Superfund

As quoted on the Environmental Protection Agency’s website The Superfund, created by the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA) in 1980, is a TRUST fund used to clean up “abandoned, accidentally spilled, or illegally dumped hazardous waste that poses a current or future threat to human health or the environment.” Managed by the Environmental Protection Agencys’ (EPA) Office of Emergency and Remedial Response (OERR), Superfund monies are used to identify hazardous waste sites, test for pollutant levels, formulate plans to address the problems, and clean up sites. (Environmentalists often take issue with the term clean with respect to hazardous wastes. Many hazardous wastes cannot be cleaned like cleaning a home. At best they can be contained and stored in a less-threatening manner and location.) The EPA uses a Hazard Ranking System (HRS) to assess the “relative threat associated with actual or potential releases of hazardous substances at sites.” The HRS ranking is based on actual or potential groundwater, surface waterway, air, and soil migration pathways and their risk to human health and the environment. The HRS is the primary method of determining whether a site is to be included on the Superfund’s National Priorities List (NPL). The NPL is a published list of hazardous waste sites that are being cleaned up under the Superfund program. As of August 2001, there were 1,235 sites on the NPL. There were also 43,806 potential hazardous waste sites listed on the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability System. The Superfund is funded through a tax on chemical and petroleum products. Superfund managers work with scientists, contractors, local authorities, and potentially responsible parties (PRPs) in identifying and addressing hazardous waste sites. Environmental laws often create LIABILITY for any business associated with a hazardous waste site. Purchases of properties and lenders receiving ownership of property through DEFAULTs on LOANS have become liable for environmental problems caused by past owners. Communities have sometimes been stymied in redevelopment efforts due to environmental liability, labeled “brownfields.” In 1996 the government introduced legislation to clean up environmental contamination on industrial sites in order to stimulate ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT.