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SARA: Superfund Amendments and Reauthorization Act
Definition
The U.S. Superfund Amendments and Reauthorization Act, SARA is an amendment and reauthorization of CERCLA, the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation & Liability Act (CERCLA) of 1980, better known as the SuperFund Act.
Both CERCLA and SARA have the goals of identifying, remediating and preventing the release of hazardous substances to the environment.
Additional Info
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SARA not only extended the life of CERCLA, but made several important changes to provide new tools for enforcement, remedies, funding, and both state and individual input. SARA also resulted in a revision of the U.S. EPA's (Environmental Protection Agency ) Hazard Ranking System to assess the degree of hazard to humans and the environment.
The Emergency Planning and Community Right-To-Know Act (EPCRA), also known as the Community Right-To-Know Law or Title III of SARA, provides specific plans for preparing for, preventing, and responding to the release of over 600 chemicals listed in the Toxics Release Inventory.
In 2002, the Bush administration decided to shift the funding of SARA from the chemical and petroleum industries to the taxpayers.
On December 30, 2009, the US EPA issued an Advanced Notice of Proposed Rulemaking concerning Superfund financial responsibility which would require that classes of facilities maintain financial responsibility consistent with the degree and duration of risk associated with the production, transportation, treatment, storage or disposal of hazardous substances. While not restoring the old funding mechanism, this proposed rule would reduce the likelihood of a major hazardous materials operator going bankrupt and leaving taxpayers to pay for the cleanup. Little movement took place through 2016. Unsurprisingly, in 2019 and 2020, the Trump administration signed rules to NOT impose the proposed financial responsibility requirements across these industries.
Books Available
NOTE: We may collect a share of sales or other compensation from the links in the following list:
- "Environmental Law: RCRA, CERCLA, and the Management of Hazardous Waste", Paperback, 318 pages, 2005. Estimated price $24.00. Info and/or order.
- "CERCLA - Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (Superfund), Second Edition: Basic Practice Series", Paperback, 158 pages, 2009. Estimated price $43.93. Info and/or order.
- "Amending CERCLA: The Post-SARA Amendments to the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act", Paperback, 665 pages, 2007. Estimated price $100.77. Info and/or order.
- "Commercial Landowner CERCLA Liability Protection: Understanding the Final EPA 'All Appropriate Inquiries' Rule and Revised ASTM Phase I", Paperback, 136 pages, 2006. Estimated price $43.00. Info and/or order.
- "Environmental Unions: Labor and the Superfund (Work, Health, and Environment Series)", Paperback, 256 pages, 2009. Estimated price $81.98. Info and/or order .
- "The Superfund Manual: A Practitioner's Guide to CERCLA Litigation", Paperback, 478 pages, 2017. Estimated price $111.44. Info and/or order .
SDS Relevance
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SARA data may appear in Section 14 (Regulatory information) of the Safety Data Sheet for certain materials; however there is not requirement for the author of the SDS to do so. Any release of one or more of the roughly 800 CERCLA or 360 EPCRA hazardous substances that equals or exceeds a reportable quantity (RQ) must be reported to the National Response Center (NRC).
RQs are adjusted to one of five levels: 1, 10, 100, 1,000, or 5,000 pounds. EPA bases adjustments to the RQs on the intrinsic characteristics of each hazardous substance, such as the aquatic toxicity, acute and chronic toxicity, ignitability, reactivity, and potential carcinogenicity. An RQ value is established for each of these characteristics of a hazardous substance, with the most stringent RQ value (i.e., the lowest quantity) becoming the final RQ or reporting trigger for that hazardous substance.
Further Reading
- An overview of SARA at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
- View the full text of SARA by consulting Title 42, Chapter 116 of the U.S. Federal Code.
- Superfund History - Printable Version at the US EPA.
- Download the Reportable Quantities discussed in detail at the US EPA.
- View the CERLA Priority List of Hazardous Substances at the ATSDR. Also includes previous versions of the lists.
- Learn the details of how the CERCLA Priority list is developed.
- The U.S. EPA SuperFund Home Page.
- The US EPA has a software suite CAMEO used widely to plan for and respond to chemical emergencies. The CAMEO system integrates a chemical database and a method to manage the data, an air dispersion model, and a mapping capability You can learn more about CAMEO or download it in Mac or Windows format.