Ch. 10 - CERCLA, SARA, EPCRA, & TSCA

CERCLA

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

• Commonly referred to as “Superfund”

• President Jimmy Carter signed CERCLA into law in 1980

• Federal statute for remediation of past releases of hazardous wastes

• Notable Events:

1. Love Canal disaster in NY

2. Valley of the Drums in KY

Release

Defined as any spilling, leaking, pumping, pouring, emitting, emptying, discharging, injecting, escaping, leaching, dumping, or disposing excluding emissions from:

• Exhaust engines

• Nuclear material

• Normal applications of fertilizer

• Occurring solely in a workplace

• Covered by a federal permit

The definition for a release covers every type of pollutant.

Why do some exclusions for a release exist?

They are already covered by other existing laws → double regulating somethings makes it confusing

• Exhaust engines → Clean Air Act

• Nuclear material → The Atomic Energy Act

• Normal applications of fertilizer → CWA or FIFRA

• Occurring solely in a workplace → OSHA

CERCLA includes references to _______.

four other laws (CWA, CAA, RCRA, and TSCA) to designate > 800 substances as hazardous and identify many more as potentially hazardous based on their characteristics and the circumstances of their release

• ex: asbestos, DDT, arsenic, and Chlordane

If a hazardous substance is released, a _______.

person in charge (PIC) at the releasing facility or vessel must report the release to the National Response Center once the PIC becomes aware.

• After reporting to the NRC, serious threats are listed in the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Information System (CERCLIS). The site may, or may not, be listed on the National Priorities List (NPL) in CERCLIS

Response actions of CERCLA

The EPA might choose one of the following:

• Enter a voluntary cleanup agreement with potentially responsible parties (PRPs)

• Compel PRPs to respond if the release is deemed imminent and substantial danger

• Choose to respond to the release itself, this scenario generally results with the EPA seeking reimbursement for cleanup costs from PRPs.

Types of Response actions

1. Removal

2. Remedial

The EPA can do both if needed.

Removal

Response to an immediate danger to human health or the environment

• ex: removing a leaky underground storage tank

• type of response action

Remedial

Long-term cleanups intended to permanently address the threat posed by contamination at a site

• type of response action

Removals differ from remedial actions by:

• Time → removals may only take weeks to complete, whereas remedial actions could take months to years to complete

• Administrative requirements → removal actions are less stringent than remedial

Long-term remedial actions may begin with a ______.

removal action since they are quicker to complete and less stringent.

• However, there is a limit on how much federal money can be used on a removal action before the site is listed on the NPL.

The decision to select between removal, remedial, or a combination is _____.

not often clear, especially in the beginning

• The agency can begin the process for remedial action, and at any time, they can determine and require removal to occur.

• The decision may evolve as new information is learned!

Types of Removal Actions

1. Emergency removals

2. Critical removals

3. Non-time critical removals

Emergency removals

No time for a planning process, danger necessitates an immediate response

• type of removal action

Critical removals

Time is critical, but not an emergency – planning period of < 6 mo before site initiation

• type of removal action

Non-time Critical removal

Not time sensitive – planning period of 6 – 12 mo before site initiation

• type of removal action

Potentially Responsible Parties (PRPs)

• Current owners and operators

• Former owners and operators involved during the time hazardous substance was disposed at a facility

• Persons who arranged for disposal or treatment of hazardous substances

• Persons who accepted hazardous substances for transport to facilities they helped select

Prioritization of Old Sites

• National Priority List

• EPA ranks sites by hazard to (or combination of)

1. Groundwater

2. Surface water

3. Air

CERCLA was amended by the ______.

Superfund Amendments and Reauthorization Act (SARA) in 1986

• The amendments brought change with respect to:

  1. Site-specifics

  2. Clarifications of some definitions in CERCLA

  3. Technical requirements were added to the legislation

  4. Additional enforcement authorities were granted

An Overview of SARA

• Stressed importance of permanent remedies and innovative treatment technologies in cleaning up waste sites

• Required Superfund actions to consider the standards and requirements found in other State and Federal environmental laws and regulations

• Provided new enforcement authorities and settlement tools

• Increased State involvement in every phase of the Superfund program

• Increased the focus on human health problems posed by hazardous waste sites

• Encouraged greater citizen participation in making decisions on how sites should be cleaned up

• Increased the size of the trust fund to $8.5 billion

Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Information System (CERCLIS) was the _______.

EPA computerized database of contaminated sites.

• It has since been abandoned for the Superfund Enterprise Management System (SEMS), which occurred in 2015.

• This database contains active and archived Superfund sites, with extensive information on the EPA’s activities at these sites.

Brownfields

Another definition: contaminated property, typically in developed urban areas, that does not qualify for Superfund remediation.

• These properties are typically stigmatized and unlikely to be put to productive use

• Low level of contamination

• Brownfields incentives program serve 2 goals:

1. Alleviating the need to develop greenlands (forests, agriucultural areas, etc.), land never previously developed

2. At the same time, increasing the likelihood that brownfields will be cleaned up and redeveloped

• Downsides → Gentrification → people may be priced out of their homes

Toxic Substances Control Act enables the EPA to _______.

track, inventory, and, if necessary, ban industrial chemicals

• Signed into law by President Gerald Ford in 1976

• The EPA tracks approximately 87,000 industrial chemicals currently produced or imported into the US

EPCRA

• Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act

• This was signed into law by President Ronald Reagan in 1986

• It was authorized by Title III of SARA amendments to CERCLA

• Goal was to establish requirements for federal, state, and local governments and industry for emergency planning and reporting on hazardous and toxic chemicals

• If people can remember the plan and orchestrated it can mitigate harm and reduce panic

EPCRA Plan

• Identify affected facilities and transportation routes

• Describe emergency notification/response procedures

• Designate community/facility emergency coordinators

• Describe methods to determine the occurrence/extent of release

• Identify response equipment and personnel

• Outline evacuation plans

• Describe training programs/schedules

• Methods/schedules for carrying out the plan

Summary

• CERCLA contains regulations that aid the federal government in the management of activities and finances for severely contaminated sites, called Superfund sites

• The EPA can take many actions to achieve their Superfund process, but more often than not, PRPs finance the clean-up costs (as well as some taxes on products)

• SARA brought about regulative changes to improve the implementation of CERCLA, namely with respect to increased government interaction, treatment standards, a focus on human health, and more funds

Summary (cont.)

• The EPA upkeeps a database of active and archived sites in the SEMS

• Remember brownfields are more than just the “old factories near Dickinson Ave” – they are abandoned sites from environmental contamination (usually in urban areas). While it may be more expensive to cleanup brownfields and convert them to other uses, it is better for the environment

• TSCA authorizes the EPA to track, inventory, and, if necessary, ban industrial chemicals domestically produced or imported (currently ~87,000)

• EPCRA created requirements for emergency planning and reporting on hazardous and toxic chemicals