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CERCLA: Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation & Liability Act

Definition

• The U.S. Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation & Liability Act of 1980 (CERCLA) is better known as the "SuperFund Act". This law was enacted because of the presence of toxic waste dumps such as the one at Love Canal, New York. CERCLA provided liability for those responsible for illegal waste dumping as well as a trust fund to clean up sites when the responsible parties could not be found or determined.

After six years, this act was amended by the Superfund Amendments and Reauthorization Act (SARA).

Additional Info

CERCLA was originally funded by a tax on the chemical and petroleum industries and provided broad Federal authority to respond directly to releases or threatened releases of hazardous substances that may endanger public health or the environment.

In 2002, the Bush administration decided to shift this tax burden from industry to the taxpayers. Editorial note: we find this to be an outrageous decision.

Under CERCLA, two responses to closed, abandoned or illegal hazardous waste sites are:

• Short-term removals where actions may be taken to address releases or threatened releases requiring prompt response.
• Long-term remedial response actions that permanently and significantly reduce the dangers associated with releases or threats of releases of hazardous substances that are serious, but not immediately life threatening. These actions can be conducted only at sites listed on the U.S. EPA's National Priorities List (NPL).

CERCLA also requires the ATSDR and the EPA to prepare a list, in order of priority, of substances that are most commonly found at facilities on the National Priorities List (NPL) and which are determined to pose the most significant potential threat to human health due to their known or suspected toxicity and potential for human exposure at these NPL sites. This CERCLA priority list is revised and published on a 2-year basis, with a yearly informal review and revision. Each substance on the CERCLA Priority List of Hazardous Substances is a candidate to become the subject of a toxicological profile prepared by ATSDR.

The CERCLA priority list is not a list of "most toxic" substances, but rather a prioritization of substances based on a combination of their frequency, toxicity, and potential for human exposure at NPL sites.

MSDS Relevance

Any release of one or more of the roughly 800 CERCLA or 360 Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act (EPCRA) hazardous substances that equals or exceeds a reportable quantity (RQ) must be reported to the EPA 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.

Get Title 40 of the US Federal Code, Environmental Protection, in searchable hypertext PDF format on CD-ROM from Safety Emporium.

Books Available

• "The Complete Guide to Hazardous Waste Regulations: RCRA, TSCA, HTMA, EPCRA, and Superfund, 3rd Edition", Hardcover, 560 pages, 1999. Estimated price $80.00. Info and/or order.
• "Hazardous Waste Regulation Handbook : A Practical Guide to RCRA & Superfund", Paperback (ringbound), 1994. Estimated price $300.00. Info and/or order .

Further Reading

An overview of CERCLA at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. View the full text of CERCLA by consulting Title 42, Chapter 103 of the U.S. Federal Code. Download the EPA list of Reportable Quantities in Microsoft Excel spreadsheet format. RQ Calculator, an handy on-line resource by the U.S. Department of Energy with instructions on what do do based on the parameters you enter! 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.

Comply with state and federal regulations with hazardous waste labels fromSafety Emporium.

See also: ATSDR, RCRA, SARA.

Additional definitions from Google and OneLook.

Disclaimer: The information contained herein is believed to be true and accurate, however ILPI makes no guarantees concerning the veracity of any statement. Use of any information on this page is at the reader's own risk. ILPI strongly encourages the reader to consult the appropriate local, state and federal agencies concerning the matters discussed herein.