The Superfund Program is also known as the Comprehensive
Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act (CERCLA), enacted by the United States Congress on December 11, 1980.
It was enacted in response to the Love Canal
incident.
Love
Canal is a neighborhood located in Niagara Falls,
New York. It was created over 2100 tons of toxic waste, and upon construction of a school
and certain living units, caused a release of chemical wastes that caused a public health emergency.
The Superfund program was created to protect the public from contaminated toxic waste sites. It gives federal authority
to clean up hazardous substances that may endanger public health or the environment. There are currently 1,240 sites on the
Superfund list, and 61 others being review for addition as a new site.
Superfund Action:
1: Find Responsible Party
- Find persons that are liable for their releases of hazardous
waste at these sites.
- Establish a trust fund to provide for cleanup when no responsible party
could be identified.
2: Enact an appropriate response
Short-term responses, where immediate action is taken to address releases or threatened releases of chemicals requiring
prompt response.
There are 3 main types of responses:
(1) Emergency
(2) time-critical
(3) non-time critical.
Removal responses typically are to fix the immediate problem in the area.
Long-term response actions, where actions have a more permanent affect on the area being treated. It significantly
reduces the risks from releases or threats of releases of hazardous substances but are slower than removal action.
Examples: Preventing the migration of pollutants, Neutralization of toxic substances.
