{"id":593,"date":"2012-10-16T05:01:31","date_gmt":"2012-10-16T09:01:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.ehscsi.com\/?p=593"},"modified":"2019-10-11T18:38:17","modified_gmt":"2019-10-11T22:38:17","slug":"cercla-basics","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ehscsi.com\/blog\/2012\/10\/16\/cercla-basics\/","title":{"rendered":"CERCLA Basics"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Last week I presented a series on Emergency Planning and Community Right to Know Act<a href=\"http:\/\/blog.ehscsi.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/10\/superfund-site.jpeg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright size-medium wp-image-595\" title=\"superfund-site\" src=\"http:\/\/blog.ehscsi.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/10\/superfund-site-300x225.jpeg\" alt=\"CERCLA, EPCRA, Superfund, ehs consultant in south florida\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.ehscsi.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/10\/superfund-site-300x225.jpeg 300w, https:\/\/www.ehscsi.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/10\/superfund-site.jpeg 560w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a> (EPCRA), in the second part of that series I discussed <a title=\"EPCRA Emergency Release Notifications\" href=\"http:\/\/blog.ehscsi.com\/2012\/10\/10\/epcra-emergency-release-notifications\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Emergency Release Notification Requirements<\/a>.\u00a0 I briefly mentioned the intersection between the Comprehensive Environmental Response Compensation and Liability Act (CERCLA) also known as Superfund.\u00a0 This intersection applies to releases (or spills of hazardous substances into the environment) but there are other aspects of CERCLA that I will discuss here.\u00a0 CERCLA is the regulation which permits the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to remediate locations that are abandoned or uncontrolled hazardous waste sites. \u00a0A number of legalities are involved but the ultimate result is clean up of these hazardous waste sites when responsible parties cannot be assigned or fail to clean these areas&#8211;although this effort may take years. \u00a0The programs includes site identification, monitoring and response activities that are coordinated through state environmental protection and waste management agencies.\u00a0The areas are identified on the<a href=\"http:\/\/www.epa.gov\/superfund\/sites\/npl\/index.htm\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"> National Priorities List<\/a> (NPL)&#8211;a list of the known releases or threatened releases of hazardous substances, pollutants, or contaminants throughout the United States and its territories. \u00a0Sites are included on this list through:<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>EPAs\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.epa.gov\/superfund\/programs\/npl_hrs\/hrsint.htm\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Hazard Ranking System<\/a>\u00a0(HRS).<\/li>\n<li>The second mechanism for placing sites on the NPL allows States or Territories to designate one top-priority site regardless of score.<\/li>\n<li>The third mechanism allows listing a site if it meets all three of these requirements:<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"list-style-type: none;\">\n<ul>\n<li style=\"list-style-type: none;\">\n<ul>\n<li>the <a title=\"ATSDR\" href=\"http:\/\/www.atsdr.cdc.gov\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry<\/a> (ATSDR) of the U.S. Public Health Service has issued a health advisory that recommends removing people from the site;<\/li>\n<li>EPA determines the site poses a significant threat to public health; and<\/li>\n<li>EPA anticipates it will be more cost-effective to use its remedial authority (available only at NPL sites) than to use its emergency removal authority to respond to the site.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>After a site is listed on the NPL the <a title=\"Remedial Investigation\" href=\"http:\/\/www.epa.gov\/superfund\/cleanup\/rifs.htm\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">remedial investigation\/feasibility study<\/a> is used to determine the risk presented to human health &amp; the environment.<\/p>\n<p>Where does the term Superfund come from?\u00a0 The Superfund Amendments and Reauthorization Act of 1986 (SARA) extended the authority of CERCLA and also provided a tax on hazardous materials that allowed for the allocation of monies to fund the clean up of NPL sites. \u00a0This leads into the discussion on the CERCLA release notification requirements, \u00a0the purpose of which is to help EPA identify sites that potentially warrant a response action.\u00a0\u00a0 As mentioned in the post <a title=\"EPCRA Emergency Release Notifications\" href=\"http:\/\/blog.ehscsi.com\/2012\/10\/10\/epcra-emergency-release-notifications\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">EPCRA Emergency Release Notification Requirements<\/a>, CERCLA <a title=\"CERCLA hazardous substances\" href=\"http:\/\/www.epa.gov\/superfund\/policy\/release\/rq\/index.htm#substance\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">hazardous substance<\/a> releases that meet or exceed the reportable quantity (within a 24 hour period) must be reported to the National Response Center (NRC). \u00a0If the hazardous substance is also a<a title=\"EHS 40 CFR 355 Appendix A\" href=\"http:\/\/www.ecfr.gov\/cgi-bin\/text-idx?c=ecfr&amp;SID=dbf12dac503108b2104f6aa09c4636b4&amp;rgn=div9&amp;view=text&amp;node=40:29.0.1.1.11.4.17.3.14&amp;idno=40\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"> Environmentally Hazardous Substance (EHS)<\/a> as defined by EPCRA (over one third of EHSs are also CERCLA hazardous substances)\u00a0it must also be reported as discussed in the post <a title=\"EPCRA Emergency Release Notifications\" href=\"http:\/\/blog.ehscsi.com\/2012\/10\/10\/epcra-emergency-release-notifications\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">ECPRA Emergency Release Notifications<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>More questions about CERLCA? \u00a0Following are some resources that can provide some answers.<\/p>\n<p><a title=\"EPA&#039;s Superfund Homepage\" href=\"http:\/\/www.epa.gov\/superfund\/index.htm\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">EPA&#8217;s Superfund Homepage<br \/>\n<\/a><a title=\"Superfund Cleanup Guidance and Policies\" href=\"http:\/\/cfpub.epa.gov\/compliance\/resources\/policies\/cleanup\/superfund\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Superfund Clean Up Policies &amp; Guidance<\/a><a title=\"Superfund Cleanup Guidance and Policies\" href=\"http:\/\/cfpub.epa.gov\/compliance\/resources\/policies\/cleanup\/superfund\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><br \/>\n<\/a><a title=\"Clu-In Training Center\" href=\"http:\/\/clu-in.org\/live\/archive\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Contaminated Site Clean Up Information Training Center<br \/>\n<\/a><a title=\"Superfund Site Where You Live\" href=\"http:\/\/www.epa.gov\/superfund\/sites\/index.htm\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Superfund Sites Where You Live<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Do you have other resources on CERCLA? \u00a0If so share them by leaving a comment below.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Last week I presented a series on Emergency Planning and Community Right to Know Act (EPCRA), in the second part of that series I discussed Emergency Release Notification Requirements.\u00a0 I briefly mentioned the intersection between the Comprehensive Environmental Response Compensation and Liability Act (CERCLA) also known as Superfund.\u00a0 This intersection applies to releases (or spills&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":595,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[8,140],"tags":[149,150,65,151,56,152],"class_list":["post-593","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-ehs-compliance","category-regulatory-reporting","tag-cercla","tag-ecpra","tag-ehs-consultant-in-south-florida","tag-hazardous-substances","tag-hazardous-waste-2","tag-releases"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ehscsi.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/593","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ehscsi.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ehscsi.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ehscsi.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ehscsi.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=593"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/www.ehscsi.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/593\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":855,"href":"https:\/\/www.ehscsi.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/593\/revisions\/855"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ehscsi.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/595"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ehscsi.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=593"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ehscsi.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=593"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ehscsi.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=593"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}