When the party either cannot be found or is unable to pay for the cleanup, the Superfund law originally paid for site cleanups through an excise tax on petroleum and chemical manufacturers. Documentary by Xin Wang produced by the EPA Alumni Association. The program, in all its successes and failures, provides an excellent case study for environmental response and legislation at the national level. [15], Until the mid-1990s, most of the funding came from an excise tax on the petroleum and chemical industries, reflecting the polluter pays principle. SARA (Superfund Amendments and Reauthorization Act), Title III - PubMed What is Superfund? | US EPA Clearing the NPL will not solve climate change, but that doesn't mean these communities don't deserve help. These hazardous waste sites commonly include manufacturing facilities, processing plants, landfills and mining sites. This law created 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. Community leaders pressed the state for the site to be cleaned up for an entire decade until it was finally detoxified. Aware of the site's history, the Niagara Falls School Board bought the land for $1 in 1953 from Hooker Chemical Co. (now Occidental Petroleum Corp.). Thousands of contaminated sites exist nationally due to hazardous waste being dumped, left out in the open, or otherwise improperly managed. Please click here to see any active alerts. Also known as: CERCLA, Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act. Murray Smelter was responsible for widespread lead and arsenic contamination of the region's soil, groundwater and surface water. PDF This is Superfund - US EPA (CA, NV, AZ, HI, and Pacific Territories). 2020 Reporter Magazine. A lock (LockA locked padlock) or https:// means youve safely connected to the .gov website. It allows the EPA to clean up such sites and to compel responsible parties to perform cleanups or reimburse the government for EPA-lead cleanups. While the EPA stresses that the monitoring systems they have in place keep the community safe, some people Lois Gibbs included still believe the neighborhood should remain empty. Please click here to see any active alerts. Ideally, when a site needed cleaning up, the EPA would make the polluting company remove or contain enough toxic waste to . In 2001 EPA used funds from the Superfund program to institute the cleanup of anthrax on Capitol Hill after the 2001 Anthrax Attacks. In West Dallas, Texas, a mostly African American and Latino community, a lead smelter poisoned the surrounding neighborhood, elementary school, and day cares for more than five decades. Love Canal in Niagara Falls, New York, was the first hazardous waste site to gain national notoriety. These are just a few examples of the many cleanup success stories throughout the history of the Superfund Program. Advanced 3D visualization tools portray large quantities of data and communicate our findings. One of the largest Superfund sites, the Silver Bow Creek/Butte area features more than 500 underground mines and four open-pit mines, including the Berkeley Pit (pictured) with its ancillary tailings ponds, waste dumps and acid leach pads. However, in 1995, Congress chose not to renew this tax and the burden of the cost was shifted to taxpayers. A .gov website belongs to an official government organization in the United States. After the EPA noticed in 1990s that there were more cleaned Superfund sites that were still abandoned than were put back to use, the Superfund Redevelopment Initiative (SRI) was created in 1999. The evidence for a major threat to public health emerged within the 15-year lifetime of EPA. Superfund is a United States federal environmental remediation program established by the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act of 1980 ( CERCLA ). A new Federal law, Superfund Amendments and Reauthorization Act (SARA) Title III of 1986, can now be used by security professionals to recognize and control hazardous materials. established prohibitions and requirements concerning closed and abandoned hazardous waste sites; provided for liability of persons responsible for releases of hazardous waste at these sites; and. [citation needed], The key difference between the authority to address hazardous substances and pollutants or contaminants is that the cleanup of pollutants or contaminants, which are not hazardous substances, cannot be compelled by unilateral administrative order. As a result, the EPA typically negotiates consent orders with PRPs to study sites and develop cleanup alternatives, subject to EPA oversight and approval of all such activities. An Interview with Lee Thomas, EPAs 6th Administrator. CERCLA created the hazardous waste cleanup program commonly referred to as "Superfund." . A secondary goal is to return the site to productive use as a business, recreation or as a natural ecosystem. Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act. Share Superfund: CERCLA Overview The Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA), commonly known as Superfund, was enacted by Congress on December 11, 1980. The NCP provided the guidelines and procedures needed to respond to releases and threatened releases of hazardous substances, pollutants, or contaminants. Sites on the NPL are considered the most highly contaminated and undergo longer-term remedial investigation and remedial action (cleanups). The site represents about 130 years of chemical manufacturing overall, and has been leaching dangerous pollutants for at least that long. The offsets include the reinstatement of the Superfund excise taxes on chemical manufacturing and imports that expired at the end of 1995. [31] The EPA tries to treat all PRPs equitably and fairly. What was the purpose of the Superfund that was created in 1980? Over five years, $1.6 billion was collected and the tax went to a trust fund for cleaning up abandoned or uncontrolled hazardous waste sites. A school and about 100 homes were built on the site, which had been covered with earth. Injustices Throughout History and Today, These US Rivers Are Endangered by Climate Change, Pollution, The Great Pacific Garbage Patch: Overview, Impacts, and Solutions, What Is Open-Pit Mining? An official website of the United States government. Hazardous Waste - ASCE's 2021 Infrastructure Report Card JavaScript appears to be disabled on this computer. Superfund's 40th Anniversary - A Look-Back at the Decades The Hudson River is one of the nastiest major waterways in the U.S., and in 1984 a 200-mile stretch of the river, from Hudson Falls to New York City, received Superfund status. The FS is used to develop and evaluate various remediation alternatives. Today, more than 1,300 sites are on the program's national priorities list. facilities, processing plants, landfills and mining sites. [citation needed][32], Upon notification of a potentially hazardous waste site, the EPA conducts a Preliminary Assessment/Site Inspection (PA/SI), which involves records reviews, interviews, visual inspections, and limited field sampling. Through the 1980s, most of the funding came from an excise tax on petroleum and chemical manufacturers. Superfund | Saving Earth | Encyclopedia Britannica PDF EPA's Silver Bow Creek/Butte Area Superfund Site The towns had to be abandoned after lead dust. A water treatment plant now stands along the pit, capable of treating 5 million gallons of water per day. The Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act of 1980 (CERCLA): The law authorizes two kinds of response actions: CERCLA also enabled the revision of the National Contingency Plan (NCP). CERCLA was enacted by Congress in 1980 in response to the threat of hazardous waste sites, typified by the Love Canal disaster in New York, and the Valley of the Drums in Kentucky. Definition, Examples, and How to Dispose of It, What Is Ethical Jewelry? 3rd, 2022. In 1995, a flock of migrating snow geese died in the Berkeley Pit. But as the environment decade came to a close, there was still no law addressing hazardous waste sites. The Superfund was created by the 1980 Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act. [8] The mismanagement of the program under Anne Gorsuch Burford, Reagan's first chosen Administrator of the agency, led to a congressional investigation and the reauthorization of the program in 1986 through an act amending CERCLA. Superfund Excise Tax | Deloitte US The birth of the Environmental Justice movement in the 1980s also influenced how EPA engaged with communities, expanding our ability to ensure that all communities, regardless of race, color, national origin or income had the tools and resources they needed to participate in the Superfund process. PDF A Community Guide to EPA's Superfund Program This law created 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. Please click here to see any active alerts. also stripped Superfund of its strict joint and several liability. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites. ", Common Chemicals found at Superfund Sites, Superfund: A Half Century of Progress, a report by the EPA Alumni Association, National Priorities List of Hazardous Substances, Support for Iraq during the Iran-Iraq War, Depository Institutions Deregulation and Monetary Control Act, Financial Institutions Regulatory and Interest Rate Control Act of 1978, Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act of 1977, United Nations Prize in the Field of Human Rights, Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act, Safe Drinking Water Act Amendments of 1986, Superfund Amendments and Reauthorization Act of 1986, Surface Transportation and Uniform Relocation Assistance Act, GarnSt. In the early days, EPA relied extensively on invasive sampling procedures and off-site laboratory capabilities to assess contamination. It wasn't until 1981 that the EPA commissioned a study on the lead contamination in this neighborhood, and found the same results that had been found a decade earlier. In 1980, when the Superfund program was established, the practice of waste site clean-up was brand new. One tool developed from the recommendations of the Superfund Task Force was the Administrators Emphasis List. Superfund: CERCLA Overview | Superfund | US EPA Since that time Superfund sites for which the PRPs could not pay have been paid for from the general fund.
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