Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, & Liability Act (CERCLA) (College Board AP® Environmental Science): Study Guide

Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA)

Background

• Created in response to growing public concern about hazardous waste sites and environmental disasters

  • Most notably triggered by the Love Canal disaster in New York during the 1970s

  • Communities exposed to buried chemical waste experienced health problems, birth defects, and forced evacuations

• CERCLA, commonly known as Superfund, was designed to:

  • Clean up abandoned or uncontrolled hazardous waste sites

  • Hold polluters financially responsible for environmental damage

  • Establish a federal fund to clean up sites when no responsible party can be found

• Focused on remediation (tackling environmental damage after it occurs), not just prevention

Key Dates

• 1980: CERCLA passed and signed into law

• 1986: Superfund Amendments and Reauthorization Act (SARA) expanded the program

  • Increased public access to information

  • Encouraged permanent, cost-effective cleanups

  • Strengthened enforcement authority of the EPA

How CERCLA relates to the environment

• Protects ecosystems and human health by removing or containing toxic contaminants from soil, groundwater, and surface water

• Sites are placed on the National Priorities List (NPL) to prioritize cleanup efforts

  • Includes landfills, factories, mines, and military sites

• CERCLA deals directly with the consequences of waste disposal, especially hazardous waste

• CERCLA highlights the link between pollution and health issues like cancer clusters and waterborne diseases

Evaluation

• Successes:

  • Has resulted in the cleanup of hundreds of hazardous sites, protecting ecosystems and communities

  • Makes polluters legally and financially accountable for environmental harm

  • Drives corporate responsibility for toxic waste management

• Challenges:

  • Cleanups are expensive and slow, sometimes taking decades to complete

  • The Superfund itself has run low on funding, especially since the polluter tax expired in the 1990s

  • Legal disputes over liability can delay remediation

  • Some contaminated sites are not yet addressed, leaving nearby communities at continued risk