The Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA) of 1980 and the subsequent Superfund Amendments and Reauthorization Act (SARA), informally called Superfund, provide EPA with the authority to clean up contaminated sites. The laws force the parties responsible for the contamination to either perform cleanups or reimburse the government for EPA-led cleanup work. When there is no viable responsible party, Superfund gives EPA the funds and authority to clean up contaminated sites.
The Superfund program is administered by EPA in cooperation with state and Tribal governments. The Superfund program is responsible for cleaning up some of the nation’s most contaminated land and responding to environmental emergencies, oil spills and natural disasters. EPA’s Superfund website provides numerous links and resources for learning about Superfund, the Superfund Task Force, community involvement, cleaning up sites, the remedial program in Indian Country, contaminants, contaminated media, and policy, guidance, and laws.
Superfund sites are “discovered” when the presence of hazardous waste is made known to EPA. There are two basic types of responses that EPA uses to manage polluted sites:
- Removal Actions – used to handle emergency oil spills or chemical releases and short-term responses.
- Remedial Actions – used to handle complex sites needing a long-term response. See TLAC’s Superfund sites – remedial actions webpage for information on remedial actions for non-federal facilities, TLAC’s Superfund sites – removal actions webpage for information on managing spills, short-term responses, and non-time critical removal actions, and TLAC’s Federal Facilities webpage for information on Tribal engagement in federal facility cleanups.
