| The Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act, known as CERCLA, was passed by Congress in 1980. It was created in response to the suddenly urgent need for hazardous waste clean up, as it was beginning to harm the environment
as well as human health. The law developed Superfund, a pool of $1.6 billion dollars to be used for hazardous waste clean up, as deemed necessary by the Environmental Protection Agency. This law was of a new kind: it dealt with the resolution of past problems, as opposed to the prevention of future ones. In addition to this, it required the EPA to work with regulation, as opposed to simply prevention. With the appearance of
hazardous waste issues came the question of who should pay for disposal. CERCLA dealt with this issue. The EPA was to evaluate the danger of hazardous waste sites and place them on their National Priorities List, or the NPL. It was then given the authority to assign the cost of clean up to the responsible parties, or to use the Superfund and later attempt reimbursement though court action. The law specified what was to be done in small and federal clean-ups, and
required states to provide ten to 50 percent of the clean-up costs within their states. The states were also required to maintain the safety of the post-clean-up site, and could be granted authority over the project by the EPA. Amendments were made to CERCLA in 1986. The Superfund was expanded to $8.5 billion. It was also mandated that all clean ups must meet environmental standards, the EPA must have completed 375 clean-ups by the year of 1991, negotiation must be
used whenever possible over court litigation, and all federal agencies must follow such amendments. By August of 1990, 1,082 sites had been placed on the NPL, with a recommendation of more than 100 additional ones, and 33,000 were considered potentially hazardous. Although a lot of work has been initiated, progress on the whole has been slow, and the EPA has been accused of looking to temporary, as opposed to permanent, solutions. It has also taken the majority of money needed
from Superfund, as opposed to getting it from the parties deemed responsible for the hazards. As it has turned out, the expense of extracting the money from companies through legal proceedings, often greater than the cost of the clean-up. On the whole, the CERCLA has been more costly, time and money-wise, than was originally predicted. The EPA's overview of CERCLA The text of the law |
