.

1201 Elm Street

Philadelphia, PA 19106 Dallas, TX 75270

(215) 597-9023

(214) 767-2750

~

Region 7

324 East 1l t h Street

Kansas City, MO 64108

1816) 374-6531

Region 10

1200 6th Avenue

Seattle. WA 98101

(206) 442-1986

SuperfundlRCRA Hotline

(800)424-9346

for information on programs

National Response Center

(800) 424-8802

to report oil and hazardous substance releases

United States

Environmental Protection

Agency

Second Printing

July 1982

HW-1

GEPA Superfund:

What It Is,

How It Works

Reprinted by t h e Library o f Congress,

Congressional Research S e r v i c e .

0

n April 21, 1980, a fire of unknown

origin broke out at an inactive waste

treatment facility i n Elizabeth, New Jersey.

The site was littered w i t h some-20,000

leaking and corroded drums containing

pesticides, explosives, radioactive wastes,

acids, and other hazardous substances. A

cloud of toxic gases skirted heavilypopulated areas one-quarter mile from the

site. Significant quantities of contaminated

water from firefighting ran off into the

Elizabeth River.

O n February 26, 1979,

a freight train derailed near Youngstown,

Florida, puncturing a tank car containing

90,000 pounds of chlorine gas, and

releasing a chlorine cloud. Eight motorists

on a nearby highway were killed, 183

other people were injured, and 3,500

residents within a 7.5 mile radius were

evacuated. Other derailed tank cars

contained a variety of toxic and flammable

substances.

For t w o and one half decades,

hundreds of tons of toxic wastes were

dumped into an unfinished canal built by

William T. Love i n Niagara Falls, New York.

The canal was covered when full; houses

and a school were later built near and

above the canal. In the later 1970s,

alarmed by unusual health symptoms,

residents of the Love Canal area called the

anention of government officials to

hazardous substances rising to the

surface, seeping into basements, and

migrating from the site.

These examples and others demonstrate

that the careless disposal of hazardous

wastes i n the past, and the continuing

threat of releases of hazardous substances

to the environment are potential problems

throughout the nation.

The Superfund program was created by

Congress as a key part of the nation's

overall response t o these hazardous

substance problems.

Why

Superfund

Is Needed

Superfund is established by the

Comprehensive Environmental Response,

Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA),

Public Law 96-510, enacted i n December

1980. The United States Environmental

Protection Agency (EPA) is responsible for

managing the Superfund program.

Until this law was passed, the Federal

Government lacked the general authority

to clean up hazardous waste sites or to

respond to spills of hazardous substances

onto land or into the air or non-navigable

waters. Congress had addressed

hazardous waste problems before, but

Federal responsibilities were mostly

regulatory.

The Resource Conservation and

Recovery Act (RCRA), passed in 1976,

establishes a regulatory system to track

hazardous substances from the time of

generation to disposal. It also requires safe

and secure procedures to be used in

treating, storing, and disposing of

hazardous substances. RCRA is designed

to prevent the creation of new Love

Canals, but it does not permit the

government to respond directly to the

problems caused by improper hazardous

waste disposal sites already in existence.

The Clean Water Act and its

predecessors enable the Federal

Government to take action when oil or

designated hazardous substances are

discharged into navigable waterways. But

they do not permit the government to act

when hazardous substances are released

elsewhere in the environment, threatening

to contaminate groundwater or to emit

dangerous fumes.

These and other environmental laws,

such as the Clean Air Act, authorize the

Federal Government to take legal action to

compel individuals or companiesgenerators, transporters, or disposers of

hazardous substances-to clean up

problems for which they are responsible.

When a dumpsite is old and abandoned,

however, it may be impossible to find

anyone responsible for the p r o b l e m - o r

anyone able to afford the cost of a cleanup.

Moreover, many releases of hazardous

substances demand prompt attention to

avert serious damage. There may not be

enough time for legal proceedings before

action must be taken.

Some States had established their own

programs for spill response or the cleanup

of uncontrolled waste disposal sites.

However, like the Federal Government,

State governments often lacked the funds

and the legal authority needed to deal fully

w i t h the problem.

Congress therefore enacted new

legislation to establish a five-year program

to spearhead both Federal and State

.

efforts to respond to releases of hazardous

substances into the environment.

The

Superfund

Law

HOWThe

Superfund

Program

Works

The Superfund law of December 1980CERCLA-authorizes the Federal

Government to respond directly to releases

(or threatened releases) of hazardous

substances and pollutants or contaminants

that may endanger public health or

welfare. Costs are to be covered by a $1.6

billion fund, 86 percent of which is

financed by taxes on the manufacture or

import of certain chemicals and petroleum,

the remainder coming from general

revenues. This fund is reimbursable: the

government generally can take legal action

to recover its cleanup costs from those

subsequently identified as responsible for

the release. Anyone liable for a release

who fails to take ordered actions is (under

specified conditions) liable for punitive

damages equal to three times the

government's response costs.

The guidelines and procedures that the

Federal Government w i l l follow i n

implementing the Superfund law are

spelled out i n a flexible regulatory

docum nt called "The National

Conti ency Plan."

The uperfund program is built on the

recognition that responses and cleanups

must be tailored to the specific needs of

each site or each release of hazardous

substances. EPA's strong enforcement

effort seeks to ensure that private

responsible parties finance cleanup

actions when possible. Direct government

action, when called for, can take the

following forms:

4

Immediate removals, when a prompt

response is needed to prevent harm to

public health or welfare or the

environment. For example, immediate

removals may be ordered to avert fires or

explosions, to prevent exposure to acutely

toxic substances, or to protect a drinking

water supply from contamination. Actions

may include the installation of security

fencing, the construction of physical

barriers to control a discharge, or the

removal of hazardous substances off the

site. Ordinarily, immediate removals are

limited by law to six months and a total

cost of $ 1 million.

Planned removals, when an expedited,

but not necessarily immediate, response is

needed. These actions are intended to

minimize increases i n danger or exposure

that would otherwise occur if response

were delayed. Planned removals are

subject to the same time and cost limits as

immediate removals.

Remedial actions, which are longerterm and usually more expensive, aimed at

permanent remedies. 'They may be taken

only at sites identified as national

priorities. EPA published an interim list of

1 15 national prioriiy sites i n October 1981;

the list will eventually be expanded to

include some 400 sites. Specific actions

may include the removal of drums

containing wastes from the site, the

installation of a clay ''cap" over the site.

the construction of ditches and dikes to

control surface water or drains, liners, and

grout "curtains" to control groundwater,

the provision of an alternate water supply,

or the temporary or permanent relocation

of residents.

The primary responsibility for carrying

out the Superfund program has been

assigned by Executive Order to EPA. The

Coast Guard, however, w i l l respond to

spills that occur i n coastal areas. Other

Federal agencies w i l l provide assistance as

necessary during a response. States are

encouraged to take responsibility for an

increasing number of Superfund-financed

remedial actions. Under the law, State

governments may plan and manage

responses under agreement w i t h the

Federal Government. In remedial actions

for which the Federal Government has

lead responsibility, the Army Corps of

Engineers will manage the design and

construction stages for EPA. Private

contractors will perform the work at a site

under Federal or State government

supervision.

A n important part of the Superfund

program is to encourage voluntary cleanup

by private industries and individuals when

they are responsible for releases. I n fact,

since the full extent of the problem hac

become understood, millions of dollars

have been spent by industry for cleanup,

as well as for the retrofitting of existing

facilities. Additionally, industrial research

and development has resulted in

significant advances in hazardous waste

control technologies.

Working w i t h the local community is a

key aspect of every Superfund response.

At each site, officials responsible for

technical work will ensure that local

citizens' and officials' concerns are taken

into account in the development of

solutions and that information about the

site is widely distributed.

The $1.6 billion Superfund is large.

The Limits

of Superfund However, the cost of responding t o a

hazardous substance release can be large

too, and there are many sites and spills in

need of attention.

Consequently, while CERCLA authorizes

the government to respond t o releases of

hazardous substances, it does not require

the government t o respond to every

release. At present, private parties handle

about 90 percent of all releases that would

otherwise require a removal action.

In addition, CERCLA specifies that

Superfund money can be spent only under

carefully prescribed conditions.

A Superfund-financed response may not

be taken if EPA determines that the owner,

operator, or other responsible party is

undertaking an appropriate cleanup.

Immediate removals are taken only to

bring a release of hazardous substances

under control; they are not intended to

eliminate completely every long-term

problem. As noted, both immediate and

planned removals usually must be limited

i n cost and duration.

Before a remedial action or planned

removal can be taken, States must agree

to pay 10 percent of project costs (at least

50 percent i f the site was owned by the

State or a local government). State

governments m;st also agree to maintain

the site after response work is completed

and provide for off-site disposal if

necessary.

Response under Superfund is not

authorized i n specified situations that may

be covered by other laws (e.g., for certain

releases of source, byproduct. or special

nuclear material from a nuclear incident).

Because remedial actions may confront

technically complex problems that are

expensive to resolve, they are subject t o

further conditions. Technical measures

can be selected only after evaluation of all

feasible alternatives on the basis of

economic, engineering, and environmental

factors. The National Contingency Plan

explains how to determine the extent of

cleanup that is appropriate and most costeffective for a particular site. In addition:

The law requires that wherever possible,

the remedy selected should avoid the

costly step of excavating hazardous wastes

and transporting them off the site for

disposal elsewhere.

-

The benefits t o be derived from

continued work at a remedial action site

must be weighed against the benefits of

working at other sites i n the nation. A

project could be delayed or terminated to

allow funds to be shifted where they are

most needed.

The intent of these conditions is to

derive the maximum benefit from

Superfund for the nation as a whole.

The Superfund program, in sum, is a

coordinated effort of the Federal

Government, State and local governments,

private industry, and citizens. The

problems are widespread and often will

require time to resolve. But the Superfund

program is a significant part of our

national response to one of t h e major

environmental challenges of the decade.

This leaflet provides an overview of Superfund. For further

information, please contact an EPA Regional Office or call

the national information number listed on back. The toll-free

number of the National Response Center is also provided for

citizens t o report releases of oil and hazardous substances

into the environment.