Environmental Law: Hazardous Waste Cleanup

Before the passage of the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA) in 1980, the federal government was not able to "take an active role in responding to a hazardous material spill or to a site contaminated with hazardous material" (Kubasek, 2008, p. 317). As Kubasek states, "Congress intended CERCLA to be comprehensive in coverage, encompassing both prevention of and response to uncontrolled hazardous substance releases" (p. 314). Also, it established a system for compensating those individuals who suffered at the hands of those parties responsible for the contamination and assigning liability to those responsible. The passage of the Superfund Amendments and Reauthorization Act (SARA) was important to CERCLA in that it allowed CERCLA to continue the cleanup of hazardous materials in all 50 states and it authorized the Emergency Planning and Community Right to Know Act of 1986 ("Waste Management and Hazardous Releases," n.d.).

The importance of CERCLA cannot be overstated. CERCLA has two important parts to it: removal actions and remedial actions. Removal actions are done in order to provide immediate cleanup so as to prevent immediate harm to human health or the environment. Since the removal actions don't remove all of the contamination, remediation is needed. CERCLA covers a very broad spectrum of chemicals including the "RCRA hazardous wastes and hazardous substances designated under the Clean Air Act, the Clean Water Act, and the Toxic Substances Control Act" (Kubasek, 2008 p. 318). The EPA has many responsibilities to help carry out CERCLA. The EPA "cleans up orphan sites when potentially responsible parties cannot be identified or located" and "obtains private party cleanup through orders, consent decrees, and other small party settlements" ("Waste Management and Hazardous Releases," n.d.). Once a response action is taken, the EPA is authorized to collect costs from responsible companies and parties. The EPA can implement the act in all 50 states and it is the state environmental protection or waste management agencies that are responsible for Superfund site identification, monitoring, and response activities.

The most recent piece of legislation to be passed in Congress under the Bush Administration was the Small Business Liability Relief and Brownfields Revitalization Act of 2002 which provided for amendments to CERCLA. This Act encourages the cleanup and revitalization of abandoned contaminated property. Under this Act, additional funding is provided to state and local governments and protections are provided to those individuals who own property next to the abandoned sites so that they are not held liable for contributing to the contamination of their property ("Brownfields/Cercla Amendments," 2002).

The Superfund Amendments and Reauthorization Act (SARA) was passed by the federal government in 1986 and serves as an important piece of legislation to CERCLA. This Act is important because it allows CERCLA to continue to cleanup contaminated sites around the country and it includes additional enforcement activities. It also includes information on emergency planning. SARA Title III is divided into three subtitles. As Kubasek (2008) points out, "Subtitle A covers emergency planning, Subtitle B specifies hazardous chemical reporting requirements, and Subtitle C describes how the public will have access to facility information" (p. 314). It is the states that are required to develop emergency response and preparedness plans and every state must have an emergency response commission. This commission "must appoint local emergency response planning committees" (p. 315) which are responsible for creating their comprehensive emergency response plans.

Sources:

Brownfields/ cercla amendments. (2002). Retrieved March 29, 2009, fromhttp://www.spsk.com/Articles/brownfieldsamend.cfm

Kubasek, Nancy. (2008). Environmental law. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson
Education, Inc.

Waste Management and Hazardous Releases. (n.d.). Retrieved March 29, 2009, from
http://stlouis.missouri.org/citygov/cda/envplan/wastman.htm