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1 1 (March 12, 2021)

handle is hein.crs/govecpq0001 and id is 1 raw text is: Cogesoa esac evc Infrmin0 thleiltv debt snce11 S March 12, 2021 Liability Under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA) The Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA) (42 U.S.C. §§ 9601 et seq.) establishes a framework to remediate certain types of contaminated sites and to hold the parties connected to those sites responsible for cleanup costs. CERCLA authorizes the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to clean up contaminated sites subject to annual appropriations, and to compel entities that bear responsibility for all or part of the contamination at a site to perform or pay for cleanup activities. Additionally, parties that incur cleanup costs may seek to recoup those costs from other parties or from the Superfund Trust Fund. This In Focus provides an overview of the legal structures governing CERCLA liability in enforcement actions and suits by private parties. Response Actions Section 104(a) of CERCLA authorizes the President to respond to a release (or substantial threat of a release) of a hazardous substance into the environment, or of a pollutant or contaminant that may present an imminent and substantial danger to the public health or welfare. The President has delegated CERCLA's response authority to EPA and other agencies that administer federal facilities. The definitions in Section 101 of release, hazardous substance, and pollutant or contaminant-and, by extension, EPA's response authority and the parties' liability-exclude multiple types of releases and substances, including petroleum and natural gas. CERCLA response actions fall into two categories for the purposes of cleanup. Removal actions are generally shorter- term actions taken to address immediate risks. Remedial actions are generally longer-term actions to address contamination more permanently, but may involve long- term containment of wastes in place. Who Is Liable Under CERCLA Although EPA cleans up some sites itself, it may also compel potentially responsible parties (PRPs) to perform or pay for the cleanup. Private parties and federal, state, and local governmental entities can be liable as PRPs. Section 107 of CERCLA establishes financial liability for four categories of PRPs: any current owner or operator of a vessel or facility; any person who owned or operated a facility at the time hazardous substances were disposed of there; any person who arranged for the disposal or treatment of hazardous substances at a facility or incineration vessel, or who arranged for transport for disposal or treatment of hazardous substances; and * any person who transported hazardous substances for disposal or treatment at facilities, incineration vessels, or sites selected by such person. Scope of Liability PRPs in the listed categories are liable if there has been (1) an actual or threatened release (2) of a hazardous substance (not a pollutant or contaminant) that (3) causes the incurrence of response costs. Liability is retroactive (parties may be liable for the release of hazardous substances prior to CERCLA's enactment in 1980), strict (regardless of a party's negligence), and joint and several (a party may be liable for all cleanup costs at a site, even if other parties also contributed to the contamination). PRPs in the listed categories are also liable for injury to natural resources, meaning that they must either restore natural resources that are injured as a result of a release, or pay compensation for restoring or replacing the injured or lost natural resources. Unlike claims for cleanup costs, claims for natural resource damages may be brought only by federal, state, or tribal trustees. Finally, PRPs may be liable for the cost of natural resource damage assessments and federal public health studies at release sites conducted under Section 104(i). The scope of liability does not include product liability, liability for personal injury or property damages, or health effects or medical costs resulting from a release. Federal Enforcement Mechanisms CERCLA establishes three mechanisms that EPA may use to enforce liability under the statute. It also authorizes fines and punitive damages for noncompliance. Section 106 Orders Section 106(a) authorizes EPA to issue a unilateral administrative or judicial order requiring a PRP to take actions to address imminent and substantial endangerment to the public health or welfare or the environment resulting from a release or threatened release of a hazardous substance. If a party complies with an order and can establish that it is not liable under CERCLA or that the required cleanup actions were arbitrary and capricious, it may seek reimbursement from the Superfund Trust Fund. (Alternatively, a liable party may seek to recover response costs from other PRPs, as explained below.) ittps://Crsreports.congress.gt

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